The route from the centre of Scarborough, Seamer Road, which leads to the A64 and the way to York, Leeds and the West Riding, is our main drive home of an evening after school and work for Joseph and I. Prior to my buying the original Mirabeau, and when Joseph was still at nursery, I would each morning walk from our house down that street with Joseph in his pushchair (read stroller, my American friends) and do my best to entertain him along the way (this often enjoyed a stop-off for an ice lolly or a sausage roll depending on the weather!). The Coastliner bus, which I have written about previously, would often pass us by as we strolled and I would say to Joseph “that bus goes all the way to Grandma’s house!” as it would pass. This soon changed to “there’s the Big Blue Bus to Grandma’s!”, and so it came to be known to him. We’d look out for it each morning (and we still do when we’re in the car!).

I’ve taken a couple of trips to Leeds on the Coastliner in the last year or two, both alone, and once later at night so that I could ride the whole distance for the princely sum of £1 when the bus had the offer “from anywhere to anywhere for £1 after 7pm” running a year or so ago as one of my “silly experiments” I like to do to amuse myself (I wrote about this in an earlier post in 2021). Joseph had always wanted to take the journey with me, but alas it would have been too late for him to come, catching the bus after 7pm and taking on average 3 hours to reach Leeds would make it too late a night for him to tag along.

The UK Government have however recently launched a temporary scheme by which a cap on single trip bus fares has been introduced, limiting fares to a £2 maximum at any time of the day (to help with the cost of living crisis we currently find ourselves in in the UK), meaning that Joseph and I could catch the Coastliner here in Scarborough and travel all the way to Leeds for £2 each. Having told him of the scheme previously, when Joseph lost two milk teeth a couple of months ago and was given £1 per tooth by the Tooth Fairy (read his Mum), he excitedly exclaimed that he had the money to pay for the trip and that he wanted to take the journey with me. We decided that Sarah would collect Joseph from School on Friday 10th February, drop him at my office and we would ride the bus the Leeds. Sarah would follow the next day in her car (having a rare night to relax by herself) and Joseph would then have a few days with his Grandparents in Leeds over the half-term holidays whilst Sarah & I worked.

Joseph excitedly arrived at my office at around 15:30 that day, but had to wait whilst I finished work at 5pm (we had planned to leave earlier but unfortunately I had a conveyancing matter which was not yet completed when he arrived). He sat patiently, playing his pink Nintendo Switch (he’s obsessed with Minecraft at the moment) until my work for the day was done and we could head to the bus stop, just a couple of hundred metres from my office at the Scarborough Train Station.

On boarding, Joseph handed the driver his £2 and I said to him – “you’ll need to tell the driver where you’d like to go”, to which he replied “upstairs!” I informed the driver that we’d both like to go to Leeds and our fares were paid. On reaching the upper deck, I found Joseph at the front of the bus where I knew he’d be, already settling in for the ride. I plugged in his Nintendo to charge as he played (all the seats have USB access) and risked listening to some music on the bus WiFi whilst we rode.

I gave Joseph the opportunity to back out of the trip at every bus stop before reaching what would be ours on Seamer Road; he refused and was determined to make the journey. I’d made sure that he visited the facilities at my office before departing, but had also brought a small plastic bottle along in my backpack just in case of an emergency!

There were plenty of passengers enjoying the trip with us and they would regularly change from stop to stop; Joseph sat and played patiently, only a few times asking “is this our stop, Daddy?” along the way. Before we knew it, we were in the centre of York and watching the revellers venturing out for their Friday night on the tiles. Two ladies who had been sitting across from us in Joseph’s preferred seats departed at York, leaving Joseph scrambling to move across to claim them as soon as they had been vacated. Tadcaster soon followed after a blast down the A64 and before we knew it, the tall structures of Leeds City Centre began to loom on the horizon. Once he realised he could stand and hold on to the rail at the front of the bus as we rode, he refused to sit down, pretending he was flying.

We hopped off the bus at the main Station, making sure to say thank you to the driver, and despite it being quite cold outside, Joseph waited quite patiently for Grandma & Grandad to arrive to collect us and head to theirs. I’d made sure that Joseph had a couple of snacks prior to leaving the office, but he hadn’t eaten a “proper” meal by the time we arrived at around 8pm. As such, my folks swung by the McDonald’s Drive Through near to their home and Joseph had his customary Fish Finger Happy Meal with an extra fries and a Fruit Shoot. I’ll admit to having a couple of Double Cheeseburgers & fries!

Not long later, it was time for bed for the squirt after a successful journey, and one that seemed to pass quite quickly; Joseph was very well behaved and sat patiently the whole time. The emergency plastic bottle was unused & recycled! I expected the trip to be far more difficult but I’d have no worries riding with him again. Especially for just £2!

The Adele-esque titles continue in this, a recounting of the celebrations of my 43rd Birthday this month. I usually like to spend time in Huddersfield around my Birthday, but given that it’s just 10 weeks since I was last there with Rick, H & Gav, after discussion with Sarah, I decided we’d do something different to last year, but very similar to something we did a few years ago, pre-Pandemic.

If you’ve read my post from January 2019, you might recall Sarah and I re-living the day we met (for the second time after years of not seeing each other post University in Leeds at Christmas 2008) for my 39th Birthday. The Hotel we stayed in, the Radisson Blu on the Headrow in Leeds, was so lovely that we’ve often talked about staying there again; I suggested that we do so for my Birthday, spending the day in the City Centre, browsing the shops and seeing what was new. My parents had again agreed to have Joseph stay for the night as they always do, and we left Sarah’s car at their house whilst my Dad kindly dropped us off in the City. Here’s what we got up to.

It’s Saturday, 21st January (not my actual Birthday, but as close to it as we could do given Sarah is a Management Accountant and is very busy for most of the month of January with her Company’s end of year accounts) and we’re up and about at 7am (which is a little late for Joseph – he’s usually awake no later than 06:30) and ready to set off soon after 08:15. It’s an uneventful drive to Leeds, save that the weather is cold & icy so Sarah drives carefully, much to the disdain of other road users who insist on driving at the speed limit not taking into account road conditions and overtake us at speed. We make it safely to my folks by around 10:00, where after a quick brew and toilet break, Dad drops us off on the outskirts of the City at the Crown Point retail park.

Around 4 years ago, I purchased some brown leather Chelsea boots from my favourite brand Superdry when they were on sale for 50% off (I recall paying £35 for them) and I’ve finally unpacked them for use this weekend, as we have plans to visit a restaurant this evening to which I’ve never been before and which has a dress code! Wanting to pack light as always, I haven’t brought any sneakers with me however, and given that it’s some time since I wore heavier footwear, by the time we’ve made it the few hundred metres to the shopping district, it’s clear that my feet will know the difference by the end of what will prove to be a long day! Our first stop is the Corn Exchange, which on my last visit, had become a sea of bland coloured, stuffy up-market stores aimed at those with much higher than average incomes. I’m pleased to report this time however, there seems to be change afoot, as it’s now awash with mixed, vibrant colours and filled with shops selling a multitude of different wares and giving a more bohemian feel to the place, much as it did at the turn of this Century when I’d visit often. There’s restaurants and one of my favourite shops, On The Wall, which sells art & posters including film prints, which had moved out of the Corn Exchange years ago, but has since triumphantly returned. Sarah spots a few food items that she likes the look of in an adjoining shop, but as they’re in glass jars, we make a note to return towards the end of the day to save carrying them around with us.

Adjacent to the Corn Exchange is the City’s Market Hall, somewhere I’d frequent when living with Rick in 2002/2003 to fill up on fruit, vegetables and meat at bargain prices (we’d often visit at the end of the day when the food was being sold off more cheaply). There’s been a substantial amount of investment in the Market, and I find a place selling New York style pizza by the slice for £3.50 each. I quickly buy & snaffle a slice covered in Donner Kebab meat, before buying two apple pastries (like mini apple strudels) for £2.00 at a lovely Polish bakery which I’ve never seen before. I save one for later on for dessert after dinner! Sarah finds some cheap work-out gear and after a very pleasant experience, we head for Briggate, the “main” shopping street in the City.

