York...

Bex and I haven't had a night away from Joni since...well, since Joni! We broke our Joni-old vow and left her with Mike and Kath, Becky's Mum and Dad, in Scarborough. Then we hot-footed (hot-tyred to be precise) it off to York, upped tent, and were forced to look at each other again, with no little (yes, Joni-high) barriers in the way.

It's funny how you lose sight of things so close to you, and for us this break was exactly what we needed, you might say it was a Red Bull for our relationship. I have to say here that Bex is so much the person that I would like to be in so many ways. I was proud to have her on my arm as we walked around York, and happy that we weren't going to be saying goodbye, or even "see you later", at the end of the day. I know I don't tell her nearly enough that "..." (you know) but that's because I'm scared of being happy?...I don't know why really. If we can aim to eat 5 pieces of fruit a day surely we can tell our wives we love them at least as much?

So the highlights of this little break: laying on the grass in the park besides York Minster under a blazing sun; having an amazing Indian meal at the Balti Ghor restaurant in Copmanthorpe (and we had Balti too: I could live on this stuff!); and best of all waking up next to each other in the tent, in surround-sound provided by invisible birds, horses, and cows, as we were warmed by an invisible sun. I'll also add that one of Becky's highlights was this: seeing me, desperate for, you know, relief, jumping out of the car and running to a (seemingly hidden) spot behind a fence - only to be "interrupted" mid-way by a girl riding along a path beside the fence (unseen to me!), a girl whose eyes - set in a face no more than three feet away from mine - I wasn't glad to meet, whose back I was glad to see...Becky (as she rubbed the tears of laughter from her face) said she was smiling as she cycled off...