anyone lucky enough to have lived with the sound of the cathedral bells chiming the quarter hour would understand the magic of durham. to hear those bells every day brought peace into your very being well it did with me..

and to cross the road from the river, climb over the wall into the rugby field
and hear the many rooks cawing in the trees, just like stepping into another world..

we,d run ahead of gran checking our camp was still there in the trees, and hadnt been raided,
then rush through the arcade doors through the main hall along the passage to our room.
drop our coloring books onto the long table,
i remember thinking i bet the vikings made these long tables.. glass cases surrounded the walls full of fossils, ancient coins, the glass was broken on one case,
i thought anyone could walk in and half inch them and be gone.

.id plonk down, look round and think, 6 whole weeks here, isnt it grand..
gran would empty her bag hienz tomato soup for our dinner..it never filled me up,
when milly worked there later we could have our dinner as an extra.

later when a bit older we helped out at the christmas dinner,
bringing trays of food through from the kitchen onto candle lit tables..
it was fun we felt grown up,,

when everyone had left we,d take the steel dinner trolleys and race them down the hall from one end to the other. jumping on,
having a ride..marks all over the varnished floor. we,d be in trouble..
we hid on the stage behind the curtain,,
they got tired of looking had other more important things to do..