York

Eburakon, Eboracum, Eoforwic, Jorvik, Ewerwik, Yerke, Yourke, Yarke, York!

Eburakon (Brittonic) meaning place of yew trees, or simply Mr./Sir/King Eburos’ turf. And from the original into Latin, Old English, Danish, Norman, three iterations of Middle English, and finally York, in the international lingua franca, ‘Murican. Just looking at all those name changes, one can imagine the fascinating history of such a town. If you could go back in time, which York would you visit? The Eburakon of Celtic times, the Eboracum of Roman York, The Eoforwic of Anglia, Jorvic of Danish Northumbria, Norman York, or something more Modern? Perhaps you’d just skip the time machine and visit it today, so as not as to miss out on sportsball in the pubs and food options like burgers with crumbled blue cheese and caramel macchiatos that you can get anywhere anyway. (Don’t laugh, I met a guy from Minnesota who bragged that he only ate at McDonald’s during his five days in Paris.)

I think I would visit Roman Eboracum, as I prefer to be around people who bathe. The movie Shogun showed us the bathing habits of old-time Brits.

Here’s just one historical fun-fact. York was the capital of Brittania Inferior, the northern of the two Roman provinces on the island. The emperor Constantius died here shortly after his successful punitive campaign against the Picts, north of the Antonine Wall. Upon his death, the Roman army declared his son Constantine Emperor, and he was crowned in York. “Constantine’s recognition of the civil liberties of his Christian subjects and his own conversion to the Faith established the religious foundations of Western Christendom.” (wikipedia)

Getting to York from Milton Keynes is only a 3 1/2 hour drive. I intended to head up the morning after the Undertaker Interview, but after aimlessly driving around trying to find a reasonable priced hotel, I gave up, figuring “why not save on one night’s hotel for the three of us by stopping to sleep at the rest stops along the motorway?” The lads didn’t mind- they slept during the ride and slept at the rest stops too. We arrived at York around 3:00 am. I parked along the river, managed about a half hour of sleep, then left the boys and went for a walk through the quiet town.

The King’s Manor. Among the big-shot Kings who stayed here: James I (unifier of England and Scotland, royal absolutist, overseer of the production of the KJV Bible, commenced colonization of the Americas); Henry VIII (colorful love life, excommunication, Church of England, enthusiastic decapitator); and Charles I (quarrels with Parliament, Patron of the Arts, Civil War, unrepentent decapitee).

It was fun skulking around alone through the dark streets, squares and parks of this historic, noble, and very English city. I felt a bit like Jack the Ripper on the prowl, until a warning, etched in brass, reminded me that you can never really go about unnoticed in modern England:

I don’t know- seems a bit contradictory- Be Impossible! (be rebellious, defiant, unruly, etc.) but hey you follow the rules and remember we’re always watching!

Turns out I wasn’t the only one enjoying the wee hours in the old section of York.

4:30am and the partiers are still at it. Check out the guy in the street with the black trousers- speaking of decapitation I can’t make out what that thing is substituting for a head- looks like my grandma’s gaudy, opal-colored lamp base from the early 70s.

As it started to get light, I walked to walls of the old city and passed an old, run-down office building:

The Grand, only operating as a hotel since 2010. Before that it indeed was an office building, housing the headquarters of the North Eastern Railway. They don’t make office buildings like they used to!

Returning to the car, I woke up the boys and took them out to the mall, where I had to buy shoes. But first, a pit stop at an old eatery in the university zone.

When in England, eat like the English! (at least when they are on holiday). Unless you are within range of a Costco, by all means find a place where they serve the traditional English breakfast!

I’ll hear no more of that ‘bland and boring English food’ talk! How do you beat this for breakfast? (I appreciate the segregated beans- takes a little of the English out of it but there are eight distinct foods on this plate. Do they all have to taste like Van Camp’s pork and beans?)

At the mall I bought my trainers and ran into this real estate agent and her grandfather:

She has that Scandinavian look. Definitely a remnant of the days of Yorvik and the Danelaw.