Earlier in the week, my YouTube hero, Adam the Woo, had visited a new restaurant in the Orlando area, Jollibee. It’s a chain restaurant from the Philippines selling fried chicken (akin I suppose to KFC) which has multiple locations in many countries around the World. I’m far more excited than I should be to discover that Jollibee also has locations in the UK, with Leeds being one of those available… on Briggate! Whilst Adam has tried Jollibee in SoCal where he used to live, I’ve never tried it before and I’m keen to emulate my unknowing hero, despite already having had both pizza and a pastry today. It’s my Birthday, so bollocks to it! It’s around midday by this point, and after scoping-out the restaurant and a quick trip to the nearby Tesco Express so that Sarah can grab a gluten-free sandwich, I order a Spicy Chicken Sandwich with Fries and a full-sugar Coke (which I will always do where there’s no price difference between that and Diet). Whilst the sandwich was pleasant and indeed spicy, the fries were a little anaemic and not a patch on those from McDonalds or, my favourite, Taco Bell. There’s a Taco Bell in the St. John’s Centre in Leeds, but I’d opted to try Jollibee for the first time instead of my usual poison of choice.

I’m a huge geek (not news, I know) and have been for the majority of my life (before it was cool, you bloody Millennials!) and would often scratch my nerd itch at Forbidden Planet in Leeds, which stocks a whole host of pop-culture toys and paraphernalia. Although Sarah is not much of a nerd, she does love Harry Potter and also has an addiction to collecting Loungefly brand bags. She quickly spots two Disney inspired mini backpacks that she likes in Forbidden Planet (and buys them) together with a two foot tall version of a Care Bear teddy that Joseph has (Cheer Bear – pink with a rainbow on it’s chest) as a gift for him (I thought it was my Birthday?!). Sarah also saved 15% on the cost of the Loungeflys by signing up to Forbidden Planet’s collector club, for which there is a fee of £10 but still represents a saving overall. I’m sure it’ll get more use in future! I leave without making a purchase; the only Star Trek item in the store was a model of the Original Series Enterprise with lights and sounds.

We can’t check in at our hotel until 15:00, and we’ve still a little time before then. We walk the short distance to the St. John’s Centre on the Headrow (less than 100 metres from the hotel) and whilst Sarah looks at clothes in a store there, I head for HMV (the store where I used to work, but which has since moved) and immediately run into my ex-girlfriend who I wrote about in my very first post. She looks far more uncomfortable than me at the chance meeting – we make small talk for a minute or two before we are luckily interrupted by a customer who needs her help. I browse the A-Zs before Sarah arrives to meet me. It’s so rare that I’d buy a physical product these days that I think the last time I bought a Blu-Ray was during the January 2019 visit.

After a trip to another nearby shopping centre and the purchase of a few refreshments for the evening ahead, it’s finally 15:00 and we head to the hotel, which is in The Light entertainment complex, to check-in. We’re given room 339, which we find to be comfortable and spacious enough, before I unpack the few items I’ve brought with me. Our table for dinner isn’t until 19:00 and as such, we decide to venture out again. We return to the Corn Exchange (which is less than a kilometre from the hotel) and buy the food items Sarah had spotted earlier, before a look around the Trinity Shopping Centre. We head to the Superdry store and Sarah finds a nice navy blue hoody and a sports top for the gym. I see a nice Superdry x Iron Maiden t-shirt (my favourite band, who I’ll be seeing in Leeds this Summer!) but don’t buy it as I already have more clothes than I really need in any event.

It’s soon 18:00 and we head back to the hotel to freshen up, change and walk back out for dinner – we’re eating at a place Sarah “never thought I’d take her to”, in the shape of Bibi’s Italian restaurant. This is the place with the dress code and for which I now have blisters on my feet from walking in new boots all day. It’s quickly apparent that I’d have been fine in my usual t-shirt & trainers (I’m smart casual to comply with their code in my Levi’s navy blue chinos and a white Superdry polo with Sarah wearing jeans, boots and a nice top) but at least I’ve (almost) made an effort, given this is my Birthday celebration. Sarah orders scallops for starter (her favourite), but I’m saving myself for an Americana Pizza (pepperoni, jalapenos, chili) and a side-order of skin-on fries. Sarah orders beef & mashed potatoes for her main and on arrival, it’s clear she too should have ordered a side dish. Nevertheless we enjoy our meal (I even have a Corona with my dinner as I did at Gringos in Huddersfield last January) before we head back to our room after a stop-off at the nearby Co-op Mini Market so Sarah can acquire nibbles. Back at the room, we change for bed & watch an hour or two of rubbish TV before sleep.

Waking with a sore neck the next day (I sleep on a memory foam pillow at home and can’t rest on normal ones anymore), we shower & dress before heading out for breakfast. We’d originally thought to head to Brown’s, which is also in The Light and where we ate last time we stayed at this hotel, but their cooked breakfast doesn’t have any gluten-free sausages for Sarah. We instead try a new (to us) place, Bill’s, which is only a few minutes away on foot. Sarah orders a big breakfast which comes with smashed avocadoes (bloody hipsters!) and I go for my favourite, Eggs Benedict, which was delicious albeit not as warm as I would have liked. I wash my breakfast down with a Coke (yes, I’ll drink it at any time of day!) whilst Sarah sticks to a more civilised Americano coffee.

We check out of our room at 11:00 (we had until midday) and my Dad kindly offers to collect us from the same spot he deposited us the day before. My feet are still a little sore, but we make it safely enough and find Dad already waiting for us on arrival. Joseph squeals with delight at his gift (it’s barely (no pun intended) left his side since he received it) but Sarah has arranged to visit her friends who live near Bradford for a quick catch-up and takes Joseph (and the bear) with her. Mum & Dad offer to take me out for lunch, and since I didn’t have the opportunity and it’ll be cheap, I ask to go to the Taco Bell at the nearby Junction 32 retail park at Birstall. They agree and it’s not long before I’m tucking into my favourite Crunchwrap with spicy fries and a Mountain Dew. My folks stick to the Quesadillas (I’m sure Mexican style quick-service is not really their thing but they’re making a fuss for me) and after lunch, we return back to theirs and await Sarah & Joseph.

It’s not long before it’s time for goodbyes and a drive home to the Coast; we settle in for the night and after finally getting Joseph to sleep at around 21:30, we have an hour or so to watch a YouTube video or two before bed.

We’ve both booked Monday 24th away from work to make a long-weekend of it; Joseph still has to go to School however so we’re up at our usual time to take him. Sarah heads to the gym whilst I do the family ironing and then we head to Sarah’s favourite Scarborough restaurant, Lezzet. I enjoy a Kofte burger dripping with cheese sauce and Sarah has a chicken wrap, both with salad & chips. We collect Joseph from School at the usual time and head home for the last few hours of our time off together.

It might not be the glamourous celebration many might want or expect for their Birthday, but we had a lovely time visiting Leeds, ate lots of delicious food and enjoyed a bit of “grown-up” time to ourselves. I’m always happy to try new things, and I’m somewhat of a “cheap date”, being easily pleased with fast food to eat and sugary Coca-Cola to drink! My Big Red Hiking Hood finally wore out last year after several years of exemplary service so Sarah has bought me a new hoodie for my Birthday, albeit black in colour and made by Alpha Industries (chosen by me). I won’t be changing the name of the blog, however!

I’ve written in the past of our “Five Year Mission” to clear all of our household debt, which we commenced at the start of 2019. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, we were somewhat worried that our Mission might have to be placed on the back-burner in the event that we lost our jobs, had no money & had to struggle to get by given the sheer uncertainty about what would happen. Although this has indeed been the reality for a great deal of people, Sarah & I have been very fortunate. Not only have we kept our respective jobs, but the business where she works and my law firm have remained profitable enough throughout these last 3 years to keep on all our staff and pay our usual running costs, meaning that we could slowly-but-surely keep trudging along with our plan.

My car loan for Mirabeau and both of our Student Loans were repaid during the first 2 years, meaning that we’ve since been able to funnel any additional monies into lump-sum repayments each January to bring down our mortgage balance. In January 2022, we met with our Mortgage Adviser to change our mortgage product to one with a much lower rate of interest (fixed for 2 years), freeing-up more of our monthly monies which we simply channelled into saving up for the next payment in January 2023 (which I made a couple of weeks ago). As such, there’s just one year left of our Mission and in January 2024, we should have sufficient funds to make a payment that will reduce our balance down to below 25% of the value of the house.

