It’s been a quiet year in South Bridlington. Not as quiet as North Bridlington, though.
This Report is being sent early in order to clear up some of the mess caused by someone getting my list of email contacts and telling you all the pitiful story of a little girl requiring your assistance. Do not believe what you are told. Particularly by sad young men who never went to Sunday School.
The Annual Reports started 15 years ago when Judy and I received 3 Christmas messages in quick succession from friends and relatives about the changes and chances of this fleeting world. About appointments and disappointments. About knees no longer working as intended. About people managing to bear up in spite of everything. There was not much joy around. Just a lot of grim determination. Whereas in Bridlington … We were no less inadequate, but that did not mean that our limitations were not funny.
So with all that in mind, this report is being put together in a retirement complex in North Bridlington, the new centre of inactivity. I am emphatically told it is not an Old People’s Home. You can get into bother for calling it that. I have found.
Mark the address carefully …
Apartment 2
Highcliffe Court
St Anne’s Rd
Bridlington
YO15 2JZ
Pay particular attention to the Post Code. It is not as previously stated. You are all welcome to visit. Ring me first on 07939 537616, and I can let you in.
I have exchanged my 5 bedroom detached 3 storey house for a 3 room apartment. It has its advantages. There may be only 3 rooms, but they all look directly out to sea to Flamborough Head. I can still only live in 1 room at a time.1, Mayfield Rd is still up for sale, but that will sort itself out.
And now for the 2025 news…
I dithered for some time deciding whether to relocate to the ground floor of 1, Mayfield Rd. Niece Alison (Whiteley as was) insisted that I relocate to somewhere smaller “while you’ve still got your wits about you”. She was peremptory. Since I lived all my life under the influence of forceful women, I didn’t really stand a chance. The house went up for sale for a king’s ransom.
In June I got the ferry from North Shields to Amsterdam, and then cycled through torrential rain to Hannover, where Phil came across from Berlin to see me for a couple of days. Then by train to the annual Bachfest in Leipzig. This is documented in https://atomic-temporary-156015676.wpcomstaging.com/bachfest-2025/ It’s all true.
The Bachfest was extraordinarily. I have booked tickets for 2026.
The other highlight of 2025, was a surprise visit in September from Judy’s Cousin Audrey, who came from Nottingham with her daughter and son-in-law.
Audrey did me more good than she can ever have imagined. She is a good 10 years older than Judy was. However, she hasn’t learned to grow old. She is bright, mobile, and witty. I love her.
I had resigned myself to being old and sensible and cutting down on the long cycle journeys. I would grow up.
No I won’t.
Audrey changed all that. It may not happen. But it might. I may find that knees do wear out in time. But perhaps not yet. So cycle to the Hull ferry in June, then from Rotterdam to Leipzig. Sing my heart out for 10 days.
That may be the end of it. OR get the train from Leipzig to Hamburg with a bike, and start cycling North. Onward to the light. A ferry goes from Jutland to Iceland. To the 24-hour day. It’s the headline, “Old man cycles from Bridlington to Iceland” that is the pull.
“But you won’t be cycling to Iceland”. Never mind. It’s a good headline. “You’re no better than the other illusionists”. Just a bit better. I may feel bad about it.
There is a worm in the bud. The Iceland authorities say “Do not cycle here. The weather is foul, the winds are dangerous, motorists hate cyclists, it’s miles between accommodation, and the roads are rubbish”. So I’ll leave my bike in Jutland get the ferry and then a bus to cross to a geological phenomenon. Here is another open invitation for anyone who has more time than sense and is willing to be disappointed by their physical limitations. Come for a 7 week extravaganza, including a life enhancing Bachfest, and all the excitement of chancing destruction, swallowed by an earthquake, or blown up by a volcano.
There is no urgent need to grow up.
Yet.
Phil hasn’t yet visited the new apartment in Bridlington. However, when I asked him whether he fancied Bridlington or Sicily for Christmas, he surprisingly chose Sicily. We will both travel by train. This may be a mistake, but if you don’t try it, you will never know. I have booked an apartment in Milazzo in North East Sicily, facing the Aeolian islands. Aeolus was the god of the winds who caused so many problems for Odysseus and Aeneas. A good preparation for Iceland.
We may have to cook our own Christmas dinner. Do not underestimate us.
November 2025
And remember the Butland family motto: “Making the best of a bad job”
jbrip 