It's been a while since our last Blog and whilst we have been busy with work we have also had our adventure; friends visiting, a birthday, a twisted ankle, a broken tooth, a car accident and a myriad other incidents, both good and bad. We have been logging some of the happenings as drafts and have had some technical issues when trying to publish, but we do intend to revisit past weeks and make retrospective Blogs from the drafts that have been deposited.

This week has seen some violent winds and the pine needles in the garden have come to a head. We never realised they would be this prolific and nothing in the buyer's pack gave us any clue it would be like this (thanks Giles - the house is great though). The garden is covered in pine needles and other debris from the Monterrey pines that border our property, due to the Autumn generally and to the storms. They are majestic trees and are protected by tree preservation orders. We have a resident owl, but the over hanging branches probably add to the needles so we are going to get the branches covered by an outstanding planning consent taken off.

As you will see from the pictures the winds created a storm and the sea was ideal for the surfers. It was the worst we have seen in the year we have been here, but talking to friends it appears this was as bad as any other year. The gusts blew you off your feet, but it was strange, what with the sun breaking through the clouds.

It's been a busy week for us both with work and social activities. Pete had to go to London and Birmingham this week, whilst Julie had her keep fit and new NIA class. She is also working at the rowing club on Saturday mornings getting the Gigs ready for next season. We had friends Mark, Sue, Nola and Brian round for dinner last night, which was really great.

We decided to walk through town today and have lunch at the Salcombe Coffee Shop and met Clara and Martin in there. Seems we are getting to know a lot of people down here now (Julie more so) and the opportunities to mix are ever increasing.