We’ve been able to build a little bit of savings separately to the monies for repaying our debt; enough to have at least 6 months of expenses just in case anything goes wrong and sufficient monies to pay for our usual major expense, which is our inevitable trip to Orlando most years. We did visit again in August of 2022 – I’ll finish up the post about that holiday (read vacation, my American friends) as soon as I can, but I’ll need Sarah’s help with that as she keeps “The Book” – a set of notes about what we did when during those two weeks (and which contains our planning for the trip together with planning for our Summer return this year!). We’re unsure as to how much longer it will take us to clear the total balance of our mortgage; it may be that come January 2024, we look to change product again (if we can!) and fix repayments for another couple of years, meaning that we can steadily reduce the balance again each year without exhausting all or a large part of our savings – it’s important to keep that “rainy day fund” in case anything does go wrong, even though we’d likely be able to manage on just one of our wages for a few months if we had to. Or, alternatively, we might simply stay with our lender’s standard variable rate, meaning that we can over-pay as we choose without fear of any penalty.

The majority of the time we have been “on Mission” so far has been quite stressful; the last three years have been consecutively the busiest in the near 140 year history of my firm and Sarah’s work commitments have become such that she’s recently given up her Slimming World consultancy, something she loved to do but which took up so much of her time and for very little income. Joseph has also been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which often makes his behaviour difficult to manage (worsened by the fact that he sleeps very little compared to other children and is “always on”, unable to stop his mind from racing and relax). This also takes a lot out of us as his parents, meaning we’re often too tired or have no time to do much for ourselves (it’s routinely after 9pm by the time we get Joseph to sleep). Once these 5 years have elapsed, we will give careful consideration as to how we want our working lives to evolve given that we will have the majority of our debt repaid, and might look to take more time for our family rather than exchanging it for money.

For so many years, at least 5 I’d say, my buddies Rick, H & Gav and I have been talking about the possibility of a meet-up and night out in our old stomping grounds of Huddersfield where we met during our time at the University. As I’ve mentioned before, I met Rick during my second year of the LL.B course and H & Gav were introduced to me by him. In my third year, we moved in together into the House on Calton Street, which I’ve mentioned probably more times than I care to count in this blog, leading to 9 very memorable months which will forever remain very special to me.

The only image I have from the weekend of the four of us (from the left me, Rick, H & Gav)

Our plans to meet as a foursome were so often thwarted by our individual work or family obligations getting in the way during that time, before COVID came along and put paid to pretty much any chance of the 4 of us, neither of which live in Huddersfield and some of whom live closer to London, meeting up. Then, whilst Sarah, Joseph & I were away in Orlando last Summer, during a Messenger chat the subject came up again, but this time, we were determined to make it a reality.

Shortly after our return from the States, we agreed a firm date of Saturday 19th November for the meet-up; Rick suggested he & I have two nights there, starting on the 18th November, giving us the opportunity to do more and make a long weekend of it. Rooms at a local Premier Inn were booked (the North Hotel rather than the Town centre as there was a significant price difference!), train tickets were purchased in advance on my part and “the Jamie had been made” (this stems from a UK Saturday morning show fronted by presenter Jamie Theakston, during which he would “make the necessary arrangements” to complete some task or event, hence the etymology of our unique idiom).

It seemed to take an age for the day itself to come around; I was quite literally counting them down until the 18th November each day. My business partner Paul had agreed to cover my desk for the day to help me in not coming back to too much work on my desk the following Monday (I do return the favour) and I packed light as always to avoid carrying too much with me on the journey (including my Darn Tough socks bought for Orlando). I kissed Sarah & Joseph goodbye for the weekend and headed into Town to wait for my train, which was at 10:38.

Now, as someone who unquestionably suffers from undiagnosed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (this runs in my family and my sister Sally has in fact been diagnosed), I couldn’t help but go in to the office and deal with any post or e-mails which had arrived before my train time (my office is less than a 5 minute walk from the station), plus, there’s so few shops I might want to browse in Scarborough Town centre that I thought it best to use my more-than-an-hour wait constructively rather than just sitting at the cold station. My train was waiting for me on arrival, my booked-seats ready, and I settled in for the less than 2 hour ride to the ‘Field (on a side note, this is one of the few times when my advance ticket was the same price as booking more-or-less on the day itself at a little over £45). A change of train would be required at York and on arrival, I note that my connection is delayed. By the time it arrives, the train is so full, I have to stand all the remaining part of the journey (York is roundabout the midway point), in the corridor between carriages against the doors. As spirits were running high given the weekend ahead however, I didn’t mind too much, even when a group of younger men who occupied the corridor with me were rowdy, drinking cans of beer but otherwise well behaved. They left the train at Leeds, meaning the final 20 minutes was a more quiet affair leaving me to glance out of the train door windows at the familiar sights of the run in to the ‘Field.

My EE mobile phone contract, which I’ve had for the last few years, provides me with unlimited free calls & text messages, but “just” 4GB of data for on-the-go web browsing for the princely sum of £9 per month. Ordinarily, this isn’t an issue as we have Wi-Fi at home and at my office, meaning that I only use my allowance when out and about. I had chosen to listen to my Amazon Music favourites playlist on the way however, meaning that shortly after my arrival in Huddersfield I received a text from my provider noting that I had used more than 80% of my data for the month and had better be careful as it wouldn’t renew for another week (that’ll be me listening the my usual stuff on my iPhone on the way home, then!).

I arrived in Huddersfield a little before 1pm and rang Rick, who I was meeting first, to see how close by he was. It became clear he’d only just set of from Knaresborough where he lives, and it would take him a little while to meet me. I hung around the Town centre for a little while whilst waiting, before meeting Rick at the University Campus in his new-to-him white M Series BMW (he’s working as a solicitor again now so felt he needed a posher car!). We find somewhere close by to park (the road where Sarah and I usually park when we visit on a weekend was full owing to it being cheap & adjacent to the ever-expanding University Campus). We headed for one of the local Wetherspoon pubs (a cheap and cheerful bar & restaurant where we you can obtain a decent enough meal, often with the price of a drink included) named The Cherry Tree for a burger and a catch-up ahead of meeting H & Gav later on.

After a brief look around the Town centre offerings (it was only 5 moths since we were together in the Town following our walk from Leeds in April but I do manage to find a stock of my favourite alcoholic drink which has since been discontinued, Strawberry & Pomegranate flavoured Old Mout Cider in the Home Bargains which Sarah & I often frequent on our visits and so buy a few for us to enjoy that night), we decided to head to the hotel on the outskirts of the Town and skip a trip we had considered to the suburb of Milnsbridge, where Rick & Gav had lived during my second year, and as such that was put on the back-burner for our next meet-up. Check-in was effortless and soon after our arrival and un-pack, Gav called to see whether we had made it. After confirming our room number (we were sharing a room with twin beds), there followed a knock at the door to reveal Gav had arrived before us (despite having to travel hundreds of miles), which was a pleasant surprise as we were unsure whether he’d be able to make it before Saturday. H was yet to land, but had informed us he wouldn’t be free that night in any event as he’s currently writing a novel and wanted the quiet time away from his wife & daughter to make progress. On his arrival however, we did of course see him briefly to say hello before leaving him to his work and heading to the adjoining pub, The Old Mill, for a pint and a discussion about where to head for dinner.

As H had already said he couldn’t come with and had made other arrangements in the shape of a takeaway pizza, it was decided that we’d order a “Joe” (Joe Baxi, Cockney rhyming slang for taxi; it’s amazing how quickly we all slip back into our old ways!) and travelled to the nearby Town of Brighouse and a local Indian restaurant, Royal Delhi. The food was delicious and we ordered more than the three of us could actually manage (eyes bigger than our bellies despite all of us being in our 40’s and not being slim by any measure!). We each ordered a mixed kebab starter followed by a curry, rice & chips (read fries, my American friends) and a “family naan bread” for us to share, that latter of which was absolutely huge! My IBS began to kick-in almost immediately following dinner, so I made sure to visit the facilities before we left and stopped off at an adjoining Wetherspoon pub (again, it’s a cheap pint) for a night-cap. It wasn’t particularly late by this point, a little after 9pm, so Rick suggested that we walk back to the hotel as it wasn’t much further than 2 miles and would be an opportunity to help burn off the calories from our over-indulgent meal. Having taken care of my worries by ensuring I’d used the loo before we left the restaurant and with the weather being dry and quite mild, I agreed; Gav was somewhat more reluctant and accused Rick of being a “tight Northerner” (which probably isn’t far from the truth as the taxi would have cost us less than £2 each!) but eventually relents and we get underway. It seems however that I’m not the only one who has trouble digesting spicy food, and after 10 minutes or so, Gav is uncomfortable and cursing Rick for his suggestion. Nevertheless, after a gentle 45 minute walk filled with laughter and only a gentle drizzle for a few minutes, we’re back at the Hotel where we check in on H and head back to our room for more catching-up before bed.

