Summer 2006

This was the best time in Whitby so far, arriving for the regatta, and staying for a further week which happened to be Folk Week; we hadn't known about the folk week, but it really was a happy co-incidence. Now that we know Whitby a little better, it hardly takes any time to settle in...we had booked a cottage with Ingrid Flute again and found it easily...it was very convenient and comfortable, in a new development nestled into Silver Street. we had our first night's meal at our favourite, the Khyber Cafe and made vague plans for the two weeks that stretched out luxuriously ahead of us. There was the obligatory crabbing of course, the celebrations of the regatta and the amazing firework display...such a warm feeling in the crowd for that, it's really special...lots of strangers bonding for half an hour or so over the sight of magical fireworks set off against the ancient and timeless view...it reminded me a bit of the emotions at the Green Gathering, a lovely ecofriendly hippy trippy festival in the south, but with a completely different sort of crowd and is special because you realise that most people respond to beauty, history and positive shared experiences....whatever they are like and where they're from.
After the regatta had passed, my husband and son bought a kite, and we decided to walk along the beach to Sandsend...this started well, although the boy had started to complain of a sore throat...hopefully the op is going to sort that out soon. Lovely walk although longer than it looks, we had a snack at the cafe at Sandsend and then got the bus back to Whitby...that night the sore throat developed into feverish tonsilitis and we had to see a doctor the next day...poor boy. A very good system at the health centre near to Pannet Park, we were seen by a 'nurse practitioner' never heard of that before, but she was excellent and gave him a longer course of antibiotics than usual, and he hasn't needed them since, although he still gets odd days of tonsil problems. Whitby cured him - magical Whitby...also very medicinal was the ice cream we discovered after we'd been at the clinic at a new place in Flowergate called Sherlock's; honestly, my son's recovery so aided by this luscious confection - an enormous goblet of rich sweet comforting cream, he was feeling much better towards the end of our first week. It's a very interesting old building, and apparently used to be a butchers! They do lovely homemade snacks and lunches, too...hope it's still there this Summer, the people running Sherlock's said that they had owned the shop for some time, but they had run it as a gift shop until last year. Better this way by far...