Northern Rail was spectacularly bad this morning. Sunday might not be the best day to travel out of my village by train but I missed the opportunity to do a Nålebinding workshop in York due to a mixture of train failure and driver absence.
Or rather I would have missed the workshop if it had been able to run. I learned when I reached the shop where it would have taken place that a group of tourists had cleared the shop of Nålebinding needles, which made a workshop impossible on this occasion. However, I have at least found where the shop is and know when I will definitely be able to learn the rudiments of the craft.
By the time we reached this point, it was lunchtime, so I asked the staff in the shop for a recommendation. One suggestion was a Jamaican restaurant which just happened to be across the road
View inside Turtle Bay, looking out to Viking shop Asgard.
and actually appealed to my daughter. So, we ventured in and tried halloumi burger and fried chicken with spicy chips. As I’d popped to the loo before the food arrived, there weren’t many chips left when I got back to the table but they were nice.
One other reason for going to York was to see if Lakeland had a dehydrator in stock. I’d planned to buy one last year but we never made it to York and I am averse to buying online unless absolutely necessary. However, I was in luck this time as the shop did indeed have one in stock and it was quite light to carry.
I think I will still dry herbs and beans in the airing cupboard – might as well take advantage of the ‘free’ energy. On the other hand, strawberries and other wetter foods would go mouldy before they dried in there, so until now I’ve had to preserve as preserves or put in the freezer.
We’re still in the throes of eating the preserves of 2016, in spite of being generous gifters as well, and the freezer is either full or doesn’t do the food justice. So, hopefully now I will be able to make more effective use of gluts. Courgettes in winter and my daughter’s favourite: apple rings!
Growing out of chaos 
That Northern train service is dire. Never leave chips unattended.
It looks like Northern are going to lose the franchise… in the meantime, I’m hopeful of a partial refund.
Trying to think where in York you were for the needlework shop and the restaurant. I do know where Lakeland is . Bad news about the trains.
The Nalebinding was at a newish shop called Asgard’s, on Little Stonegate. They said in the shop that it is hard to find but it is quite close to the Shambles.