The following morning, we’re all up-and-about early enough and after H finally joining the fray and a few FaceTime calls home to the kids, we head into Town in his shouty Mercedes sedan, wheel-spinning all the way. Gav reminds him how much the tyres on his car will cost to replace and as such, and given he’s had speeding tickets in the past on nearby roads, H tries to drive more sensibly! Being a Saturday, Sarah & I’s usual parking spot is much less populated and we easily find a space for a few hours at the cost of just £3. Gav studied hospitality at University and worked his way up from bar staff to management in several pubs & the infamous Camel Nightclub in the Town during his time there. He’d suggested that he’d like to visit some of his old workplaces, and being a sucker for nostalgia, I and the others agree. First, we head to the local Slug & Lettuce pub where we order food and I promptly manage to throw mayonnaise down my brand new navy blue Levi’s chinos (which I’d been saving for this trip) and the food itself was average at best (I ordered a chicken, cheese & barbecue sub sandwich with chips; as close as I could get to my favourite pub-grub in Huddersfield, a Varsity Melt from the now long closed pub chain Varsity, which was run & staffed by students) but at least, after 20 long years, the boys were back in Town.

We head to Revolution, the same vodka bar where Rick and I had eaten in April after our walk for just one drink, before quickly finding that so many of Gav’s old workplaces exist only in our memories now. Whilst appearing clean & tidy, there are still many vacant shop units and I discover to my sadness that the indoor market hall is now entirely closed and scheduled for demolition. I have so many memories of shopping there for cut-price films on VHS, sweets, mobile phone accessories (back in the days of Nokias with Xpress-on changeable facias) and looking though the window of Huddersfield Lighting at their Mathmos Lava Lamp collection. Given that retail on the high street seems in terminal decline, I’m not sure what will replace it and the also vacant and adjoining former BHS building, where we’d often head for a cooked breakfast after morning lectures.

A pilgrimage is made to the location of the Camel Nightclub in Byram Court, which is closed until later that evening but looks otherwise exactly as it did during our tenure. H & Gav then start to remember “Barry”, (Alex Prosser) who I wrote about in my blog post in 2019 when I visited Huddersfield with H for the day, and reveal that he had been the infamous “Phantom Shitter” in the Club, called such as he would in fact defecate there in areas not designed or designated for such. He was discovered one night by a very shocked female patron and was promptly banned for life, although unfortunately, this would prove to be only a few years. After more laughs, vivid memories and liquid refreshments (special mention goes to the Parish Pump), we end the afternoon in The Warehouse on Zetland Street across from the Campus – a largely student pub which shows live sports on huge screens and given that there’s an England Rugby match on, we enjoy the show and a fair few drinks (much more than I’m used to these days, but not enough to feel worse for wear). After the match, we head to, of course, my favourite restaurant in Huddersfield, Gringos Mexican restaurant for the third time in 2022! H is slightly upset as he’s not a fan of spicy food, but I reassure him that there’s a burger on the menu and he’s satisfied. I order my usual burrito filled with mixed meats after we share a large plate of nachos to start, but I have to say, H’s burger looked amazing. He confirmed as much, enjoying every bite, despite being a little miffed that it arrived with salad on despite for him asking for it to be omitted. Full to the brim, we settle the bill and head to the adjoining Tesco supermarket (the site of Rick and Gav’s infamous argument about the purchase of the household washing powder!) to pick up refreshments for the night before returning to the Hotel in H’s Mercedes, via the house on Calton Street to, of course, check H’s Syphon Filter sticker is still in the window of what was his bedroom. I’m elected to jump out of the car, take a picture with my iPhone and we’re all happy to see that it’s still there all these years later. We share more laughs and a few drinks before bed having all thoroughly enjoyed the day together.

The following morning, it’s time for goodbyes. Gav and H have arranged to meet other friends whilst in the area so Rick offers to take me to the train station (albeit in Leeds) to help me on may way. I agree, but feel a little upset that I didn’t have the opportunity to sit & wait at the station in Huddersfield, as I had so many times before during the LL.B, on platform 6 headed East towards home. The train I would have taken “back in the day”, would have brought me all the way to Scarborough, where my parents were still living at that time directly, but currently, I’d have had to make a change in York as before on the Friday so there was a break in the nostalgia of the journey in any event. We’d not dispatched any of the Old Mout I’d bought, and so the journey is made a little more difficult owing to the fact that I have to cart the 4 clinking bottles with me in a carrier bag. Given that it’s quite a rare find now however, it’s nothing to be too upset about!

My beautiful wife and my smiling handsome boy meet me at the station in Seamer, just one stop away from the main station in Scarborough and convey me home whilst Joseph tells me what they’ve been up to during my 2 night absence. Whilst it’s always lovely to come home to my little family, I have to say that I cannot remember a weekend more filled with laughter, shared memories, good food and great company as we had during those couple of days. We made a promise to each other that we’d meet more often (not always in Huddersfield) in future and would do our best to make sure it wasn’t such a long time until the next one. 20 long years since we departed that dilapidated student house on Calton Street, almost half of my lifetime ago, yet the memories of our time together in the Town, with which we all have a love-hate relationship, are still so vivid and I hope will be with us all for the rest of our lives.

Having had a conversation with my friend Rick a little while ago about the WRHW and the third anniversary of the date of my first urban hike having passed earlier this month, he had suggested that should I ever look to make the journey again, he’d very much like to come along. My sister Sally had promised to take me out for lunch to a venue of my choice in Leeds on my next visit to celebrate my Birthday back in January, but our schedules hadn’t yet tied in together. So, when the opportunity to kill both birds with one stone came over the long 4-day Easter 2022 weekend, I jumped at the chance.

Sarah agreed that I could ride the 843 Bus to Leeds again (not for £1 this time, as there was no £1 ticket available on Good Friday with the last bus being before 7pm, so the fare was £13.50, but still more than £20 cheaper than the train) and she would entertain Joseph for a couple of days before meeting me in Leeds on Easter Sunday when she’d be dropping Joseph at my folks for a few days’ stay during the school holiday. Had Sarah taken me to Leeds in her car, it’s likely that Joseph wouldn’t have wanted to return home with her that night and as I’ve mentioned in the past, I don’t take Mirabeau on long journeys! I suggested to Rick that we undertake the walk in reverse this time, i.e. Leeds White Rose Centre to Huddersfield, as it’s far more pleasant that way with the going mainly downhill or flat for the majority of the way.

Having arrived at my folks late afternoon on Good Friday (the Bus journey took a little under 3.5 hours but luckily I had a couple of days left on my free Apple Music subscription before cancelling it) and after an early evening trip to the White Rose Centre and the dreaded Sports Direct for some new walking trousers (my most recent pair had given up on me just a couple of days prior) & a quick dinner at McDonald’s, it was home and bed a few hours later to try and get a good night’s rest before the 14 or so mile walk.

Rick arrived at my folks’ house a little before 08:15 and was treated to a cuppa and bacon butty before Dad dropped the two of us at the White Rose. There’s little point recounting the walking route to you as it was indeed the mirror image of the WRHW route with no variations, but on arrival in Huddersfield (the walk took around 4.5 hours), we did stop for a refreshing pint at a local Marston’s pub built after our tenure in the town before dropping in on our old student gaff just around the corner on Calton Street to, as usual, check H’s Syphon Filter sticker is still in the window of what was his room (it was!). The windows of the house were blocked with black refuse bags and the door clearly hasn’t seen a lick of paint now in decades; it’s clearly one of the most run-down houses on the street made worse by the pavement outside being strewn with broken furniture and visible weeds growing out of and overhanging the roof guttering letting down the street as a whole, which otherwise looked in good shape.

