Back to Britain – December 2025 (Month 9)

Happy New Year to all my readers!

So what happened in December?

I’m writing this on New Year’s Day 2026 and am feeling quite tired so won’t be writing as much as usual (what a relief for you all!). But here’s a quick summary of December:

I went for a Christmas Lunch with the Sudbury Ramblers in Long Melford

I sang with the Elderberries (U3A Choir) for a Christmas Concert

I sang Carols with the Bury Bach Choir at Glasswells (a furniture shop that sponsor the choir)

I sold Samantha the SLK to a very nice couple – the car wasn’t getting used much and I felt it was a bit ridiculous for two people to have four cars between us…

I helped out with marshalling of car parking at Blackthorpe Barns (Rougham Estate) on four different weekend days.

I ate cake on several occasions

Squirrel action continued… with four different squirrels regularly visiting our garden and eating from the squirrel-proof bird feeders.

The Bury Bach Choir sang our Christmas concert in the beautiful church at Lavenham. Klaus was responsible for the card machine for tickets and donations.

We had a visit from Gwenllian and Mark and their dogs Molly and Storm. Here is Molly doing her hot water bottle impression on my lap.

We visited my sister in Southend and went to Anke’s the German café near Chalkwell Park with Chip my niece’s dog. Sadly Anke had run out of proper German cakes!

Klaus received an excellent Secret Santa present from his work.

We had to rescue a squirrel that had got stuck in our squirrel-proof bird feeder – his/her hips were stuck between the metal. We think he/she could have been there for a few hours. Despite wearing gardening gloves when trying to rescue him/her Klaus got bitten twice (photo taken before the gloves were on!)

We had to cut the wires of this brand new squirrel feeder to rescue our little friend.

We now have different feeders which should hopefully mean no-one gets stuck.

We visited St Edmundsbury Cathedral for Nine Lessons and Carols.

Klaus made dinner on the 24th which was goulash with sauerkraut and mashed potato.

I did the full Christmas Lunch the next day.

On Boxing Day Lara flew over to visit. We took her to the Dog & Partridge pub.

Lara did her first ever Parkrun at Nowton Park. We went for a warm up walk first in the frosty conditions.

As I hadn’t run for months I only did one lap (2.5km) but Lara did the full 5k and in a personal best time!

Anna, Gwen and Harley came to visit with Chip the dog for a relaxing post-christmas chat.

Klaus Lara and I met up with Matthew and Michael who have just moved to Bury. Our Letting Agents passed on their details as Michael is German and was interested to hear our experiences of moving here. We had a lovely chat with them and their dog, Lily.

We went with Lara to Ickworth Park for a walk and then a look around the house (National Trust).

I invited the Tenors from the Bach Choir to our house for a post-Christmas Cheese & Biscuits event which went really well. There were 18 of us and we enjoyed food, drink and some whisky at the end. Klaus and I also ended up with lots of tasty dessert leftovers…

Lara headed home late morning of New Year’s Eve and Klaus and I had a quiet evening, going to bed before midnight.

I have had a brilliant 2025 and am really loving life in Bury. Klaus is also settling in really well and enjoying the social life with the Tenors.

We wish good health and happiness to all for 2026.