Our New Life in Devon

 Had a good day today visiting a friend in Exeter. She's doing brilliantly with her garden and it's looking very pretty. OH came with me and helped stack her greenhouse parts safely, as he will (attempt) to erect it at the end of the month when our son visits. My friend has had several people offer to help her put it up but none have turned up!! Think they all realised that it was quite a difficult, long job. It was nice to sit in the sunshine in the garden and have a good catch up, helped along with coffee and 🎂 🥮 cake. I sat down with OH this week and told him I was worried about the state I was in walking uphill in Totnes to the market. By the time I reached the market, and after stopping several times on the way, I was extremely out of breath, sweating heavily and shaking. My lung condition is now much worse than before the last chest infection I had. We decided that it would be a good idea to apply for a Blue Badge, so I've finally finished filling in the forms, then...

 We decided to go to Totnes today as I wanted to look around the Saturday market. OH has been a few times on the train as there's a large following chess players in the old cinema. We took the car today, but parking was very difficult as most car parks were full. We had to park quite a way from the market, then walk up several hills. I'm not good on hills due to my lung condition so I was quite breathless on arrival at the market. Most of the clothes for sale there are very hippy/boho style, and there is a large hippy community in Totnes. There were several stalls selling bygone treasures where you might pick up an unusual vintage item. Lots of places selling vegan food as well as the normal burgers so you wouldn't go hungry. The market sells everything from plant stalls, which all looked healthy, to dried herbs for cooking. I did think the prices were very steep tbh especially for the clothing, e.g. second hand Levi 501 jeans @ £35 a pair. Perhaps I'm just normally con...

 Well we had a busy 5 days here with our son, daughter and 2 grandchildren staying. The eldest is almost 16, doesn't time fly. He's very clever like his dad, our son. Should do very well in his GCEs this year. He moved to a linked school with an emphasis on engineering last year and has told me he would like to work in robotics. Of course that may well change as he matures. Daughter always wanted to be a vet, but work experience put her off that career as she felt there was not enough contact with the animals. Son was definitely going to be a sound technician but is now inventing programmes for chips, and not the kind you eat lol. Sadly, the visit didn't end well as grandson was sat on the garden swing nursing one of our dogs. Granddaughter, for whatever reason, decided to call the dog from the upstairs window. Result - dog jumps off knocking grandson's phone onto the concrete patio and smashed it. Daughter not happy that I said it was inappropriate to call the dog late...

 Went to the hairdresser today and I must say I'm not impressed. I arrived on time to an empty salon except for a lady sat with a baby in a buggy. Presumably this was a visitor for one of the staff. I took off my coat, hung it up, and a few minutes later a member of staff popped her head around the salon back door. She said she would be with me soon! It wasn't lunch hour but 4.30 in the afternoon. After another wait she came in and cut my hair. No shampoo, didn't damp it down nothing. No smoothing cream put on after either. I paid the bill, took my coat myself from the hanger and left. It cost £26 for a trim and although it was cut level and looked good I won't be going back. The hairdresser told me they had all been sat out in the salon garden for the afternoon as the weather was nice - I felt like I was an interruption to their sunbathing! On a lighter note OH baked 2 loaves of bread yesterday. I did help him weigh the ingredients as he couldn't find the scales an...

 Well where do I start with this. I expect most readers are aware of what's happening with South West Water in Brixham and Paignton. Basically they have failed in providing clean drinking water to thousands of residents in South Devon and it's been contaminated with a parasite called cryptosporidium. I wasn't too worried as I haven't been to Brixham for years but then I started reading comments on local sites. SWW are now paying compensation to areas affected - first it was £15, then £115 and now it will be £215. They are also giving out free bottles of water to people in the area and advising affected areas to boil all water. So far so good not my area but ... I'm reading on various local sites that Plymouth, East Devon, Torquay, Exeter, Newton Abbot, Dawlish, Exmouth and Teignmouth all have many people with symptoms of cryptosporidium!! So I'm now boiling all water, including the dogs' water, using boiled water for cooking, washing salad and cleaning teeth...

 We decided to go to Dartmouth today as I'd read an article online saying how nice it was, and how it resembled Greece. Mark came with us as he's not going home until this evening. I have been to Corfu and Kos but not mainland Greece yet. It was quite a long drive from where we live - over an hour- but well worth it. The harbour is very pretty with all the boats, and there is a lovely little park with a fountain. Numerous benches are everywhere along the water's edge and in the park, so it's nice to sit and enjoy the view. There's some big brand shops close by in the shopping area eg Cotton Traders, Sea Salt, Mountain Warehouse etc and also several Art Shops selling paintings mainly of sea scenes. I also saw 2 book shops selling second hand books, so book lovers well catered for there.There are a few charity shops but they seemed quite small, and mainly stock bone china (think Royal Doltone, Wedgewood) ornaments, and kitchen items. Some clothing and footwear was on ...

 Had a nice day shopping in Teignmouth on Friday as the weather was dry for a change. We've had an awful lot of rain here over the past month. I think people must be staying in quite a lot as I've sold 10 items on ebay this last week and another 6 going through for this week. This is a lot for me as usually it's 1 or 2 items a week and sometimes not even that many. Looking around the charity shops I've realised most things are much more expensive there now, so perhaps that's why my sales are increasing. I have never needed to buy anything to sell on as my large family gives me things to sell for them.  I give them all the money which helps them out, as with all the bills rising money is tight atm. To me its a hobby that costs me nothing, gives me an interest, enables me to change my own clothing for different styles and helps my family. Not many hobbies like that really. Daughter and granddaughter arrived Saturday afternoon for the Bank Holiday weekend which was nic...