Walking our old daily morning route to the Uni campus, we pass by Gringos where Sarah and I had enjoyed my Birthday meal just a couple of months earlier and to the Market, where after a brief browse and noting that the area had been cleaned up a little since my January visit, we made for a bar where Gav had once worked during his time at Uni, Revolution (part of a UK based chain of Vodka bars catering towards student and hipster types). Whilst the food was tasty (I had a club sandwich with chunky chips & Rick a burger and chips) the price was a little more than you’d expect to pay at a student bar and the portion sizes weren’t that generous but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

On arrival at the Uni Campus, much like myself on the WRHW three years prior, Rick notes how much more up-market and advanced the University looks since our time there (it’s 20 years this July since we both graduated at Law and it had only recently converted to a University from a Polytechnic College at the time) and after a brief look around at the numerous changed buildings (we also manage to lock ourselves outside on a roof terrace after visiting the site of the former University Bookshop & convenience store where we’d often buy a cheap lunch in between lectures; the automatic doors don’t want to let us back inside but luckily there is an open fire escape & just a small flight of steel steps to climb down to make our exit), we depart for the train station where we catch a shuttle service back to Leeds that stops at every station in between the two points. Given it’s now late on Saturday afternoon, local revellers are on their way to the City for a night out, meaning there are few seats available and we make the 40 minute or so trip standing up. Dad collects us from the City and returns us to the house where after another cuppa, Rick says his farewells and departs for home in Knaresborough.

Whilst Rick & I were completing the walk, Sarah had taken Joseph to the Filey Food Festival and treated him to ice-cream, rides and a turn on the bouncy castle. There are a few photos of the day for me to see and I look forward to seeing them both the following day. She’s also bought me a bag of “Bibble” from the popcorn stand which is perennially there; a bag of multi-coloured, multi-flavoured popcorn which the seller always insists is “just for the kids” every time I buy a bag (in the immortal words of the Ramones, “I don’t want to grow up”). Sarah manages to get Joseph to sleep by 20:30 and has a rare evening to herself to read or catch up on her TV programmes of choice.

I wake the following morning unsure of the time given there is no clock in the guest room and have managed to sleep past 08:00; my legs & feet are a little sore but less so than the WRHW given that in reverse, it is indeed easier going and instead of walking up the bloody big hill out of Dewsbury having already walked nearly 9 miles, you walk down it after just a couple. Sally arrives to collect me shortly before 12:00 for my belated Birthday lunch and we drive to the nearby retail park at Junction 27 off the M62 where I have been desperate to try a meal from Canadian chain Tim Horton’s, which is steadily growing in the UK market, but from where I have never eaten before. We each order a Bacon Double Cheeseburger meal with waffle fries; I have a Coke (which is in a 500ml bottle rather than coming from a soda fountain) and a box of 10 assorted Timbits (mini doughnuts with various flavours / fillings / toppings) to share with Sally for dessert. I am quickly disappointed when biting into the burger – the flavour and texture of which I just don’t enjoy at all. The waffle fries are nice enough as is the barbeque dipping sauce which I chose to accompany them (very much like Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce) but the largest disappointment is the Timbits. This is likely my fault – as usual, I’ve built up the anticipation to the point where the idea of them is better than the reality and I’m sorry to discover that they are, in fact, just simple donut bites which are so small that any flavour, topping or filling is largely lost to the plain old batter. Apologising profusely to Sally, who likewise is underwhelmed but has paid for the meal, we return back to our folks’ where an hour or two later, Sarah & Joseph arrive to meet me, having called in on Sarah’s Dad & Mum at their respective houses in Leeds & Bradford for a visit.

After an hour or so, Sarah & I give Joseph a big squeeze & kiss (we won’t see him for 5 nights and I’ve barely seen him for two days) before returning home to a takeaway from our local favourite Indian restaurant, Cinnamon, for tea and then a good night’s sleep. I said in my original post re the WRHW that it was such a slog I’d likely never do it again, and that is very much still true of walking the route from Huddersfield to Leeds. In reverse however, it’s a far more enjoyable experience (or was that simply owing to the company this time?) and perhaps I’ll make the trip again in a couple of years, taking more time to explore Dewsbury and the towns along the route as I go.

During the Pandemic, it’s often been the case that we’ve stayed local and travelled little to avoid potentially spreading the virus and any other illnesses we might have to others. For the last several months in the UK however, COVID-19 infection levels have remained stubbornly high but fairly stable, with deaths and hospitalisations following a similar pattern.

We have taken to visiting family a little more following the easing of restrictions, and a few weeks ago whilst en route to Leeds to visit my folks, we were in traffic behind the Coastliner Bus, the 843, which travels between Scarborough and Leeds & vice versa (or “the Big Blue Bus to Grandmas” as Joseph and I call it) and noticed the digital screen on the rear advertised an offer – “from anywhere to anywhere £1 after 7pm”. I wondered out loud to Sarah “does that mean I can travel from Scarborough to Leeds after 7pm for £1?” and after reading the appropriate page of the Coastliner website, discovered that I could indeed. It sounded like a great silly experiment to do (I’m easily amused and a cheap date; you’ll know this if you’ve read any of my previous posts, dear reader) and so following the obligatory eye rolls from Sarah, and despite the nearly 3 hour anticipated journey time, I decided it was on.

My Dad is in the process of clearing out the loft at their Leeds home, resulting in several boxes of my old childhood toys seeing the light of day, in some cases, for the first time in 20-30 years. Joseph has been exploring the loft’s contents during his stays with my folks over the various school holidays in the last year and has already liberated (and promptly destroyed) a number of toys including my Real Ghostbusters Ecto-1; I decided that to continue my minimalist bent, rather than hoarding them, I would sort through the boxes and my Dad kindly agreed sell on eBay those items which were worth listing, with the remaining being donated or simply thrown away if in poor condition. It seemed like a good excuse to tie-in the loft raid with my bus trip!

Having kissed Joseph & Sarah goodnight, I left the house a little after 19:10 on Friday 19th November 2021 to make my way to the bus stop from where I could catch the 843; it’s only a few minutes from our house meaning that it’s convenient to get on & off the bus when making the trip. I’m shortly joined by two other gentlemen waiting for the bus, one of whom is extremely inebriated, holding his can of Carlsberg Special Brew in one hand and his phone in the other, barely able to stand and using the bus stop post as a prop to prevent hugging the pavement. It’s only a few minutes wait until the 843 arrives at 19:29; the bus driver rebukes the gentleman for trying to bring his beer aboard (he promptly abandons the can on the ground – litterbug) and I stand well clear of him to avoid softening his fall should he lose what little stability he has left. Luckily, our worse-for-wear friend is only going to Seamer just a few stops away, for which the driver charges him £2.20, making me fear that the rumoured £1 fare to leeds might be too good to be true.

I hop aboard and ask the driver if the rumours are indeed true – he professes to having forgotten about the offer, but after a few key presses on his computer, asks where I’d like to go for my £1. When my response is “Leeds, please”, the driver is somewhat dumbfounded. “Leeds?! Is that just because you can?”. I reassure him that my parents live in Leeds and will be collecting me from the bus station and he’s then satisfied that I’m not a (complete) nutjob. I pay my fare and take my seat on the lower deck in the middle of the bus.

I’ve recently bought some wireless Beats Studio Buds earphones from Amazon when they were on offer, as unfortunately my cheap Aukey wireless earphones (also bought from Amazon for £15) either keep dropping signal or not charging properly in their case (Joseph has since pinched these). As the Beats were cheaper than Apple’s other branded earphones EarPods at the time I bought them and came with a free 6 month Apple Music subscription worth £60, even though they were still expensive at £120, I was satisfied they were a good choice. I connect my iPhone to the free onboard WiFi and listen to the soundtrack from the film “The Crow”, lovely & warm inside my Big Red Hiking Hood & sharing the bus with only one other passenger between Scarborough’s outskirts and Malton. It takes a good 45 minutes to reach Malton, just 20 miles or so away from Scarborough.

The Coastliner depot is at Malton, where we have a brief stop-off for a driver change. The first driver, now departing, gives me the thumbs-up as he disembarks and comments on how it’s a great value trip to take. He hands me over to the new driver and we’re away again, now with just me aboard. Sections of the main route down the A64 are closed, but the driver is seemingly ploughing on nonetheless. We reach the road barrier for the closure, where we pull over and the bus engine is turned off. The driver lets me know we’re just waiting for a Highways Agency escort to meet us and take us safely down the closed section, as there are people working on the road overnight. I’m informed this might be as long as a 20 minute delay, but the escort arrives within 5 and we’re underway again. The plod down the closed section takes only a short while, even at 20mph or less, before we’re through the barrier at the end of the closure and turn a hard left through the outlying villages of York.

