A letter to Rye from the City by the Bay

Rob Schmidt lives near San Francisco but every year he makes a trip to Rye with his partner Claudia – and he’s made some life long friends along the way. So what keeps him coming back?

Our “Rye Story” began more than 20 years ago…a couple weeks after the 9/11 attacks to be more precise. We were the first flight to leave San Francisco after airline traffic was resumed. The first half of the trip was Paris via Chunnel train. Upon our return we took a train from London to Canterbury where hired a car to take a road trip along the coast, then up to Salisbury and a peek at Stonehenge before returning the car at London Heathrow.

Our meandering path took us through Rye where we spent our first night at the Hope Anchor. Our evening walk past the Church Square and down Mermaid Street had us making notes to “return to Rye when we had more time to explore.”

In my job as a pharmacy data project manager, I was limited on my vacation-scheduling options, so for the next 10 years our “getaway routine” consisted of a few days in London to see some shows and take in the decorative lighting, then down to Rye for a few days. We noticed that we were always departing Rye just before an annual Christmas Festival was scheduled to take place. Starting in 2018 we arranged our itinerary to be in Rye for the festival. Although we have stayed in every hotel and inn in the central area of Rye, our favourite turned out to be a room above the Standard Inn overlooking the Mint which afforded us a perfect spot to hang out the window and wave to the Christmas parade which passed just below our vantage point.  We will return to that room this December after a two-year hiatus.

We decided to try attending the Bonfire event a couple years ago just see if all the posts were true. I must say, the pageantry was amazing. We were kitted out in red and black and took hundreds of pictures. But as amazing as the Bonfire festivities were, it was the people we encountered that made the largest impact on us.

During the darkest days of the pandemic when businesses were being impacted by orders to close shop, I was browsing the Facebook posts from Rye businesses and I was deeply moved by one pub owner who responded to the forced closures by taking orders for his beer online and delivering them personally or handing them to customers who dropped by in their cars to pick up their orders. I was enthralled by the posts of that man standing on the sidewalk in the cold, determined to do whatever was called for to keep the business alive. I “ordered” a £100 of beers online and paid by credit card with instructions to use his judgment to deliver beers to shut-ins who the purchaser knew could use a beer.

He used the funds to create something he called “Kindness Tuesdays” wherein a patron could order a couple of his beers online for delivery and designate a friend, colleague, family member, neighbour, etc., to receive a free beer delivered right to their door. This was how I discovered the Rye Waterworks micropub in Rye where owner David Roder brews his own CAMRA-winning beer.  As it happened, other people started donating money to support the Kindness Tuesdays concept. I don’t think my contribution was a big factor in the Waterworks survival, but I do think that the resourcefulness and creativity of the owner took a situation that would have had many small businesses throwing in the towel and turned it into something inspiring.

But the story doesn’t end there.

When we decided to come for the Bonfire night event we could book flights, but the land-based portion of the trip from the airport to Rye was now the real challenge. When we started our annual pilgrimages, we were able to find direct flights on Norwegian airlines from a regional airport not 5 miles away from our home to London Gatwick. From LGW  we could hop a train, change at Eastbourne, then on to Rye. Easy peasy.

Five years later there were no direct flights from the SF area to LGW, and from LHR it took most of a day to get to Rye via London and Ashford. I inquired if Dave knew anyone who could use some extra money during the holidays and were willing to pick us up at LHR and drive to Rye. Dave said: “No problem. I can do that.” And so he did. Remember, I had never met him and knew him only from some texts and some hysterical FB video clip posts.  That’s a 2-hour drive to pick up someone you have never met.

Recently, Dave and his partner, Ulla, were traveling to New Zealand to visit family and taking a stopover in San Francisco. But since our last visit to Rye, we have moved from our home on San Francisco Bay to a place located 100 miles away in the Sierra foothills. We drove out, picked them up at the airport and spent the next day chauffeuring them around the sights and taking a trip out on the bay to visit the nefarious Alcatraz prison. The pictures that are attached are from the Alcatraz visit and a stop by the iconic Coit Tower with a sweeping view from the top.

I have booked our favourite room above the Standard Inn for this December. So many kind, funny, enthralling people hanging out at the Rye Waterworks micropub. Can’t wait to see old friends.

What’s your story? Wherever you are in the world, get in touch and tell us why Rye is so special to you. Our email is info@ryenews.org.uk

Image Credits: Rob Schmidt , Kt bruce .