For I know the plans I have for you.......

We had great plans for this day. Today was 'Mary's Day' but we had heard on the grapevine it was set to be a bit rubbish, very overpriced and quite boring...from what we saw, all accounts were true.

Instead we came up with a master plan. We were going to sit in the sun on the river bank, eating a picnic and drinking pimms and lemonade, followed by strawberries and then we were going to hire our rowing boats and row down the river.

It's funny how something as seemingly small as weather can completely destroy the greatest of plans. It was a grey and rainy day!!!!!

Oh well, we think, a little rain never harmed anyone, we'll just relocate the picnic to inside. The challenge was to commandeer a location not already taken by 'Mary's Day.' We found the chapel!!! After much deliberation over the degree to which eating and drinking in the college chapel could and could not be sacrilegious we relocated to the square landing just outside the chapel. Mary's chapel is pretty cool, it's up in the attic space so even the landing outside was kind of a cool spot. It is also (like Mary's bar) almost impossible to find so we were quite hidden away.

The table was set...or should I say, the anorak (aka smurf coat) was laid and we sat there for a couple of hours just having fun...



The plan was we would spend the day dressed in all our garden-party-esque finery but as the rain continued to pour we decided a change of attire was necessary for our boating venture.

Ready to face the rain, race the boats AND TRIUMPH a gang of 8 of us girls headed of into town, flip-flops squelching, umbrellas dripping and jean legs heavy. We got to Elvet bridge and saw that the boat were closed because of the weather. What to do what to do what to do!!! After a few helpful suggestions such as jumping off the bridge onto the Prince Bish' boat or swimming in the dirty river wear etc we decided to pause and eat nuttella as we came up with a master plan D...


There was nothing to do except go for hot chocolate at Brown Sugar...problem was, when we got there it was packed!!!

Plan E, to find a new coffee shop. We opted for the newly opened esquires, both floors were full but there were seats out side (suprisingly) so this is where we sat to indulge in hot drinks with strawberries and nuttella and develop the art of smearing the nuttella on the strawberries and then topping it with the cream from our drinks mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!!!




After sitting, half under the shelter for a while a homeless man cam along, peering through the window of the coffee shop. We got talking, bought him coffee and hung out with him for over an hour. It was great and so cool how our day worked out so we would meet Michael and get to know him. It also opened our eyes further to the homelessness problem in Durham and what we could be doing about it. We talked about all kinds of things including church and, although he had never been to church before, he asked if he could meet us at church.

Later last night, sat in church, with an empty seat next to me (one of the only ones in the whole church) I was starting to wonder if he really would show....he did and I think we were all really thankful he did and really thankful for the whole day.

p.s. Kat wrote about it too, and included stuff i missed out
Kat