Yorkshire Born

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Yorkshire Born

The year before my ankle injury featured in “How a rainy day can change your life,” I finally got to fulfill a dream I had held for many years which was to return to my homeland of Yorkshire and have a holiday in Scarborough.

It was the summer I should have spent with my lovely friend Faye, in her house in Lac La Biche in Alberta, Canada. The time I spent with Faye was heavenly as she was an angel on Earth, and the house was so beautifully situated.

Yorkshire BornThat summer to forget the pains of losing her during the winter, I had worked myself tirelessly to a standstill. Many days I had said, “I will have to have a sit down before I fall down.”

There is no doubt in my mind driving myself so hard for so long, was the reason my ankle went last year. I knew it would go at some time. I just helped speed it up.

I took my break in late September, partially because I had planned to see the Jazz festival, at this time of year I knew there would be few tourists as well.

Also, a big factor was knowing at this time of year the winds would be strong and the tides high. I needed to feel alive again after feeling dead since December when Faye passed away.

The break worked wonders, I had never felt so energised as I did standing in the winds and rain looking out to sea, as I said my farewell to Faye. I had wanted to do it by the lake where we spent our last night together.

But things never work out that way, I don’t think I could have gone through with it, it was too heart-breaking doing it at Scarborough.

I did get back to Scarborough, I had a wonderful long weekend at a lovely guest house on the edge of Peasholm Park, which to my delight had not changed a lot from how I remembered it as a child. Much to the town’s credit.

Though the centre has been modified to keep up with the times, it still retains the sweet charm of a lovely seaside town. There are two distinct beaches. The South bay is the tourist area with lovely sands and pleasure parks for the children.

North bay is totally different with a rocky shore bottom, this is the area that gets the high waves while South bay hardly gets a ripple on the far side of the castle. It is odd how two bays, so close together can be so different.

As pleasant as the trip was I still have not totally fulfilled the dream I had. I wanted to see a cricket match in Scarborough some time. Being a Yorkshireman, you might have thought I would have wanted to go to the Test ground at Leeds, yet Scarborough always held my dreams.

The other part of my dream I never got to fulfill was that I always wanted to see an Alan Ayckbourn play at the Stephen Joseph theatre.

Even though I did not get all of the dreams, I was grateful I got to go back to Scarborough for one last time.

Pictures from the top- Our house in Lac La Biche, Alberta; Lac La Biche showing the monument to David Thompson who located the lake for the Hudson Bay Company; South bay & North bay, Scarborough taken the same day, Peasholm Park

1 Comment
  1. Avatar of Andrew J. Sacks
    Andrew J. Sacks says

    Alan, thank you for posting this readable piece!

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