Our Wedding Anniversary Trip Out

I always love an excuse to go to Whitby and a trip to the Magpie. Last Friday was our wedding anniversary, so what better place to go to celebrate than over the North York Moors and far away. But not before we had done some jobs. I armed myself with the hedge cutter. Jack to the chainsaw to get some bushes and plants cut back in the garden. Getting that done was better than getting a soppy anniversary card. As far a bunch of flowers -Jack doesnt do soppy -well that is what he says. He has been known to come in with daffodils that have bent over. Shoving the yellow heads in a milk jug in front of my desk. And it wont be the first time I have found a bunch of bluebells on the side. Whitby is only 38 miles from home and easily done in a less than an hour. Gone are the days when I could clag it there in 35 minutes. In those days there was no speed cameras. Nor was there so many cars on the road. We were lucky to take advantage of the fact parking was free until March the 1st. Despite Jack thinking we could "just park outside and nip in" we braved the winds blowing off the North Sea. We parked up near the whalebone and walked down. Walking back up wasnt quite as easy, but then we were full of fish. It was lovely to see the sea and the rolling waves. I always remember an old friend ,Peter Gascoigne-Mullet, who used to say " Whitby, my beloved Whitby". Lovely memories of Peter and our times with him at the Star in Harome. After the fire brought down the middle section of the Star last backend I immediatly wondered what Peter would have made if it all when his bedroom had gone up in flames - a replica of Ancient Egypt and its treasures. We soon got seated in the Magpie and sorry that Ian wasn't about ,but the staff looked after us very well. I had the most amazing crab pate to begin with and Jack had kippers topped off with strawberry jam and bread and butter. The jam was quite runny and I thought any minute it would land down the front of his shirt but glad to say the shirt escaped a jammy finish. Jack had a large pot of proper tea with tea leaves and master the art of catching the tea leaves very well.I stuck to my usual tipple of tap water. All too soon it was time to come home. We were too full to eat anything else and the fresh air soon had us both snoring.