Our New Life in Devon

Finished at last   We travelled to Dawlish seafront to see the new wall they opened there yesterday, and took the dogs on the now open beach. The dogs loved it in and out of the sea, but there were so many stones and rocks it was hard to see the sand. Hopefully it will clear and the sand will return. A local lady told me the sand has all gone to Exmouth because of the high wall. Hope she isn't right. I had a phone call from Lily, my daughter, to say she's coming to stay with Ava (granddaughter) next week, so it's all systems go for sorting out the spare bed in the office. Dusting and vacuuming all upstairs and the stairs done today. Sorted out drawers under the bed so they have somewhere to put their clothes, all done. Lamp plugged in for Ava and tissues by the bed! It's difficult because the double bed is in my office so there's lots of ebay stuff everywhere and several cardboard boxes ready for packing items to post. I've caught up on the washing and ironing,

Sunny Days 🌞  Our Dogs enjoying the warm weather   Apart from a nice walk in local fields with OH and the dogs I've spent the last few days at home. The time has come to fetch my suitcase of summer clothes from the loft and pack away scarves, gloves, hats and warm winter clothing as the weather here has turned much warmer. It's been 21C for the last few days so I've finally taken the plunge. I have so many clothes everything won't fit in my double wardrobe, so off to the loft it goes. Or it will soon, when I've finally finished washing the last of the thick jumpers and trousers. That's been on hold for a few days as I've been unable to buy peril colour locally until today. (The joys of living in a semi rural area) Seriously need to declutter my wardrobe as it's completely full with summer items and I'm sure I haven't worn half of it for quite a few years. I've bought 2 dresses, 3 tops and some pattered loose summer trousers from ebay. I thin

 I usually watch parts of This Morning, especially the fashion scenes, between tidying up the kitchen. Can't believe what I'm reading in the press if it's all true (which is rare) saying Holly gave an ultimatum that Philip leaves or she will! Apparently, she's upset because Phillip didn't tell her about his brother's court appearance regarding child abuse charges. He was convicted, and Philip gave evidence at the court. So, are we to believe in order to work on This Morning you have to be best friends with your co-presenter? To tell them everything and socialise outside of work? Well, I've worked on 24-hour sleep-in shifts in residential care for almost ten years before retirement. Numerous different staff members worked with me, as there were always two people on the shift. Some I liked - some I didn't. But, and it's a big But, we always helped each other and treated each other with respect. We didn't tell each other much about our private lives

  Paignton sea front The beach and pier  Pier entrance  Beach has lots of seaweed  Gardens and play area We drove to Paignton today deciding to give it another chance. We went there years ago and the weather was so wet and windy we only lasted 2 hours.  We parked on a meter in the middle of town and noticed a train station close to the shops. Next time we will take the train as OH has a Devon discount card. There are all the major shops and lots of cafes in a good sized shopping center. OH bought a Hawaian shirt, (he likes pretending to be a tourist lolol) and a Tshirt. I picked up a Guess Who game in one of the charity shops. That will amuse the grandchildren when they visit hopefully. We walked through the shopping centre to the beach. We were lucky it was warm and sunny this time, so decided to sit at a cafe and enjoy the view. Couldn't go on the beach as we had the dogs with us and they aren't allowed. We found a large park with a lake on the way back to the car, so they ha

Never leave a fire burning   Early yesterday morning OH took my car for an MOT and then went for a nice long walk with the dogs. He arrived at a country park, which is huge, to see a van in the car park and 3 tents pitched near the entrance. That's unusual as we've never seen anyone camping there before. Not a problem as we are in favour of wild camping. It's a great experience for children, and ours went every year with OH and brother-in-law. When he left the tents and van were gone, but he noticed smoke and small flames coming from the long grass at the side of the field. The grass was starting to catch fire and loads of rubbish was thrown on the ground. We always carry large bottles of water for the dogs so he put out the fire with that. Perhaps this is why they are stopping wild camping on Dartmoor as this kind of behaviour really spoils it for others. Its not easy Spent the afternoon applying for a passport online as Daughter told me its very easy. The forms are quick

 When we moved here 3 and a half years ago we did our best to be helpful to neighbours, and tried to fit in as best we could. The next door neighbours are nice and friendly and we take in parcels for each other, water gardens, etc but don't intrude. Unfortunately, some newcomers are not the same, We heard a tale of someone who bought  a house next to a church, then complained to the council about the noise of the bells 🔔 ringing. So the bells stopped. A petition went in from locals and the local press printed an article about it. I'm pretty sure the house owner was not Mr Popular after that. They sold up and moved away a few months later, and the bells rang again. New houses were built behind a supermarket a few miles from us. The new owners complained they were being disturbed by lorries delivering at night. So the supermarket stopped nighttime deliveries. Result - more complaints of no milk, bread, or fresh food until midday or later. So back came the nighttime lorries and n