As we draw closer to the city, and what will be more than half of the journey distance, more passengers join me aboard. By this time, it’s a little after 9pm and there are young folk travelling into the city centre for their Friday night out; it makes me feel old to see my greying reflection in the windows I stare through, serving as a stark reminder that it’s now more than 20 years since I joined Rick, H & Gav at our student gaff on Calton Street in Huddersfield to sit the final year of the LL.B. The time seems to have passed by in a flash and I honestly struggle to recall where it has all seemingly gone to.

It’s a short while before we’re back in familiar territory after a stop at Tadcaster, steaming towards the junction where the A64 meets the M1 and where Sarah, Joseph and I would normally exit. The 843 stays on the A64 however, travelling the old main route into Leeds via Seacroft & Killingbeck, glimpses of the ever taller Leeds skyline peeking out over the horizon. It’s a little after 10pm at this point, and I have to be careful not to look at my phone screen too much, as the bumpy roads are making me feel a little queasy; I’m fine as long as my glance is to the city outside the window. There are quite a few more stops at this point for local traffic, and we finally pull into the Leeds City Bus Station shortly before 22:30 to the tune of “Just like Tiger Woods” by Steel Panther. I thank the driver for one of the best £1 I’ve ever spent and hop off to find my folks waiting for me nearby. Dad’s recently had both his flu and COVID booster jab and is feeling a little under the weather – he’s driving wearing his clothes, bathrobe and his coat! It’s a short trip to my folks place, where after an hour or so of stuffing myself with the treats that Mum’s bought for me or baked, we hit the sack.

It did indeed take a little under 3 hours to reach Leeds, but to be honest, there’s simply no other way of making the journey so cheaply. Even if I walked it on the White Rose Way, I’d need gear, food, drink, lodgings etc. which you simply couldn’t obtain for such a small fee and the journey would take several days to a week. Unfortunately, my plan to take the same trip in reverse the following day was scuppered owing to the fact that the return journeys all terminate at Malton and whilst there might be just one train available to Scarborough after my arrival, my folks insisted in taking me back home to avoid my missing the connection and I paid them for the fuel.

I’d happily take the bus again in future, as the time seemed to pass quite quickly and it was comfortable & warm enough. In all fairness, you can’t really go wrong for £1!

As the World continues to try and edge back toward “normal” during the pandemic as more & more people are vaccinated, inevitably thoughts turn to holidays, vacations, trips away for rest & respite and a feeling that life will return to being about anything other than COVID-19. Sarah & my favourite holiday destination is of course Orlando (no news there), but for most of 2020 & the majority of 2021, Britons who have been in the UK within the last 14 days are not permitted entry into the US. As such, a trip to Orlando was simply not possible. Whilst Paris does not have a Universal Park, it does of course have Disneyland and although I have suggested a return to that Park for Sarah who has been previously (although not for a number of years), it’s not something she’d ultimately look to do as she’s had bad experiences there on those previous trips. So… What to do?

Whilst scrolling through Facebook earlier in the year, having expressed interest in Disney Parks content before, the algorithm suggested something I might be interested in – a Disney UK Staycation Cruise. Now, this I understand is the first time any such Cruise has been available as the Disney Cruise Line normally operates out of far more glamorous destinations such as the Caribbean, but given that the Cruise industry had been largely dormant during the pandemic, it struck me as a rather clever idea to kick-start the industry back to business and I was of course very keen to do it – Sarah, however… not so much. At first.

Sarah will admit that she’s not fond of boats & the sea and worries that she’ll feel unwell the whole time she’s onboard one. I’ve suggested a Cruise before, but she’s dismissed out of hand and we’ve just gone back to Orlando. As that was not an option, she was this time more intrigued and after watching a few YouTube videos of past Disney Cruises and after a bit of discussion, we decided we’d try to make a booking when they became available.

As we knew such a Cruise would likely be very popular, we asked for help from our local Hays Travel branch (who have taken over the now closed Co-Op Travel we would ordinarily use) and after a little to-ing and fro-ing, we managed to book a verandah room on Deck 6 of the Disney Magic (Disney’s first and thus oldest & smallest ship, having been completed in 1998) for 3 nights from and including 3 September, sailing from the Port of Tyne at Newcastle. We booked the day the Cruises “went live” in April 2021, meaning that we had a wait of almost 6 months until sailing day.

Our summer then became about preparation for the Cruise; having had little to look forward to all year save for the odd trip away for a night or two, we piled our energy into researching what to see & do aboard, dining menus to ensure Sarah’s Coeliac disease wouldn’t be an issue, and buying Disney related clothing to look the part. I bought Sarah a Loungefly brand mini backpack, themed around one of her favourite Disney Pixar films, “Coco” for our 9th Wedding Anniversary in June knowing that she’d take it with her. I got into the spirit buying Mickey Mouse, Star Wars and Los Angeles Angels t-shirts (Disney owned the Angels for a few years at the turn of the century, plus it’s one of the Baseball teams that my YouTube hero Adam the Woo supports). I’ll write the remainder of this post similarly to that from last January when we went to Orlando, as a daily diary in the hope that it helps me remember the details!

Friday, 3rd September 2021: Night One

I leave work early the day before the Cruise to pack the cases in readiness; Joseph arrives home that evening as he’d been staying with my folks (who came with us to Orlando) for a few nights to avoid mixing with other kids at his usual holiday club as we all had to prove Covid-negative to be allowed aboard. Thankfully, all the tests we’d taken, which included a Lateral Flow Test each on the morning itself, proved clear. We decided not to drive there & back to Newcastle, given that after the trip we’d likely be a bit tired and not want to drive the two and a half hours ourselves. As such, we’d asked an old school friend of mine, Frank, who is a local entrepreneur and taxi driver, to help us out in this regard. Frank picks us up at 09:30 and after loading the bags (we’ve packed far too much in my opinion for 3 nights!) we’re off to Newcastle. After talking constantly about food all of the way, which leaves Frank looking for somewhere to satiate his appetite as we part company at the Port a little after midday, we have to wait an hour before we’re allowed to start the check-in process and as such, stop at the local Brewers Fayre pub next to the Port gates for a brew. They have a soft play area, filled with other kids waiting to board and as such Joseph is entertained for the brief wait.

When 1pm arrives, we make our way to the Covid Testing area, where after handing over our luggage and an hour or so queue & wait for a negative test result, we’re allowed to board a bus for the few minutes ride to the ship, which we can see just a few hundred meters away, the Mickey Mouse head shapes visible on the bright red funnels. After Joseph is given his Disney Cruise Line Magic Band (which he’ll need for Kids Club and if we get separated), we’re allowed to board on the starboard side on deck 2, which unfortunately means we don’t get to board straight into the Atrium, where Mickey & Minnie await to welcome us, but it’s just a short walk and up a deck and we enjoy being announced aboard and watching the short song & dance the characters give us. The staff are all smiles and do seem genuinely pleased to see us; not a surprise given that many of them have I suspect been working other jobs whilst the cruise industry has been dormant.

We head for Deck 9, the pool deck, where Joseph immediately gets changed into his 2 piece Batman swimming costume (sorry Marvel!) which we’d packed in our hand luggage and is in the pool. I locate the food offerings and immediately stuff my face with pizza and a hotdog & fries despite the fact that it’s only a couple of hours before our first dinner aboard at Lumiere’s that night. After a couple of hours on deck, we find our “stateroom”, a very well appointed and comfortable cabin with a sofa which converts to a bed for Joseph to sleep on. The bed is huge and we easily all three of us fit in it. After unpacking whilst Joseph watches Disney content on the little TV (well, it’s at least 26 inch but I suppose that’s considered small these days!) and when dinner time rolls round just before 6pm, we head to Lumiere’s and I enjoy what must be my first ever steak dinner with a jacket potato & greens. Sarah also enjoys the steak whilst Joseph tucks into pizza, fries and a little garden veg. The Ship’s Captain announces that we have set sail and to Sarah’s pleasure, we barely feel like we’re moving; afterall, we’ll only be sailing at about 7 or 8 knots maximum!