(note: I knew they called them something besides tennis shoes or sneakers, but I forgot and had to consult the Brave AI search engine to remember ‘trainers’: In some regions of the UK, such as New England, they may also be called “sneakers”, but “trainers” is a more widespread term.) Who would have known that Boston, Mass. is part of the UK? Is this AI slip up proof that the City of London indeed still rules the rebellious colonies of America?

We returned to the old section and the lads and I took a walk around the old town in the daylight.

Andy and I posing for coolness and looking up at the Minster.

The medieval, narrow streets of York in the tourist section look they were modeled after a theme-land section of Disneyland modeled after medieval York:

Hwong Fang, the owner of the store on the left, was going to name it, “Take many gift” but after a couple multiple-item robberies he changed it to “Take one Gifts”

Here’s where you have your coffee if you want to get away from the field-trip jr. high kids and souvenir shoppers:

View of York Minster and Great Gatsbyesque back lawn from the city wall. “Oh James, be a sport and get Clotilda a fresh lemon for her tea will you? Marvelous.”

Of course, the crowning jewel of the city is the Cathedral of St. Peter, better known as York Minster.

Originally a Catholic Church, it was stolen by the Anglican Church soon after its completion, and looted and stripped of much of its art. “Under Elizabeth I there was a concerted effort to remove all traces of Roman Catholicism from the cathedral; there was much destruction of tombs, windows and altars.” (wikipedia)

Whether you support the Reformation-era looting of Catholic Property by the Anglicans or not, one thing is for sure, the modern Anglican church is just another bastion of “Christian” super-wokeness.

• The current Archbishop of York, Stephan Cottrell, 2nd in Anglican Church hierarchy behind the Archbishop of Canturbury, is apparently a big fan of same-sex marriage, no matter what the Bible says about it.

• Churches across England have been used for secular, or even downright satanic practices. In September 2017, a controversy erupted when Turkish fashion designer Dilara Findikoglu’s Spring/Summer 2018 collection was showcased at St. Andrew’s Church in London as part of London Fashion Week. The event was criticized for its satanic and occult themes, featuring models wearing outfits with inverted crosses, devil horns, and other demonic symbolism.

• The Archbishop of Canterbury himself had to resign two weeks ago after protecting pederasty in the church.

• Similarly, in 2023, the Archbishop of York previous to Stephan Cottrell, John ‘Lord’ Sentamu, was asked to step down from his position as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Newcastle after an independent review criticised his failure to act after being told of Ineson's claim of abuse.

All that foulness aside, it’s still a beautiful cathedral. I would have liked to see the inside, and if not for the 18 pound entrance fee (54 pounds for the three of us!!) we would have gone in and looked around.

Desecration of church property; corruption and depravity at the highest levels; highway robbery entrance fees at a spectacular church most-certainly intended for all to enjoy and marvel at. If you ask me, I think the hierarchy of the Anglican church is hell-bent on destroying it from within. Pretty sure this dude below agrees. I started filming right around when he mentioned the millstone and said that the Church of England has become the proverbial stumbling block in the way of the Children. “‘God poured out fire and brimstone on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah’ the Bible tells us,” said this street preacher, “for the sin of sodomy, but the Church of England now blesses sodomy in her precincts!” :

I argued a bit with the lady at the entrance about the nearly $70 I would have to cough up to bring the boys in for a look around. I said they wouldn’t dare try that at the Cathedrals of Cologne or Chartres. She said the German and French governments subsidize the churches there, but the UK government doesn’t, hence the fees. I could have mentioned the big Catholic church just down the road that had its doors open to the public. In fact we’d just gone in to look around. Instead I turned around and walked the perimeter of the magnificent Minster with the lads. Thus ended our brief stay in York.

Thumbnail pic of gargoyle on ceiling of York Minster: thank you Diliff on wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0view terms

File:York Minster Nave 1, Nth Yorkshire, UK - Diliff.jpg