Hadn't heard this excuse before!

And I have (used)heard just about every other excuse under the sun!

Sock Toys

These little fellows jumped into my hands begging to be assembled last week. Now I am looking for a child to match them with!

Meeting a blog buddy at Morpeth

When I travel I usually attend to all the obvious bookings well in advance ie air fares, accommodation, any organised group tours etc. So those type of experiences flow along without any surprises - barring the odd airline hiccup of delayed flights, airport holdups etc that are likely to happen along the way.

Often the memories of my trips that stay with me are the unexpected events or opportunities that appear, the people I meet, and the unplanned enjoyment that can arise as a result.

As the saying goes - A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

We had several such 'detours' on our trip to the UK last month.

One unexpected event happened on our visit to Morpeth, Northumberland and one planned event as well. We had traveled up to York to see the usual sights and decided to go on just an extra hour and a half to Morpeth which is not too far from Alnwick castle and gardens which I wanted to visit. And also, living not far away from Morpeth is Gail from Irritatingly Optimistic.

I had talked to Gail before we left and we arranged to meet in Alnwick village. How amazing it is to actually meet a person you have only met previously in cyberspace. And to talk to them as well. I hadn't really given much thought to how different our accents would be. Gail is as lovely in person as she is on her blog!

The unexpected event happened that evening. After dinner at a local restaurant we wandered out to the town square and over to the bell tower which was resounding with the peal of bells. I was rather curious about the sounds and poked my head into the open door at the base of the tower. A man popped his head out from a trapdoor above and invited us to come on up the stairs and join the local bell ringers for their evening practice.

Rather embarrassed at being caught snooping we sidled up the steep stairs and were amazed to find a group of 10 people crowded into a very small room, eight of them with a bell rope in hand. We were given a seat and told to remain very still, keep our feet away from the ropes, and that there were several tons of bells above us.

So we were captive there for the next 20 minutes as they finished their practice. And how fascinating it was. They follow a very complicated sequence pattern and there is much more skill involved than I would ever have thought.

The bell ringers were all very friendly and welcoming - a dedicated bunch of people of all different ages.

It was a memorable day.