After dinner, and as we’ve heard the shops onboard sell out of items quickly, we head to Deck 4 where we’re met with a queue to enter Mickey’s Mainsail & Sea Treasures and on finally getting in, find the shelves largely bare. The shops opened at 6pm whilst we were at dinner and have virtually sold out of everything but clothing in that time. With no re-stock during the trip, we promise Joseph that we’ll buy him a gift when we get home and Sarah is disappointed that she can’t treat herself to a Cruise Line Loungefly whilst aboard. We take a brief look around the other areas of the ship and see various Disney characters posing for socially distanced photos with guests, spend a little more time on Deck 9 watching the Frozen-themed “Freezing the Night Away” with Elsa, Anna, Olaf and other characters before retiring to our cabin for a very comfortable night’s sleep.

Saturday, 4th September 2021: Night Two

Joseph sleeps like a log until 08:30; Sarah is up earlier and takes the opportunity to sit on the verandah and read a little before we shower, get dressed and head to breakfast at Lumiere’s. I am delighted to see Eggs Benedict on the menu (if you’ve read my Orlando post, you might might remember I has a delicious Eggs Benedict at Manchester Airport whilst we waited to board the flight) and tuck-in whilst Sarah orders some fruit; we ask for Mickey Waffles for Joseph, although I end up eating most of it and he has a little fruit. After breakfast, we head to Deck 9 again and Joseph is quickly in the pool with the other boys & girls. I head back to our room to change into my swim shorts to join Joseph in the water whilst Sarah reads closeby. The pool itself is only a foot or so deep, but there is a “Splash Zone” at the rear which Joseph enjoys too and we occasionally take the short walk down the Deck to midship, where there is another pool, this time 4 feet deep, where Joseph and I take a dip after a brief wait (social distancing is still in place and as such, a maximum of 20 people are allowed in the pool at a time). Although there are two water slides, once of which has a drop entry from the top of one of the funnels, Joseph can’t pluck up the courage to try them and we stick to the pools. The Ship is sailing down the Yorkshire Coast, ironically to Flamborough Head, just down the way from Scarborough, where the ship then turns and heads back to Newcastle. At 7 or so knots, this round-trip takes a whole day and we make it twice during the Cruise.

The day is spent swimming, lounging and trying the various food offerings on Deck. There are salad bowls, sandwiches, shawarma kebabs and many other fast-food choices (including the aforementioned pizza, hotdogs and also burgers) but the buffet restaurant, Cabanas, is also open and they have many dishes including various curries which Sarah tries & enjoys. We take a chance trip back to the shops to see that they have indeed not re-stocked, but as there are fewer people looking for purchases after the first night’s carnage and the room is a little less populated, I do manage to find a fridge magnet as a souvenir and Joseph picks out an Aurora pen two pin badges (Cinderella & Ariel) to decorate his Mickey backpack we bought him especially for the trip.

Joseph is booked into Kids Club for a little before 4pm; he gets to do some crafting, meet characters and give us a little respite to ourselves for a couple of hours before dinner.

There are three child-friendly restaurants aboard (there is an adults only restaurant, Palos, but as we have Joseph we don’t want to leave him at Kids Club whilst we eat) and you try each one on successive nights. Lumiere’s last night was certainly the most up-scale of the family-friendly restaurants; night two is spent at Animator’s Palate, which is heavily themed around Disney animation as you would expect from the name. When you arrive at your table, you’re asked to draw a character which will then be animated on screen during the main course. We all do our best (Joseph draws a werewolf, I draw myself in a Starfleet Uniform and Sarah herself) and hand in the drawings to our servers. You have the same servers each night and they follow you to each restaurant, taking a note of your likes & dislikes and special dietary requirements etc. I again have a slightly different steak dinner as last evening’s was so delicious whilst Joseph has chicken strips and fries.

After dinner, we head for the Walt Disney Theatre where we are to watch the night’s West-End style show “Tangled: The Musical”, but it’s very busy and extremely warm and neither Sarah nor I feel we’ll be able to sit masked for what will be more than 2 hours. As such, we decide instead to spend the evening up on Deck 9 watching that evening’s film, Sarah’s aforementioned favourite, “Coco” on the Funnelvision (a huge screen mounted to the Ship’s funnel, on which they pretty much constantly screen Disney films all day). It’s quite cold on Deck however, and after a little while, we retreat to the cabin and hit the hay.

Sunday, 5th September 2021: Night Three

We awake to toilet trouble in our room; it won’t flush! After a quick call to our stateroom host Elmer, maintenance are there to fix it in a flash. We dress and head for breakfast. Not wishing to buck the trend, Joseph is again dressed for a pool day and given that he’s had such a wonderful time thus far, we simply leave him to play, watching from deckchairs in front of the pool, happily tucking into whatever goodies we can lay our hands on (more pizza, anyone?).

Later that day, whilst Joseph heads to Kids Club, Sarah decides to try out the gym at the bow of the ship, giving a panoramic view of the North Sea ahead. Whist she does, I head for Deck 4, where there is a “running track” on Deck on which you can take a full circuit of the Ship; having bought a cheap Akaso Brave 7 LE action camera to record our time aboard (which was ok, but I really should just have used my iPhone), I record a walking lap (you’re not surprised I’m not running, are you?!) of the ship from the Starboard side all the way around. It takes me in the region of 8 minutes to walk at a steady pace so that my footage isn’t too shaky (even with image stabilisation on, my Akaso is not even close to GoPro quality); three laps we’re told is equivalent to a mile. I head back to our room where Sarah joins me shortly thereafter and we change ready for our evening meal. Collecting Joseph from Kids Club, we head to Rapunzel’s Royal Table on Deck 4 and for the third night in a row, I again have a steak dinner! Joseph is back to pizza & fries and Sarah has a chicken dinner. The evening’s meal comes with a show; given that we’re at Rapunzels’, you won’t be surprised to learn that the characters from “Tangled” appear to perform songs & dances at intervals during dining, capped off with the servers carrying lanterns throughout the restaurant as you enjoy your dessert. It’s a lovely show and although I do try to get pictures & videos with my Akaso, alas it simply can’t handle the low light levels. Luckily, Sarah has brought her iPhone and we do get a few snaps & short clips. “Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic” is the night’s entertainment post dinner, but we’re so tired after our third pool day in a row and given the conditions in the Walt Disney Theatre the night before, we decide to spend our final evening on Deck watching “Big Hero 6” on Funnelvision. It’s a much warmer night but there are few people sharing the screen with us; we make it a good portion of the way through the film before it’s clear that Joseph is too tired to last the whole runtime and we decide to retire to our room and watch it on the TV there. Joseph however becomes bored quickly and asks that we switch to one of his favourite Disney cartoons instead. Whilst he watches, we (read I) pack our luggage, which then has to be left outside our room for collection ready for an early start tomorrow, and enjoy our final night’s rest aboard.

Monday, 6th September 2021: “Disembarkation Day”

We’re up, showered and dressed at 7am and have our final breakfast onboard at Rapunzel’s (again, you’re allocated where you dine). I’m so full from the night before that I have just an orange juice whilst Sarah and Joseph have some fruit. We’ve all our carry-on luggage with us, so after saying our final farewells to the Cast Members & Crew, settling our account at Guest Services and returning Joseph’s Magic Band, we head to the Ship’s photo gallery and buy a print of an image taken at Rapunzel’s the night before by the in-room photographer as a souvenir. It’s a 45 minute wait for it to be developed, but on collection and after a final trip to the Atrium, we disembark down the gangway and bid our farewell to the Magic; as always, it’s never goodbye, but “until the next adventure”. An extremely short bus ride (just a couple of hundred meters again) takes us back to the Port of Tyne terminal, where we very quickly find our luggage and head back on foot to the Brewer’s Fayre, where Frank had dropped us off three days prior and from where he will shortly collect us. As we walk, the Ship’s red funnels steadily recede behind the Port terminal, until it is gone from sight. We have a drink whilst we wait for Frank to arrive (Joseph has a slushie at 9 in the morning!) and enviously watch the guests arriving for the next sailing, which will be that very evening, knowing what an amazing adventure they will have in the coming days and wishing that we could return to the Ship with them.

Frank lands and we spend the journey back to Scarborough regaling him with tales of the food we’ve enjoyed during our stay. We’re home seemingly in a flash, where after goodbyes, as usual after a stay away, the washing machine awaits.

I can’t tell you how sad I actually felt that morning; saying farewell to the people who had taken good care of us during the trip and walking down the stairs where Mickey & Minnie had greeted us on arrival and though the grand Atrium for the last time. It’s fair to say that we would have no qualms taking another Disney Cruise and even that Sarah has officially caught the “Cruise Bug”, looking at future sailings in more exotic locations such as the Bahamas to Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. Given that President Biden has in the last few days relaxed the restrictions allowing us Britons entry to the US again provided you’ve been double vaccinated, it’s certainly an option we’re considering for future (in addition to revisiting Orlando!). That said, if Disney ever ran another Staycation Cruise in the UK, you could count us in. We truly did have a magical time.

