Went to Durham with J to visit F. And it was glorious autumn weather. Bright sunshine, clear skies. On Friday night we just chilled out and chatted. On Saturday (after a leisurely start) we went for a walk through a forest of beech trees. We stopped for a delicious lunch, then did some shopping. Its always fun to shop with friends, makes you consider buying things you’d normally walk straight past!

That evening we watched the rubgy (England against South Africa, world cup final). I don’t think I’ve ever watched a full game of rugby from start to finish before, and I have to admit, I haven’t been converted (ee is there a wordplay in there somewhere?!). But apparently it was a dull game, they were playing it safe, so maybe one day I will discover the true beauty of watching sport. In the meantime, I think playing sports is better than watching sports.

And on Sunday we went to F’s new church and it was lovely. Friendly people, simple and practical sermon, and lots of life about the place.

Durham itself is gorgeous – it has a river (always a good start) – which when we passed was populated with teams of rowers, it has deciduous woods, it has a castle and a cathedral on a hill. It has a manageable number of shops (i.e. not too many) and some great coffee shops. And based on a sample of 2 days, it is the land of constant sunshine.

In my limited experience of shoes (well, limited compared to some compulsive shoe-buyers I know) I have found that as a general rule, the kind of shoes that girls admire either go unnoticed by guys, or actually cause the guys to recoil in horror.

Strange but true. I can think of two pairs of shoes that were almost guaranteed to get praise from girls and disdain from boys. I thought maybe it was a law of the universe, and that shoes are just one of the Things That Guys Don’t Get.

This year when I was out buying Christmas presents I accidentally walked into a shoe shop (oops!) and accidentally bought some shoes (oops!). They were flat shoes, and very sparkly. I do tend to get drawn towards sparkly things, but due to my lack of height have been avoiding wearing flat shoes recently. I wondered if they were maybe a bit ridiculous, a bit too sparkly for real life, but bought them anyway. AND wore them. And got compliments from guys at church, guys at a party, and even from my brother, who never usually feels obliged to flatter anyone.

All hail the sparkly green shoes.