T Rains T Rains and more Trains

On Monday night we had just decided to have a couple of fags in the local pub and immediately the British Government introduced a ban on smoking in pubs. So how does a pensioner tourist rebel, when the kids aren’t watching?
After making good use of the ‘Coliseum’ internet cafe in Whitby on Monday morning, (J will show all Whitby holiday makers the location,) and having a 3 way chat with Graham, Bruce jnr, and Colin (that was hilarious), we decided to head for Grosmont and catch the steam train to Pickering. There is not much activity in Glaisdale when it’s bucketing down with rain!!! Raining at Wimbledon too. That puts a stop to watching the tennis! As you would guess, Colin took a million photos of the train and of the journey as we wound our way slowly through the most picturesque countryside. We arrived in Pickering and saw the devastation that the rain and flooding had brought to the town earlier in the week. A skip outside the white goods store was filled to the brim with televisions and other electrical items. We walked passed houses where the flood waters had been 2 feet up the walls. You could see the damage it had caused inside each dwelling. It was all very sad. However, forgetting their misery and remembering our stomachs we headed off to The Forest and Vale for a late lunch. The rain had stopped as we wandered back to the station to catch the return steam train. We alighted at Goathland (Aidensfield)for an hour. I was a little girl the last time I walked around this village. There are a few shops but the place has changed little.
Back in Grosmont we decided to head back into Whitby and have fish and chips for tea at ‘Trenchers’. My first taste of f & c’s this trip. They were good, just as good as ‘The Magpie’ Colin thought. End of another day!
Tuesday July 3rd.
Another rainy day, so we decided to go trekking the moors in the car rather than use the new boots. How much rain can one country get!!! The touring was combined with a visit back to Colin’s old stamping rounds in Swinton. I am designated driver on all our trips. Col concentrates more on the views around him than the views immediately in front of him! Anyway, he’s the chief photographer and navigator. Bet you all can’t wait to come to Margate Street on our return and have viewings of many thousands of slideshows on the computer!!!!!! It was a long and winding car journey to Swinton via Rosedale, Hutton-Le-Hole, Bransdale, and a short visit to ‘Shandy Hall’ at Coxwold. Shandy Hall is where Laurence Sterne wrote his famous novel “Tristan Shandy”. We had a pleasant lunch in the Pub at Rosedale, followed by an interesting drive over the moors dodging billowing rain clouds and fording through a foot of water, tested by Colin in his Jesus boots. See picture. We eventually arrived at Dave and Jane’s house at 4.30 for a lovely farm tea. This was followed by a visit to see Colin’s cousin Freda and her husband, Martin Prest (Freda visited us many years ago in Melbourne.) They still live in Swinton, but sadly Freda has developed Alzheimer disease and we doubt if she recognised either of us. She certainly didn’t look like the Freda we once knew! Martin is a badminton player, so he took us down to the new Swinton sports hall. I hit up with them for a couple of minutes with plastic shuttles and a lousy racquet. I’m missing my badminton! Lovely facilities for such a small village though. We met up with Dave and Derek Cuthbertson who played football with Col. Then onto David (Butch) Barker’s house for a chat and then a pint at the Blacksmiths Arms. Butch remembers you well Andrew, all 6ft 7ins of you. He said you, David and Jane Raines and he, had a real good night at the Arms. I remember getting dropped off at Mum’s that night and you lot carried on to the Swinton pub. You obviously made a lasting impression!!!! Alison (Butch’s wife) joined us in the pub after she had won her game of bowls, and 3 more guys wandered into the pub. Col knew all of them through his football, but it just happened that one of them, Bruce Watson knew me from the Grammar School. I wouldn’t have recognised him, but once you talk to someone for a few minutes, you can see the person you once knew. We had a long chat and reminisced about the old days. It was really good to catch up. Colin talked to David Ward who was one of the best cricketers and footballers in the district, and who tragically had a leg removed at aged 16 following a hit on the thigh by a cricket ball.
It was a late drive home, but amazingly, Glaisdale is not as isolated as we thought. We were home before midnight. Dirty stopouts!! End of yet another day!

Well not quite. We have just read the first contribution to this blog by the well known York poet and wit JD. We appreciate the humour and the excellent typing skills demonstrated on MOD time!!!