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Yesterday, 23rd March 2021, marked the first anniversary of what is commonly referred to in the UK as “Lockdown 1”, the first of the thus far three national lockdowns we have experienced in an effort to defeat COVID-19.

Several vaccines have been created, tested, approved and are now in the process of being rolled out to the adult populace of the world – here in Britain, now more than 50% have received their first jab since late December. Indeed, both of my parents and Sarah (owing to her Coeliac Disease) are amongst them, with my turn to materialise during the latter half of April or May when the over 50s have been successfully inoculated. Second jabs will follow in due course, but that first round provides such protection that we should hope to shortly return to what we would consider “more normal” lives and patterns of behaviour. This has long been referred to as “the light at the end of the tunnel”.

Henry David Thoreau, a hero of one of my (unwitting and deceased) heroes, Christopher Johnson McCandless (aka Alexander Supertramp) once wrote that “most men lead lives of quiet desperation”. Whilst no-one who knows me at all would ever accuse me of being quiet, I have, for the best part, simply tried to muddle through this last year without too much fuss, leaning on my ever-dependable and little-complaining Wife as my crutch. Whilst some relationships may have strained and even broken down during the preceding 12 months, I feel Sarah and my relationship has perhaps reached another level; whilst we still argue and disagree regularly, I think it’s fair to say that the pandemic has helped temper our marriage. Sarah has done her absolute best to keep our family afloat, even working irregular hours into the evening so that I can be at my desk for as long as possible during the day, and taking virtually sole responsibility for Joseph’s homeschooling.

Whilst I’m not one to talk too often about my mental health, I can’t deny that I’ve been affected by this alternate reality we’ve inhabited not long since our return from Orlando last January. I am quietly desperate to return to doing the little things, such as seeing and hugging family & friends, going out to a shop or restaurant, getting a proper haircut (I’ve been giving myself the “Corona Crew Cut” with my own clippers) and many other simple activities that were so taken for granted prior to 2020. Any thoughts of larger plans, such as a return to the United States, are firmly at the back of our minds.

The largest worry for me, save for the thought of losing loved ones, has been the uncertainty of it all, the inability to plan for any future events. Joseph has his 6th Birthday next month, and although many of the restrictions will be lifted by that point, it’s extremely unlikely he’ll be able to celebrate it as he & we would like. He can however visit his Grandparents over Easter, whom he’s not seen in person since August last year. He’ll likely spend a few days there whilst Sarah & I work over the school break and reconnect with my folks and likely his cousins. I worry that he’s retained little of his memories of his pre-pandemic life, and hope that he’ll quickly recover any social skills he may have lost largely cooped up in the house, avoiding human contact.

I did also hear from my buddy Rick last evening, proposing that the long-discussed Huddersfield meet-up with H & Gav take place as soon as possible after the last of the restrictions are (hopefully) lifted this coming June, depending on the continued levels of vaccinations and whether the current third wave of EU infections badly affects us here. I’m only too happy to have something to look forward to, and as I was really looking forward to meeting the boys before all of this for a catch-up, I’m over the Moon at the prospect of seeing them all in the next couple of months. I hope Sarah will get the chance to meet with her friends shortly, too. Just the thought of having plans to make is wonderful.

I hope this post finds you well, dear reader.

2020 has perhaps been the most unusual year of my, and I’m sure most people’s lives. Nothing has been certain; even our leaders have been uncertain about the best courses of action (hardly surprising since something like this hasn’t happened for more than 100 years) and I hope it’s fair to say that the vast majority seem to have done their best to simply “keep calm and carry on” as the old wartime slogan would have it. Collectively, we’ve lost loved ones (Sarah lost her Grandma to the virus just weeks ago), jobs, livelihoods and even with 2021 fast approaching, it’s not clear if or when life will return to something we now vaguely remember as being normal in the last year of the previous decade. It’s certainly been an extremely difficult year; one which will be long remembered, examined and argued over for many more years to come. As Michael J. Fox notes, reprising his “Back to the Future” role as Marty McFly in the video for Lil Nas X’s track “Holiday”, “Whatever you do Nas, don’t go to 2020!”

On average, for the now 2 years I’ve been writing this my blog, I’ve posted at least once a month to bore my handful of readers (thank you!) with my ramblings and relatively mundane life & times. This year, I’ve posted very little, literally owing to the fact that there’s been very little to report to you on. We’ve been keeping ourselves to ourselves, not making unnecessary journeys, staying home on weekends watching Netflix, Disney+ and Prime (other streaming services are available!) and doing very little otherwise. Joseph is bored and difficult most weekends, as I’m sure many kids are, struggling to understand why we can’t do something as simple as go to see his Grandparents or meet his friends in the local park for a playdate. As we’ve not had a summer vacation (we paid the money we would have spent on that missed trip to Orlando off the mortgage in September, reducing our balance by another 10%) and have spent very little during the last 11 months, we decided we’d spend a little more on Joseph for Christmas. As such, we’ve bought him a few gifts together with a particularly large toy that he’s been hankering after for a few months. All in all, I think we may have spent in the region of £150 on gifts for Joseph, which whilst more than we would ordinarily spend, I don’t think is too excessive. Indeed, we bought some of his new toys used on eBay to help stretch the money further and have taken to selling (and donating) some of his older toys which he no longer plays with to help fund the cost. I’m also in the process of selling some of my old bachelor pad items, which have remained boxed & unused for more than a decade, to help clear away the clutter. I’ve also been donating older & unworn clothes to clear out more space in my wardrobe and hopefully help the local charities who have been struggling for donations during the pandemic.

Sarah has bought me a lovely gift for Christmas in the shape of a Belstaff overshirt jacket, something I’ve fancied for some time (owing to Belstaff providing the apparel for Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman’s “Long Way” motorcycle trips, of which I’m a huge fan and the third of which, “Long Way Up”, finished airing last month); this is in response to the Eternity Ring I bought her for our 8th Wedding Anniversary (which has since been damaged and written-off by our insurer! Eternity, eh?) in June. It’s a far more expensive gift than I would usually allow her to buy for me, but since this year seems to be an exception to just about every rule in the book, I’ll allow it! I’ve bought her just a couple of more modest gifts, spending in the region of £30 (which is triple our usual budget!), which I won’t describe here in this post as she often reads my blog and I don’t want to spoil the surprise for her.

Christmas itself will likely be a low-key event for us as it often is; the day itself will be spent at home, Joseph unwrapping his new gifts and Sarah preparing the food, whilst I sit on my backside and watch my usual festive celluloid offerings, which will definitely include “The Muppets Christmas Carol” and “Die Hard” when Joseph has finally fallen asleep later in the day. We’re considering whether to visit my parents over the few days for the holiday in which restrictions have been significantly relaxed, but we’re yet to decide. I expect we’ll visit for just one day, given that it’s been several months since Joseph has seen his Grandparents and he’s missing them terribly. Even though we FaceTime every week on a Sunday, there’s just no substitute for Grandma’s hugs and baking, especially at this time of year. I will likely receive my usual care package of Mum’s home baked Christmas treats, to include mince pies and jam tarts.

I had hoped to undertake a significant hike this year to celebrate my 40th Birthday, but clearly that hasn’t been a possibility in the circumstances. Whilst thoughts are turning to 2021 and the hope we might be able to visit other countries in the not-too-distant future, we’re trying our best to not make too many plans for vacations etc.; at the moment, we’re still not permitted entry into the USA and as such, a Florida holiday will have to wait until we are. Spain has been particularly badly affected by the pandemic, and as such, I’ll likely put any thoughts of walking the Camino de Santiago (I was considering the Camino Ingles, not just because it’s the traditional historic route of the English making the pilgrimage, but also because it’s a route I could walk in a week so as not to be away too long from family & work) on hold until things improve. I might however have to hike The White Rose Way, which will take me home to Scarborough from Leeds in around 6 or so days. I’ll call it the 40+1 Hike, and should I go ahead with it, I’ll post about my preparations.

This will I’m sure be my last post for 2020, and that being the case, I’d take this opportunity of wishing you all the best dear reader, for a happy festive period and for a brighter year in 2021.