Back to Britain – September 2026 (Month 18)

Welcome to September 2026. Lots has happened this month and even more is happening in October.

Visiting the Trenches

On a rambler’s walk we found ourselves at the Great War Huts in Hawstead. This is where a chap has bought various huts and displayed them as mementoes of WW1, and has even gone as far as to build a trench system. The Great War Huts are only open on special Heritage Days but the chap was there and let us walk around the trenches. This was amazing.

What struck me was how shallow the trenches were in some places. The chap said that this was also accurate, that people often had to pass through the trenches bending down so that they didn’t get hit by gunfire.

It’s really worth a visit if you are ever passing on a Heritage Day.

A new home!

Despite the fact we love where we live in Bury St Edmunds, particularly the location of our spacious bungalow and its parking for lots of cars, the rent is very expensive, as is council tax, and our gas bills are pretty high in winter as I do feel the cold. Our landlord had originally said he was planning to sell the house after three years and although he hadn’t mentioned this again it was always in our minds. So we had been keeping our eyes out for other bungalows to rent in Bury.

We had viewed one and attempted to view two others but hadn’t got anywhere. These three were the only suitable properties that had been listed this year, so we knew we needed to jump to it if something came along.

And then at the beginning of September we saw a reasonable sized bungalow for rent. We were able to go and view it that same day and we liked it. It’s not in such a good location as it’s on the south west of town and a 30 minute walk from the town centre, rather than 20 minutes, but it fulfilled all our criteria apart from not having a garage (but it had three spacious sheds and we thought we might be able to get the bikes/velomobiles in there).

So we had a good look around and liked what we saw. We made an offer to become the new tenants and this was accepted the next day. We were able to meet the landlord and Klaus cycled round in his velomobile for us to see if we could get it into the shed (yes, but it was a real squeeze and we could only get one velomobile in, not both, so will have to use a motorcycle cover for the second one). The landlord was a very friendly chap and we had a good chat with him. He’s open to us doing stuff to the sheds so we can fit both bikes in but we aren’t in a hurry to do that.

Once we knew we were getting the house I decided to walk there along the river and then investigate what looked like it might be a nice 3km walk just 100 metres or so from the house.

It all seemed very pleasant and quiet.

I then walked into town, going via the cemetery as the most direct route. It was fine. I also popped into the local one-stop shop which had all the necessary basics (we are very spoiled by having a M&S Simply Food just a 4 minute walk from home at the moment).

We underwent vetting to rent the house, paid a holding deposit and signed the contracts ready to get the keys on 6 October. We also handed in our notice at our current house and will have to hand the keys back by 14 October. You can see that we have just over a week with both properties – moving date is 9 October but we are getting a dishwasher and freezer delivered to the new place on the 7th October and will have the British Heart Foundation collect some items of furniture we aren’t taking with us on the 11th October. My days are VERY busy, with packing and organising – but I am quite good at organising.

A visit from my sister

Anna was having various bits of her house painted including her bedroom and as she is asthmatic and reacts a little to paint she came to stay with me for a few days whilst the painting was happening.

We had a really nice time together, visiting Bury St Edmunds and she was also able to come and look at the new house and help me measure up for various bits and bobs we need to buy.

Doggy Overnighting

We have seen Aggie twice this month. The first time she came for a walk with Klaus and I as I recced a Rambler’s Walk I’m leading in mid October.

Aggie’s owners had asked if we could have her overnight one night when the usual dog sitter wasn’t able to have her. We said yes of course and she came and had a very relaxed time with us. She was a good doggie.

She didn’t actually sleep overnight on the sofa, she slept in her basket in our room instead.

When her owners returned they brought us some freshly made scones and the makings of a cream tea (jam, clotted cream and teabags!)

The two scones were so massive we shared one – it was plenty for a day (I calculated that the half scone was itself 600 calories, and then we added clotted cream and jam!)

So we had a shared scone two days running and they were lovely. It was a real treat!

A blast from the past – Return to Thundersley Gospel Hall

I was contacted by my old schoolfriend Rachel who said that the church we had attended as teenagers was celebrating its 100th anniversary and would I like to come along.

As it was my sister’s birthday the next day we decided to visit and go out for an evening meal with Anna. She ended up coming with Klaus and me to the church event.

We arrived late for the service as Anna had been at a thing earlier and I wasn’t actually very keen on going to the service. We came an hour late but it still went on for another 48 minutes so it must have been a near two hour service, yikes! Klaus and I were sitting in the church lounge for most of that time.

I caught up with some people I probably hadn’t seen for 35 years which was really good fun. Unfortunately Klaus found himself in conversation with an unpleasant young man who had lots of nasty things to say about immigrants (of which Klaus is one, of course) so we left early as this had rather upset Klaus. Nevertheless it was good to see some people I haven’t seen since I was a teen.

A job change for Klaus

And the really big news for this month… Klaus has a new job! As readers will know, he was off sick for four months because of work stress at the beginning of the year and although he was able to go back to work, the basic problems weren’t really changing.

He happened to see a job advert on LinkedIn at a company he has visited many times. It’s based in Thurston which is 8 miles from Bury. He phoned his contact there to say he was thinking of applying and they were very keen to interview him, which they did, and then offered him the job! So he handed in his notice from the current company, after 22 years of working with them. It’s the right decision, though, as the stress was coming back. The new job role seems a much better fit – he will be responsible for mentoring some of the younger engineers, he will be working in the office (rather than in home office, which doesn’t suit him as well), and it’s a chance to do something a little different again. He starts there on 2nd November.

Other cakes this month

I had these cakes when meeting up with chums or out with Klaus.

So that’s it for September, which ended up being quite a significant month (with Klaus giving in his notice!) October will be really busy with moving house, Klaus working out his final days at the company and us visiting Germany to see his father and a few friends. Stay tuned!