Over the Pond (5), day 9 -- Enneagram Sevens of the world, unite!!

I've almost lost track of where we are in OTP (5). What with blogging about the election, college football, and wayward bats, I've sort of lost the thread of the trip's narrative. Maybe we can get back on schedule.

I stayed in Durham longer this trip than I have any other time, Sunday evening to Saturday morning. It was really nice to finish work with Robert early Friday afternoon, then wander down to the Market Square for fish & chips, a bit of shopping, and some mental decompression. Then Evensong and dinner with Maeve, where we talked about our week and the ups & downs of doctoral work.

The next morning, I boarded a train to spend the weekend with New Monastic friends Pete & Catherine (see their beautiful faces above). They live in Harrogate but wanted to spend the day exploring York. We started with a lovely Thai meal, then a jaunt through the shopping sector; I wanted to find one of those denim miniskirts that young Brits wear with tights and boots -- it's a very cool look.


However, we had no luck, so for solace Pete took us to The Whisky Shop, where I purchased some 23 year old scotch for Billy. Here's the Whisky Shop -- can you feel the good vibes?





We then spent several hours at the York Castle Museum, which was lots of fun and very informative.



We stopped to recharge with chai and hot chocolate at Borders book store, then saw the movie Easy Virtue with Jessica Biel, Kristen Scott Thomas, and Colin Firth. It was great fun and the first time I've actually laughed out loud at the movies (several times) in quite a while.

We finished the evening with dinner and a pint at The Olde Starre Inn, York's oldest pub. It was well worth the 40 minutes it took to actually get our order straight!

It was a fun day, not least because it was full of interesting sights and experiences. And Pete and I discovered that we're the same enneagram type; we're Sevens, the Enthusiasts who love to experience new things and live each day to the full. As Pete was outling what he'd had in mind for the day, I kept thinking, "This is just the sort of day I'd plan if I only had one day in York with an overseas friend!" So when Catherine mentioned the enneagram, I knew Pete and I were both Sevens.

It's interesting meeting another Seven who's in ministry; it's not a very common type of person in this vocation. Soemtimes we end up a bit ashamed of our Seven-ness, wondering if our zest for life is really just superficial and shallow. (And we did end up reading bits of an enneagram book aloud once we were back in Harrogate, and googling bits online and discussing them.) But for Saturday, we celebrated our enthusiasm for life's exciting journey, affirmed each other, and enjoyed every bite, every minute, everything.