LEEDS -- KERRY WRITES -- THEN AND NOW

It's Thursday 21st June- the summer solstice, and it's raining again in Harrogate. I'm beginning to believe it does nothing else in this town! John taunts me that it is sunny and dry in York, only 18miles away. Well, I'm in need of some retail therapy. So off we go to Leeds. The story is that Leeds is the next best thing to London. Harvey Nichols has a store there now, and all the top designer brand labels have shops in brand new Shopping Malls. The train's the go, so we hop onto the 11.30 from Pannal Station and we are in Leeds half an hour later. I'm keen to see if I can still find my way to LGI(Leeds General Infirmary) where I began a short lived career in nursing. My gut feeling led me straight to the Nurses Home. It looked the same as it did 44 years ago. The only difference now is the rooms are used as offices. The student nurses all live out of the hospital. One photo shows me at the entrance to the corridor through which I walked to the wards when on duty. I don't even believe that it had seen a lick of paint in all those years!!

To the shops. We wandered to the heart of the shopping centre. Colin sat at a table in the Mall while I popped into Ted Baker to try on some clothes. He was relieved I came out empty handed. It was short lived. We found Harvey Nichols. It was his fault. He saw this beautiful Trench coat by Armani. Need I say more? Eat your heart out Loushine!! You will love it. I might let you borrow it ----in about 5 years. That was enough for today. Back to Harrogate. It was still raining!!!