Dear Sirs
I really enjoyed visiting Rye last weekend however a couple of issues certainly took the shine off! First night we fancied fish and chips and popped to the one we’d been recommended to.
I’m sure you will find it surprising to know that the restaurant had just closed and we were offered our meal sitting in the take away by the door so there we perched as we were hungry. I asked if we could sit at a restaurant table with our take away but was denied. They even swept the floor whilst we ate so we lifted our feet up!
Secondly I had the mirror stolen from within the casing of my near side wing mirror on my Porsche Boxster. So if anyone is offered one please let me know! Shocking dangerous thing to do. I experienced a very stressful journey home. And a costly replacement! Welcome to Rye I thought, welcome to Rye
Yours
Vivienne Barnes
Image Credits: Chris Lawson .
You didn’t say where you’d come from–can I guess the London area? As an incomer from suburbia myself, I can tell you that we all soon learn (usually the hard way) that businesses in Rye don’t keep the kind of late hours you might expect in London. We learn to shift our mindset from “I can get what I want when I want it” to “I respect the consideration local businesses have toward their employees and their neighbours”. We learn to appreciate the beauty of quiet streets after dark, get to know the shop opening hours and the serving hours at the pubs and restaurants and adjust to them, and end up being grateful to Rye for not turning itself into a 24-hour entertainment centre. It’s a town determined to remain true to its rural self, and all the better for it.
As for your car, another thing I’ve learned is that a lot of the theft in Rye is perpetrated by visiting criminals attracted by a town full of unwary tourists and short on security lights and CCTV. Your car mirror probably left Rye before you did. When I first came to live here I remember running into a group of police and rail security people working to spot the “usual suspects” getting off the train, but small rural towns like this are disproportionately affected by policing cuts.
Having said that, we all love our visitors and go out of our way to look after them. This town is full of people who work unpaid hours to keep our visitor attractions going, who voluntarily pick up litter left in the streets by visitors unaware of the many litter bins, and who work on special events like the jazz festival, arts festival, Christmas in Rye or Bonfire. Many of the conversations on this site and elsewhere are about how we can make our little town safer and more welcoming for our many visitors, and facilities are only closed down with much anguish and regret when we just can’t make them pay any more. I hope you’ll come back often and learn to love us.