Back to Britain – August 2025 (Month 5)

I am publishing this slightly early as I am heading off on a cruise with my sister Anna to the Norwegian Fjords at the very end of August and won’t have my laptop with me.

An update on my health

Last month I wrote about the rather scary blood test I had which showed very low levels of neutrophils, in other words my immune system was barely functioning.

Fortunately my blood results started improving straight away. I had another blood test at the beginning of August and this showed further slow but steady improvement. And the GP said I didn’t need any more blood tests.

However, I felt that as I was going on a cruise ship with lots of other people in the first week in September I would quite like to know progress has continued so I paid for a private blood test a week before we were due to set off. My neutrophils had very slightly improved again, but this time my monocytes were low (they had been fine before). So I had to contact the GP through the eConsult feature to ask if this is something I should worry about – of course wanting to know if there was any medical reason I shouldn’t get on the cruise ship.

I had several days of scary worrying whilst waiting for the call from the GP but it turned out they didn’t ring me back within the 72 hours (by the end of work Friday) – instead I got a text message at 7:30pm Friday evening from my GP who was apparently on holiday. He said there was no problem with this one-off blood result if I am otherwise well. Phew, big relief! I had to notify my travel insurance that I have been seeing the doctor about a low white blood cell count and that cost me an extra £2.73 on my insurance policy which is fair enough! It’s been a worrying few days but I will put all that behind me when I am on the boat and just enjoy the trip.

As I mentioned last month, I started doing a 2000 piece jigsaw to take my mind off it all and managed eventually to finish it, although the sea around the UK took me forever!

A visit to Tonbridge

In my 20s and 30s I lived in Tonbridge in Kent and my best mate Charlotte still lives there. It’s a good two hour drive to get there, or more if it is busy, so I planned a day visit to Tonbridge where I would see Charlotte and we would have a cake together somewhere.

We had a day booked and soon enough I was heading down the A12 and then over the Dartford Crossing back to Kent.

First of all I called in on my former in-laws, Jenny and Peter, who also had Jenny’s sister Anne visiting (I had hoped to see Anne in Wales when we visited in June but she was unfortunately away). It was great to see them all and Jenny had made one of her excellent Lemon Drizzle Cakes again – she is a master of them!

After a couple of hours at Jenny and Peter’s I headed off to Charlotte’s mum’s house where she was currently staying (whilst selling her flat). It’s been years since we have spent a lot of time together and I’ve probably only seen her five or six times since I moved to Germany but she is one of those people who you can instantly slot back into the friendship with. It was great to chat to her.

We went to Penshurst Place for their tea room experience which was a bit waspy but otherwise very nice. I had a cream tea of course.

We had a great chinwag and then it was time for me to head back north to the wilds of Suffolk. Traffic was easy and my car eats up the miles anyway so it was a good day and I will do it again before too long, hopefully!

Afternoon Tea with the Tenors

I had offered to do an afternoon tea for the tenors following the successful walk we did together. I sort-of expected 8-10 people to come but in the end the weather was fantastic and 16 people came along, most bringing a cake.

I had prepared various sandwiches (with the crusts cut off) and we also had scones (brought by the guests) with jam and clotted cream. I made a Käse Sahne Torte with a slight adjustment to my previous recipe (due to differences in Quark fat percentage in the UK) and it was a real triumph.

There were also strawberries and raspberries and malt loaf and a strawberry roulade to eat. Plenty!

It was a very nice afternoon. It was very hot in the garden so a few people had brought parasols which was a good idea. We had the drinks in a large tub of cold water to cool them, and in fact we massively overcatered with the drinks. Klaus said he was worried we wouldn’t have enough but we ended up with about 75% of the drinks left – people were drinking tea largely (which Klaus had not expected!) So we have good stocks of coke, lemonade, sparkling water, beer and cider at home now for future guests.

I really enjoyed chatting to everyone and meeting some of their partners/spouses. It turns out our house is very convenient for hosting such an event so I will definitely do this again!

Carl the Mercedes gets that sinking feeling again

I have mentioned in previous blog posts that Klaus’s Mercedes E Class has had problems with the rear air suspension that have required him to call out the AA twice.

