Durham and Newcastle

Last week I made a flying visit to the northeast of England by train. I wanted to see my friend Chris in the last week of a long-running tour of "The wonderful world of Dissocia", a play about mental illness, containment, society attitudes, freedom of choice and so much more. Knowing that Newcastle - where the play was on - was close to Durham, I took the opportunity of visiting Pauline and Dick (my dad's cousin, so my second cousin), who were happy to join me at the theatre (and kindly put me up for the night).

The train journey, provided by four different operating companies with no missed connections (cheapest route), could also have served as a tour of Norman architectural zeal, since we took in some of the country's most impressive cathedrals:

Norwich,

Ely,
(Peterborough and York, which I didn't get a chance to snap)

and Durham (on a particularly dreary day, unfortunately). Dick said on a clearer day I may also have glimpsed Lincoln cathedral on my way up.

Here we are after the play, which we all agreed was very good, and Chris, superb. From left to right - Chris, Mark (who runs the Tyneside cinema), Dick and Pauline.

And then I was met off the train by the boys, who had had a fine time with daddy and Buzz, and we had ice-creams on the walk home to celebrate.