Our New Life in Devon

 Well Devon and Cornwall had some great news the other day. These 2 counties have had a 'hosepipe ban' for several months now. If you're reading this from abroad what it actually meant was you cannot use a hosepipe at all during the ban. If you were caught using it there was a fine of £1,000. There were exeptions for disabled people, business users, and farmers, and market gardeners. You could also water fruit and vegetables, ponds with fish, dogs authorised by a vet to need a pool for treatment, anything causing a hazard like blocked gutters, and cleaning after animals for health reasons. I probably could have obtained an exemption as I have lung damage but I didn't bother. OH managed with a watering can on days it didn't rain and there wasn't very many. So with all the floods in Devon and torrential rain almost every day this week we can finally use a hose to create our own floods lolol. I've had a look at Vinted today and bought a pair of jogging bottoms....

 Well the rain poured down at the beginning of the week and several areas were badly flooded. We were lucky not to be affected by it where we live but Dawlish and Kenton were cut off with flooded roads apparently at one point. The stream running through Dawlish poured with brown muddy water into the sea.  Dawlish Town A lifeboat just incase anyone fell in the brown sea. We live high up on a hill so we're well away from the floods. My friend warned me that Dawlish town can flood occasionally so I'm really glad we took her advice, when we were looking around south Devon for our move. Exeter Airport was also flooded and flights cancelled, and parts of Exeter including Ikea car park. I feel so sorry for the homes and businesses that were sadly affected. One of our dogs jumped in a deep puddle the next day at the park, and drunk the dirty water. This dog never drinks nicely like other dogs. She puts her whole long spaniel nose in the bowl or puddle to drink lol. Cue one upset stoma...

 It's finally stopped raining here in sunny South Devon lol. Didn't get to sleep last night until after 3am as I was watching the lightning and listening to the rumble of thunder. Doesn't upset me as I love it! When I was young I lived with my French grandmother who was terrified of it. We had to turn all the light off and unplug everything, then sit under the stairs until the storm passed. One day I ran upstairs to look at what it was and sat in the bathroom windowsill watching fork lightning. I was quite fascinated having never seen it before. It was only spoiled by gran shouting up the stairs 'You be killed come down' but thankfully nothing bad happened. This week I had to attend hospital for a routine breast x-ray. It's offered every 3 years to screen for cancer. On the way back we turned towards Shaldon and found a field with a lovely cafe overlooking the estuary. Cafe was closed so we went the next day taking the dogs. It was really nice sat in the sun hav...

 Daughter and granddaughter arrived for the weekend loving the fact that it was much cooler here. In South Gloucestershire its been 28C all night in her bedroom and over 30C in the day, so she hasn't had much sleep for the past week. It's usually a few degrees cooler here as we are near the coast. Dogs both had a bath to prepare for their arrival as Lily has allergies to most animals. I've developed the same over the last 3 years and need antihistamines most days. Strange how you can suddenly develop an allergy as I've always had dogs without any problems. The 2 we have shed hair constantly all year so perhaps that's why. It was OHs birthday this week so Lily came bearing Whisky and Malteasers which was very welcome. They all went off blackberry picking this morning which will go nicely with the cooking apples we picked at the pub. So apart from making crumble mix it will be free. Have already put some blackberries in the freezer leftover from the last blackberry pi...

 Son and OH went off to a pub this afternoon where another charity event was taking place. This one was for AIMS which I think is a children's charity. I joined them early evening and stayed for an hour. A nice surprise was waiting for me as OH had won a tee-shirt and a box of Cadburys Milk chocolates. Son had bid on a bottle of wine and some glasses at the auction they had earlier. The tee-shirt was a size medium so as OH is XXL I'll be putting it on ebay. Various bands were playing music in the pub garden some better than others lol. Weather here was very warm today and forecast to be even hotter tomorrow. It seems really strange that I've sold warm fleece Pajamas and an all in one fleece gaming suit this week! No summer clothes at all apart from a pair of shorts. Perhaps other areas of the UK are chilly idk. Tomorrow I'll make a start on the 2 big bags of toys daughter left here for me to sell.  Had a look at TEMU but I don't know anyone who has used it yet. It h...

  We decided to spend the day in Torquay today as the weather was warm and sunny. Stopped on the way for some pipe fittings as our cloakroom sink started leaking last night. OH can do basic plumbing,  which is very handy, as the u bend on the kitchen sink was upside down when we moved here!! Torquay was very crowded near the harbour with roads closed, and police and security guards everywhere. We saw a procession approaching carrying a really long colourful banner. Realised we'd walked in on the Torbay Pride procession! Very colourful costumes, stiltwalkers on floats, and drummers playing. Lovely to see and a really peaceful event unlike some carnivals elsewhere. We had parked in a car park near a large pavilion, which was completely closed due to being renovated. Took a walk all along the harbour and through the gardens,which seems to go on for miles. Stopped for lunch at a small cafe overlooking the harbour and then browsed around the shops. Sadly, as with most high streets ...