He was heading to Gloucester and Cardiff for work one day and was going round a roundabout in Milton Keynes (there are many!) when he heard a familiar ‘bang’ sound – the sound of the exploding suspension air cushion/bag.

He knew what this meant so stopped the car almost immediately in a car park in a small retail park – outside a tile shop and a kitchen shop. And called the AA.

He also called me of course. Thinking quickly I suggested that I drive to him in my SLK, he then carries on in the SLK and I wait for the AA recovery truck to bring Carl the Mercedes and Helen the wife home. He agreed this would be a good plan.

Five minutes later I had packed a bag with drinking water, a flask of tea, my iPad to play on whilst waiting, a jacket for the evening and other minor items and was on my way to Milton Keynes.

I wisely stopped for the loo before I got to Klaus’s car park (as I would have failed to find a loo in the trading estate!) and the AA man was there when I arrived. He had indeed diagnosed a blown air cushion so all that could be done was recovering the vehicle back to Bury. He couldn’t do that with his small van but he requested the right sort of recovery vehicle (very long!) for us, and changed the contact details for the callout from Klaus to me so I would get all the updates about when the recovery truck was coming.

He said the guy was likely to arrive from 6:30pm so I had an hour and a half to kill. He told me the largest Asda in the UK was just 15 minutes’ walk away and they had loads of food areas so that seemed like a good plan, I would need to buy some sandwiches for the evening.

I set off on a not particularly scenic walk along a busy road and eventually found the Asda. I got another cup of tea and a sandwich for later – I had found a few chewy bars in the glove box of Carl as well. I didn’t actually go into the main Asda bit as it wasn’t a very exciting prospect and I didn’t want to miss the AA man if he came early.

Which of course he didn’t, he came at 7:30pm, but was very chatty and friendly.

With Carl safely loaded on the truck it was time to leave.

I enjoyed my chat with the driver, who was a very pleasant young man, on the two hour drive to Bury St Edmunds. All the AA people we have met so far have been excellent. He delivered Carl to the garage that have been dealing with the air cushion problems.

I told him I had a 40 minute walk home (in the dark) and he asked me how far by road. I said 7 minutes so he said he would take me which was extremely kind. I got him to drop me off at the local petrol station and he went in there to use the loo anyway so it wasn’t too far out of his way. Excellent service from the AA.

And Carl? He spent another two weeks at the garage. They told us they were ordering a new air cushion and we pointed out that just changing them was not fixing the problem, there must be some other issue. They talked to Mercedes about it and ended up switching out a pressure valve which they said was sticky. This is a plausible option but Klaus had already been on the phone to his boss when he took my SLK from Milton Keynes and asked to have a company car. If there is a problem with that car it’s not our problem. Klaus has now ordered a Toyota Corolla hybrid; the choice was fairly small as there was a limit on the list price, but he’s not excited about a company car anyway. He used my SLK whilst Carl was in the repair shop but is using Carl again until the company car arrives. It’s a risk but, as he said, Carl is the best car he has ever had and the most comfortable for the long journeys he does. We will get Carl MOTed and put up for sale when the company car arrives, which will be very sad for Klaus. But I don’t think we can really justify having FOUR cars!

U3A Church Visit

With the U3A I visited a lovely church in Hawstead. It had this amazing ceiling.

It was also filled with memorials on the walls and floor, including a lady getting out of the bath just behind the pulpit!

We were shown round by the former churchwarden who had in fact resigned some time ago but as there was no-one else to take it on she was still doing it – I suspect this happens a lot in these village churches.

After we had enjoyed a good look round the church we had a 10 minute walk to the café in the village (walking because there was a road closure between the church and the café which was a 12 minute drive diversion!) and I had a very nice slice of red velvet cake.

Bank Holiday trip to Southwold and a beer festival

The last Monday in August is a bank holiday so Klaus had a three day weekend. On the Saturday we decided to go to Southwold (Klaus had picked up Carl and wanted to test he still worked on longer journeys!) It’s an hour and fifteen minutes by car but very smooth and comfortable in the lovely Mercedes.

We stopped for some cake when we got there.

And had a look around the beach.

We wandered around generally, there were lots of people (school holiday and bank holiday weekend) but it was nice to see the sea again.

