To my mind certain things are a disgrace. The profit being made by energy companies is obscene when so many people are struggling. I mentioned this a few days ago and I'm sure I will mention it again time after time after time.
But let's bring this down to a local level. On our trip away our three final visits were to Easingwold, Helmsley and Hovingham. Easingwold I thought to be a rather charmless place but at least they didn't screw the motorist by charging to park.
It was a different matter at Helmsley - a smallish town/village that again I didn't find hugely interesting. There were cars dumped in every conceivable nook and cranny and I soon found out why. The car park was less than a third full because the charge was £1.70 for the first hour. I drove in and drove out again and dumped my car along with all the others by the side of the road. I would have been happy to pay £1 for a couple of hours but there was no way I was paying £1.70 for an hour.
So instead of gaining £1.70 they lost out with me and hundreds of others as well.
Hovingham is a small village that is dominated by Hovingham Hall and the Worsley Family. The church is also dominated by the Worsley Family.
Hovingham Hall was designed and built by Thomas Worsley. He was obsessed with horses and architecture and the house remains the product of the extraordinary fusion of these two obsessions. Thomas Worsley became a close friend of King George III and is reputed to have taught him to ride. It was this friendship and Thomas's enthusiasm for architecture that meant when George III became King in 1760 he was appointed Surveyor General to the Board of Works.Cricket has been played in front of the house since at least 1858 when a Hovingham team, 22 strong, took on an All England team - and lost! Today the pitch is played on by the village team. In the days of the fourth Sir William Worsley, who captained Yorkshire in 1928 and 1929 and was President of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club for many years, it was played on by many of the county's most distinguished players, Herbert Sutcliffe, Len Hutton, Freddie Trueman and Geoff Boycott amongst them.
And of course Katherine Worsley, who is better known as The Duchess of Kent, was born in Hovingham Hall in 1933 and will be 90 years old on February 22nd.
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Got back to our hotel and a check of e-mails brought me one from Norwich City Council about the introduction of car parking charges at Eaton Park in Norwich. They had a public consultation process on this and I sent them a lengthy email pointing out that this is a tax on leisure and fitness. Did I expect them to take any notice of this? Absolutely not as they had already made up their minds and are going to introduce charges whatever the public say or think.
And some of their response I found infuriating. Basically what they said was whilst accepting that people are feeling the pinch of rising prices they are going to add to it.
I also pointed out that people will just park on side streets around the park, causing parking problems and traffic problems. I will be stopping my membership of Eaton Park tennis. I may as well join one of a couple of local clubs where the parking is free. But, as usual, I really want to make my point. I do not believe that anyone contacted them to support the introduction of charges.
So I have asked them how many responses they received and how many of them were for the idea and how many against. If they refuse to supply this information I will make an official request under the freedom of information process.
Whilst in a cafe in Hemsley I copped a look at a monthly newspaper which was entitled ByLine (or something like that). It was left of left and I suddenly realised that I was agreeing with much of what was written. So my socialist leanings seem to be really re-surfacing as all this overcharging nonsense goes on.
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On a lighter note. It all added up to 1112 which is the closest I have ever come. Ever come to what I hear you cry? Well I may have mentioned before that I cannot go into a church without mentally adding up the hymn numbers in the hope that one day I will come across a sum that adds to three or four digits all of which are the same - 1112 is so damn close! One day it will happen. What will I do then.
Hope you enjoy today's photos which are of Easingwold, Hemsley and Hovingham and complete my Yorkshire galleries. I had my camera on the wrong setting so some of them look more like two second movies than stills.