Cinema & Family Visits

This was a busy week for us. Pete's travel plans changed so he was at home all week, which is always a good thing.

On Wednesday we went to the Plymouth Vue cinema to see Avatar in 3D with a group of friends. The eight of us had all sat watching the trailers in 3D in expectation of the film and after only a few minutes the film was stopped and a representative of Vue came out to say the projector bulb had blown. As the bulb was very hot it would take a while to change, so we had to sit and wait, however, we were all issued with an open complimentary ticket for any other time. The film started about 20-25 minutes later and was very good, both as a story and technically - some really good uses of 3D.

After the film we all stopped of at an Indian in Modbury. Being a Wednesday out of season the place was dead, but to be fair to them the food was good and we all had a nice time.

Early Friday evening Julie's brother Gary and his wife Jeanette arrived for the weekend. It's always good to see them and great that they came down to see us. Julie is doing some work on their daughter's wedding (adjusting the dresses and doing the flowers) so they will be down again in a few weeks with the bride to be and her bridesmaid.

On Saturday we went across to East Portlemouth on the ferry and in the afternoon went to Hope Cove. The weather was really good - not quite sunbathing standard, but warm non-the-less. At Hope Cove the sea was battering the sea wall and although a little windy on-shore it was still really pleasant.

Saturday evening saw us attending an exhibition at the Mayne Gallery in Kingsbridge. We have an original we bought there last year and a couple of limited edition prints we had them frame for us, so are always interested in seeing new works, however, the new works didn't really take our interest, but they do still have a lot of pictures we liked. We followed the exhibition with a tapas meal at the Old Bakery. A very tasty and reasonably priced meal that we all enjoyed.

On Sunday we went to Hall Sands and walked up to Start Point along the SW Coastal Path. Hall Sands has been somewhere Pete has wanted to visit for a while so it was good to finally get there. We never really had a plan, but we all had our boots and hiked up to Start Point. It was muddy and slippery, there was low cloud and mist and despite all that we had a good time, although never realised it was as far or such a climb. When we got to the lighthouse it was closed. The fog at times was bad enough for the light to be on and the foghorn to be sounding, but fortunately not when we were next to it!

On Sunday afternoon Gary and Jeanette went home only to be replaced by our daughter Gemma and her friend Kirby with her son Jack. Another busy week in the run up to Easter.

This week has seen a return to normality. Pete working in London for three days and Julie continuing with work and social activities. We now have Matt's PS3 and his DVD collection so another reason not to watch live TV. We don't find much time for it and watching what you want, when you want seems an altogether better way to proceed.

On Thursday evening one of Pete's ex-colleagues came round, as he was in Devon for a couple of days passing through in their way to Cornwall to visit an aunt. We took Alan and Lynda to the Victoria In where we had a really good evening and a really good meal. Didn't get to see landlady Liz and wish her well for her wedding this weekend - shame the weather was so poor. Still I trust everything went well for her and her SOH and now husband Tim.

On Friday we had another evening out at the Royal Oak in Marlborough. Julie had been working that day and didn't get back until late so we met at the RO and had an evening with Jane for whom Julie does some work.

Saturday saw us having a lazy day catching up on stuff and in the evening we went out yet again, this time to the Salcombe Coffee Company with friends Martin & Clara and Pete & Beth. Another good meal followed by more good conversation and coffee at Pete & Beth's.

Sunday was a day to do those things around the house that we haven't got to do during the rest of the week and they are mounting up. Still it'll soon be Easter and a chance to get some of the jobs done.

Fond Farewell & Life Goes On

This week saw our son Matthew leave the UK for a period of time in Australia. He has a one year visa, but if he does some regional work (farming or mining?) he could stay for two. As you may have read he has left his job, said goodbye to most of his friends and family and is leaving for Oz on Tuesday 9th March from Heathrow. He is flying via China, where he will have a six day stop over in the hope of seeing some of Beijing and the Great Wall. We wish him well, but will miss him and hope this blog goes some way to keeping him up to date with what's happening here in the UK. He has his own blog and Facebook too, so we should be able to keep up with him too.

Monday was spent tying up some lose ends with Matt and in the evening we went for our last supper to the Heath Pie and Mash Shop in Dagenham. Since going there with his nan when he was very young he has developed a real love of it and it was his wish that we all went there for a farewell meal. In the day we went to the cemetery to put some flowers on Pete's mum and dad's grave, as Matt wanted to go there before he left.

On Tuesday we took Matt to Heathrow. His sister came too and although we were all sad to see him go Matt was the more emotional. Still he has gone now and although we were happy to see him go off on his adventure we will probably miss him more and more as the months go by - still, a good opportunity/reason for a holiday in Oz.

Pete had to be in Essex for Wednesday so we returned home late that night. The rest of the week was spent at home and for a change we had some really spring-like weather. On Saturday Pete went for a walk to Snapes Point with Brian and Hannah his three-legged bearded collie, while Julie rowed with Nola. That evening we went out for a meal with Nola and Brian and enjoyed the singing of the combined Devon choirs (run by Nola's choir mistress) at the Seven Stars Hotel in Totnes.

On Sunday Pete had to travel back to Essex for work in the evening, but in the day we went to the RNLI open day at Bowringsleigh House. The last few times we've been the gardens have been alive with flowers, however, this year due to the cold winter everything was late and there was very little to see. It was a lovely day though and nice place to be in the sunshine for a few hours.

You can see Matt's pictures and follows his exploits on facebook or his Blog from the link on this page in the side panel.

Farewell Visit & Travel Plans

Pete's cold continued into the beginning of the week and made work a little hard considering his nose hardly stopped running for two days. His new desk performed admirably and made for a better working environment. Still he got over his cold by the middle of the week, just in time for Matt's arrival - just as Julie started the cold!

Alfie, our cat, developed a limp on Tuesday and had to be taken to the vets where they found he had been bitten on one of his back legs. Probably a cat fight, but we never heard anything so must have been on one of his nightly excursions. He is really good at the vets and never complains. On this occasion he had his leg shaved, an injection and his nails clipped for good measure and he was as good as gold. We found a box, put his blanket in it an he stayed there for a day.

Matt arrived at Totnes late on Tuesday night. Plan was for him to travel back with Pete, but work plans changed and Pete never went to London so Matt fell back on his £12.50 ticket. The train was a little delayed and we got home a little after midnight. Matt's allergic to cats so we had a good clean up before he arrived, but unfortunately he was affected almost immediately - still the plan was to keep him out of the house as much as possible, which we did.

On Wednesday night we took Matt to the Victoria Inn and shared the evening with Sarah and Bill and on Thursday we went to the Royal Oak in Malborough and had a host of friends turn up. Matt had been on a Butlins lads weekend prior to coming down to Salcombe and had drunk his fair share of Guinness and he continued the theme throughout the week,

On Friday Matt went off to see a friend in Paignton whilst Julie and Pete went to Cliff House for the Neil Diamond tribute act. A very good night - not quite our style of music, but entertaining never the less. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and many really threw themselves into it.

On Saturday we made our way back to Essex for the final preparation for Matt's departure. Over the weekend we had to sort out a few things and help Matt empty his stuff from his friend's house where he has been living. Julie's mum's was the temporary store for the stuff we had to bring home with us to store until he comes back from Oz. Julie also had to do a fitting on her niece's wedding and bridesmaid dresses so another opportunity to catch up with Julie's brother an his wife and have a lovely meal with them.

Matt leaves for Oz on Tuesday and still things to do.