We drove back along the tourist route B1102 which goes to Stowmarket – Klaus was really enjoying driving Carl again.

On the Sunday we didn’t do very much. We then suddenly thought we could go to the Bury St Edmunds Beer & Cider Festival but when looking for tickets I discovered there were non-alcoholic tickets available (at £5 instead of £15) but they had all sold out for that day. There were 12 left for Monday so we decided to go on Monday instead and I bought the tickets. On Sunday we just mainly chilled out.

On the Monday we went into Bury centre on our way to the beer festival to discover there was a food market on so we had a bit of a nose around and bought some Albanian savoury pastries which were nice. Klaus had a decent coffee at Café Nero.

We then headed in to the beer festival. Klaus was given a voucher for £15 worth of beer and cider, I had a £5 voucher for non-alcoholic drinks. And we each got a beer glass (well, plastic),

They had beer stations all around the cathedral.

With places to sit and chat.

The ciders were all in the outside area in the large tent – it was good to be under cover as it was very sunny. Here is Klaus checking out in the programme which ciders to try.

I didn’t actually drink anything except for the free water so when I left and handed back my drinks card I got my £5 back. We did buy a Ploughman’s Lunch to share whilst we were there, and Klaus tried small quantities of three ciders and a gin and tonic.

We enjoyed the festival and it seemed very well run. We will go again next year I suspect!

A visit to Rougham Hall

One of the Bury Bach choir ladies had arranged two dates when we could have a tour of Rougham Hall which is a derelict country house not far from Bury. Apparently the chap who owns it used to sing in the choir.

Anyway, this sounded interesting so I signed up.

We met at Blackthorpe Barns and then headed through some woodland past some World War 2 bunkers. The guy doing the tour, George, had loads of really interesting historic information for us.

We then arrived at Rougham Hall and were allowed to go closer to the building (didn’t have to peer through the fence).

It was hit by a German bomb in 1940 which destroyed the centre and made it uneconomic to repair. It is now being left to the elements.

George’s great grandfather had bought it (when it wasn’t a ruin!) and lived there until the bomb went off, although he was away on that night fortunately.

There was interesting info on the different bricks and how it was constructed. Overall a fascinating tour.

We headed back quickly after visiting the hall as it was starting to rain. I had a very enjoyable chat with Kate, one of the Altos, I will look out for her at our next practice in September to say hello again.

More rambles

This month I did lots more rambles – the lovely sunny weather made it great to get out and about and I am slowly learning the names of some of the other ramblers. Seeing as I ramble with five different groups (Bury, Newmarket, Stowmarket, Sudbury, Colchester) depending on where their walks are, it means there are a lot of people to get to know.

A cracking wedding anniversary meal

Klaus and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary this month.

A few weeks ago I decided to find somewhere nice for us to eat and noticed a restaurant, Bellota, which had very good reviews on Google so I booked us a meal there.

Four days before our meal the Guardian published a restaurant review of this very restaurant – full of praise!!

So we went along and it was indeed wonderful. We sat next to a couple who had read the review on the Sunday morning and booked for this Wednesday (also their wedding anniversary, they had one more year than us!) and they had driven over from Buckinghamshire!! Anyway, the food was brilliant. Klaus also enjoyed some nice glasses of wine.

We will definitely go back sometime but we found out that after the Guardian article there had been more than 1000 bookings so it looks like there is no chance for a table for months.

Busy life

I have realised this month how much I enjoy being back in the UK. I’ve connected with quite a few people through choir, ramblers etc, as well as catching up with old friends like Charlotte. Life is very good for me here (assuming my health doesn’t go downhill).

Klaus has changed everything in his life except me – house, job, country… and he is working REALLY hard the whole time. Much is asked of him and he always wants to do a good job. He has to build up his network here in the UK and also work out how best to utilise his knowledge and skills in the different environment of the UK. He has lots to give and is still enthusiastic but it’s taking up a lot of his mental energy and he’s not always sleeping so well due to thinking about work things. I hope things might get easier over time but I’m not so sure about that. But we will support each other and he does enjoy the customer visits.

Next month’s blog will have all the info about my Norwegian fjords cruise with Anna. Should be a bit more interesting than this month!