York Minster and the surrounding streets after dark.
It’s hard to avoid the countless city ghost tours, apparently it’s one of Europes most haunted cities. Any city with this much history is inevitably going to be on that list I guess. It’s hard not to walk past one of these tours and not shout ‘he’s behind you’ or hum the ghostbusters theme. The actors doing these tours are super talented and I’m sure they are more than use to that kind of terrestrial intervention from muppets like me.
I love the city at this time. It’s almost quiet, peaceful with the heaving daytime crowds having largely ebbed away. You can almost hear yourself think, you can remember, reflect. Recall a world which is now gone, feeling like it’s rapidly receding in my rear view mirror.
Christmas can be the most wonderful of times but it can also be the most painful of times. Isolation rather than solitude. A life that is out of reach.
Time to think.
A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. 
Hauntingly beautiful, post, dear friend. I can’t imagine. I support you and pray for you. I’d love to visit there. Thank you for making me smile; even in the juxtaposition of joy and isolation. The photos are stunning.🙏🏼🙏🏼❣️❣️
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if you did visit, don’t forget your woolly hat 😂😂😂. I was reading something today that argued that to feel real joy, you need to feel real pain as well. That’s the price you pay for love. ❤️❤️❤️
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Amen, Gary ~ to all of it. It’s true. And, today I’m wearing a cashmere beret feeling cozy at a coffee shop. I’m feeling grateful and blessed for this one moment~ and friends like you across the globe!❤️🙏🏻♥️
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A beautiful and moving post Garry! ❤ ❤
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Thanks Carol ❤️
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How ironic we need joy and pain not only as part of our lives but as the catalysts to find and be our better selves. 🤔🤷🏿♀️
Happy New Year to you and Hawklad! 🎆🎆
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Maybe that’s the thing, realising we are not the finished article, not by a long shot.
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A lovely post, that talks of life really and the things that are part of it. The best to you and…James. I did love seeing the pics of York. Reminded me that here was nowt like sitting on the Minster steps at 5pm watching the world go by.
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I loved getting an ice cream and watching the world go by on those steps. These days I get a coffee and look to the skies there as Peregrine Falcons live there now.
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I adore the diagonally mounted tree!!
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they are so effective. So many like that across the city centre
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We loved York Minster when we visited. It was years ago as we didn’t have a dog, so 1991-1995. Lovely post Gary.
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Thanks Di
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The city gives haunting vibes. I do understand how lonely it can be on a holiday season. Hugs
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it can be such a tough time for many
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Very true.
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I remember York sixty years ago when we lived just outside it, and again forty years ago when I had a girlfriend there. As you say, mixed emotions, but I’ve had fun getting to 66 even if everything does seem to hurt more these days. Note how I must be getting old as feel the inclination to keep mentioning my age. I hope the New Year will hold some better times for the two of you.
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One thing about York, is many parts of it never seem to change. I remember going to the places in the 70s and they seem unchanged even now.
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It has, I always feel, a calming effect. Part of this is caused by the familiarity.
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(((Hugs))) Gary! Beautiful! I pray you felt a special touch this Christmas.
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Hugs to you as well. Hope Christmas made you smile.
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Thanks. It did! Warmed my heart. 🩷
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There’s no doubting the beauty your photos show, Gary. Or your isolation. It’s a sad time to be on your own. Hopefully 2025 will be kind to you and the boy. I certainly hope so.
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there is always hope.
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That painful paragraph is so pertinent
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Thank you Derrick,
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Ah yes, the York Minster, been and done – and it seems it hasn’t changed at all. Beautiful photos and such a good post. Lovely, Gary.✨
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thank you Chris ❤️
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I’m learning that Christmas can be a lot of things. Busy, distracting, beautiful, peaceful, joyful, sorrowful, lonely…. Yet, as busy a time as it can be for some, Christmas can also strip away screens and make us face what we’d rather not or what we didn’t know before but needed to know now. This year’s Christmas was a bit of the latter for me. I bet it was for Mary and Joseph too.
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Maybe its a chance to refocus on what really matters, on the stuff that really doesn’t matter as much as we think they do.
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York Minster is wonderful. How great to see it the way you did in these pics. I feel as you do, that Christmas is a most nostalgic time. As happy as some people are this time of year, I think an equal number are sad.
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Definitely are those times and places which connect way more with the past.
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Beautiful photos, Gary. Something poetic in how these buildings endure over time despite the solitude and the isolation. Sending you both lots of strength and hugs!
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it’s amazing that they last so well but they do need help. Our 1000 year old church is getting a £250000 grant to to make sure it doesn’t fall down.
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Plenty of ghost destinations in the American wild west, too. A lovely reflection at the end with relatable thoughts. Best to you in the new year. ✨
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I spoke to a friend who had been on one of those Wild West Ghost tours. He said it wasn’t scary but actually deeply moving with many of the tragic stories.
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Yes true, although I did once stay in a hotel in southern AZ that was spooky!
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Wonderful pictures! When I visited Edinburgh, I went on a ghost tour. It blows my mind to learn about cities that are so old. A friend insisted I go on a pub tour in Dublin, so of course, I obliged. Not as scary, as it was a writer’s themed walk. There’s something about a city after dark when it’s less crowded… more peaceful.
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once stayed in one of the advertised most haunted pubs in Britain. 2 nights and if there was ghosts in the room, I was sleeping way too well to notice.
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Sanctuary!!!
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definitely ❤️
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I hate driving in the dark, I feel emotional, but tasked to get on with it. Cities in the dark do NOT appeal to me at all. Bring the light, bring the bird song, bring the things that make it alive (not into ghosts unless it is “Ghosts” on TV by the talented line up of:
Katy Wix, Jim Howick, Ben Willbond…
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Now that was a show.
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Having lost a loved one myself this was very touching thank you for sharing
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there are times and places that take you back.
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lovely pictures and a very true post.
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thank you 😊
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are those ghost tours taking the micklegate? ousing tackiness. total shambles if you ask me. 😉
-✧✦☆❖◈❋✤☆✦-∞-♡-∞-✦☆✤❋◈❖☆✦✧-
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the old ones are the best ones 😂😂
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i’ll just be getting my coat…
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isolation.. out of reach… I get this. Thankfully my adult son is soon moving in with me temporarily, which will bring noises of family back to me. May this new year enlargen your camp with people and joy!
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