   The music festival in Ashcombe After a busy late morning shopping in Newton Abbot we went to a music festival yesterday in a village a few miles from where we live. It wasn't well advertised so I think the organisers wanted mainly local people to attend. They had a village hall with a bar, a big marquee with a stage and some very good local singers. There's a large field with trees and a stream behind the main building. The dogs enjoyed a nice off lead run through the trees. We left early evening but it probably went on quite late. Food stalls and a few games there for the children to play too, like hit the stand and ring the bell. Really nice atmosphere for an afternoon in the sun - all free entry too.                       The marquee  Cottages on the hill overlooking the village hall  Fenced off area to encourage wildlife                    Inside the marquee  Shopping in Newton Abbot didn't go to well as prices in the markets seemed very high. I was looking for some

 Well I went to the market in town which was lovely to look around. OH had a stall with others promoting the U3A. This is a club for people who are retired and over 50. OH has been playing Badminton, Bouls, Shooting at targets, visiting various Mansion houses and Gardens like the brochure and playing Chess. It did rain on and off but he was under the big tent there. I looked around but didn't buy anything as prices were high eg £5 for a pancake! The cleaning routine has been put on hold this week as,  apart from stripping the bed and doing 2 loads of washing I've been in quite a lot of pain from the tooth extraction so decided to rest. Feeling better today so hopefully it will continue healing now. Son did the vacuuming for me which was a big help. Managed to sell some china and clothes on ebay and send it all but thats about it.                                                      Ah well tomorrow is another day, the mañana approach here lol. We had a new Internet connection y

 Following on from yesterday I decided to make today bathroom cleaning day. Set the timer for an hour and managed to finish well in time before it went off including mopping the floor. That hasn't been washed for some time. Tomorrow will be bedrooms day, only 2 though as my office is separate and kept really tidy and clean. Well most of the time. We went into town this afternoon enjoying a nice walk through the park. This was because parking nearer to town was impossible due to tourists visiting the attractions set up to celebrate the Coronation. We need tourists though, to keep the town alive, and there are lots of caravan sites nearby to accommodate them. There was a lot to do in town for young children - circus skills workshop, face painting, bouncy castle etc. Also icecreams, snacks and a stage with various singers and music. We called in a local pub on the walk back to the car which was having Karaoke. I'm going again tomorrow as there's a market on. First one here for

  Today was the coronation of the new King and Queen Consort. I'm not a Royalist and would prefer a Republic but do think the parades are well worth keeping. Not ideal to have Charles and Camilla as our leaders as they are not really suitable people IMO. The gold carriage was absolutely beautiful though. OH is a Royalist though so we respect each other's opinion so all good on the home front. OH and son went off to see the celebrations in our town while I stayed home. They were given cakes and sandwiches at someone's front garden and a couple of pubs had beer at 10p a pint to celebrate. The dogs went with them so had a good walk at the same time. Today being Saturday I decided last week to try and clean the badly neglected brass ornaments and copper fender. I started last Saturday and decided to do an hour once a week and eventually it will come clean. There's a brass companion set, stand, brush, shovel, poker, tongs, toasting fork, kettle and trivet. Also an old RAC br

 I'm back from a dental hospital visit. Travelled to the city we used to live in 100 miles away and stayed with my daughter overnight as I had an appointment at a hospital for an extraction of a broken tooth. Lovely private hospital that also takes referrals for NHS patients (that's me). I'd decided not to have sedation unless absolutely necessary, and it wasn't, as I felt no pain at all. All over in 20 minutes, including stitches with lovely friendly staff. So why do I travel 100 miles for my dentist? Because there are no NHS dentists taking on new patients in Devon!! I do feel this is disgusting as we all pay National insurance so shouldn't have to also pay for private treatment  unless we choose to. Its a bit like paying twice. Also NHS are paying for these referrals to private practice, so it isn't  cost effective for them either. Our government really needs to sort this out as by not paying enough to NHS dentists many people are suffering including children

 Well I'm reading a lot online about people decluttering, so I decided to spend some time sorting out the spare bedroom AKA the office. My new Ikea unit has been put together and fixed to the wall so it doesn't fall over when family stay. Just right for me to sort the junk into it. I should say daughter's junk as I only have about 5 items for sale that are mine. Behind the door was a large box, about 3ft x 4ft, that I decided to open. It's not been opened since we moved over 3 years ago. Inside was my bone china collection that I started in the 70s. It used to look nice on the Welsh Dresser but we gave that to a friend for an upcycle project when we moved. OH packed it all carefully with about 20 newspapers. So  crazy as I am, I decided to unpack it all. Now I'm knee deep in newspapers all over the floor, and various items of china are all over the king size bed, my desk, the printer, and the bedside table. I've managed to list 14 items on ebay but there are ove

 One of our bedrooms here has been turned into my office as I took over all the paperwork, and also sell on ebay since we retired. OH has always managed household paperwork, bills and insurances etc but is not very well organised, and was pleased for me to take over. We both have personal separate accounts and a joint account for the bills which we pay into every month. This system works best for us as OH has no idea how to budget and a joint account was a total disaster when we tried it years ago. DD brought a huge bag of clothing and toys for me to sell for her so I decided to buy a cheap storage cube unit from IKEA. I already have the boxes left over from my childminding days that were used for lego and small toys. So off we went - me, OH and our son who is staying atm.  We arrived at IKEA and OH didn't even want to go in. He has IKEA phobia lol. Or maybe claustrophobia as he feels trapped in there. However, he came in and then immediately went to find the toilet. Son went up th