Birthday Surprise

This week has been a working week for Pete and a non-working week for Julie. She is self-employed and this week there was nothing for her to do, which was good and a welcome change. Whilst Pete worked in his home office (no travel this week) Julie did the normal household stuff that she sometimes finds it hard to get round to. She also found some time to work on her niece's wedding and bridesmaid dresses.

Rowing has finished for a bit, as some gigs have been transported to the Isles of Scilley for a competition, which has meant only the racing crews are training and Julie and the other casual rowers have to make way for them. She is still doing her keep fit (again this Tuesday night) and this week managed a walk with friend Sue and her dog Rufus. Sue and Mark are busy again, as the Salcombe Deli has been open for a few weeks now and we really must try to find some time for Rufus to get him out more when Mark and Sue are at there busiest.

Friday night saw us walk into town again, although this week we had fish and chips before we went. Again it was a lovely evening, but due to meeting and chatting with people we know the return leg of the walk up the lane (Beadon Road) was in the semi-dark, as the sun had set and we were relying on the ambient light of dusk. The lane is in a bit of a mess these days and very uneven, so can be a little risky on the ankles in the dark. Still interesting to see the changes
in the countryside around us and more interesting to see the bats are again flying.

As we almost reached home we bumped into our neighbour Tom who was off collecting money in the local pubs in support if his London marathon run next weekend. Tom is running in aid of Shelter and has been growing his hair in readiness for a sponsored shaving, where it will be left with a red Mohican - brave man. We wish him good luck.

Whilst standing chatting to Tom another friend, Peter Lee turned up and we invited him back home so that Pete could help him with a minor technical problem with an SD card - two hours later it was done.

On Saturday morning Julie went off to a workshop arranged by her flower club and whilst she was away Pete finished off a piece of work, as he will be off on Monday when we go to see Gemma for her birthday. On Saturday afternoon we will be making our way to Brighton for a surprise meeting with Gemma on Sunday arranged by her boyfriend Callum. On the way we decided to go via Charmouth and Lyme Regis. The seas at Charmouth was really calm and sitting in the sun it could have been a summers day. By the time we got to Lyme Regis it was mostly closed, but still good to walk around and have a look in the gallery windows.

Unfortunately Callum chose the weekend of the first Brighton marathon for the weekend of their trip and we had to book a hotel in Hicksted, as all the hotels we tried in Brighton were full. We got to the hotel around 10:30 and after a good nights sleep left for what we thought might be a daunting trip into Brighton. On leaving the hotel and getting onto the A23 we were immediately stuck in traffic, which didn't look good at around 10 miles from Brighton. However, it was only the tail end of a boot sale queue just up the road and we were soon on our way to Brighton.

We got into the town fairly easily considering the marathon and walked through the lanes making our way to the meeting with Gemma and Callum at the pier. She was so surprised to see Julie and it was a great for us to be able to surprise her. We spent a really lovely day in Brighton - the weather was great and the place was really lively thanks to the marathon.

Easter Goeth

On Easter Monday we tidied the garden and made a start on cleaning the patio. A long hard days work, but very rewarding when you see the outcome. Still more to do, but that's for another weekend.

After a days work on Tuesday Pete drove up to Essex in the evening for a couple of days in London attending meetings. Wednesday was an opportunity for Pete to meet up with colleagues for a curry and a few beers in the City after work. He returned late on Thursday night after a day of meetings in the City again ready for another days work on Friday.

Pete was able to get to see his brother Paul and his family before he left Essex on Thursday - the purpose of the visit was also to allow Pete to borrow a telescope. What with the clear skies and lack of light pollution Pete was really looking forward to doing a bit of star-gazing during the summer (progress reports to follow).

On Friday evening we walked into Salcombe and bought fish and chips from the van in Island Street. we sat and ate them on a bench and walked back into town for an ice cream. We walked back up Onslow Road and stopped in the church gardens and took in the view. The church bells were ringing, the sun was setting and twilight descending and it was a really peaceful and almost idyllic place to be.

On Saturday we had to prepare for dinner with friends Donna and Marcus and went shopping for the steak at Aune Valley. The Beef Wellington came out really well and the meat was fabulous. We had a good evening, although Marcus had a stinking cold.

Sunday was a day to catch-up with all the paper work and other chores.

Easter Cometh

On Tuesday Pete was off to Swindon for a meeting and overnight hotel stay to allow for a site visit in Reading and a dash into London from there on the train before driving home from Reading on Wednesday evening.

Gemma was only down for a few days and having arrived on Sunday she would be going home on Wednesday. Despite this it was great for Pete to be able to see her on Monday and catch up in the evening. She brought an old school friend, Kirby and her son Jack down with her. It was good to see Kirby again, although she was at Matt's party back in late February it was nice to meet her son Jack for the first time. He's only two and some of the sites of the sea and sand were a bit too much for him.

Julie entertained Gemma, Kirby and Jack in Pete's absence for the time they were down and it's only a shame the warm weather of Easter weekend couldn't have arrived just a little sooner. By the time Pete got home on Wednesday they were gone and we again had the house to ourselves.

On Good Friday the weather looked like being good so we volunteered ourselves t take friends Mark and Sue's dog Rufus for a walk up into Callaton Wood. Mark and Sue were dog-sitting Rosie (Sue's sister's dog) so we took them both for a walk. It was a lovely walk and as Julie has just got her iPhone we took some pictures on our walk and posted them on Facebook while still in the middle of the countryside - the wonder of modern technology.

We were aware that there was a power cut overnight on Thursday and the Electricity Company had to disconnect the power whilst they made the repairs late on Good Friday afternoon. We were unaffected by the problem, although close neighbours were so we decided to get an Indian take-away and invited neighbours Martin and Clara in for the evening.

On Saturday we took ourselves off to Kingsbridge to the Devon Farmers shop to buy the stuff we needed to clean up the patio at the back of the house. The slabs are covered in algae and are very slippery in the wet. The wall at the end f the house is also going a little green and also needs to be cleaned.

On Sunday we went off to the moors for a walk around Chagford with friends Ken and Lin. Chagford is a picturesque little village on the edge of Dartmoor. We then went on to Fingle bridge, near the National Trust's Castle Drogo. We had a circular walk along the valley for a couple of hours where we saw the salmon ladder - it has i-built boxes to trap water that allow the salmon to climb the weir. We then walked back to Fingle Bridge and had a drink at the pub. The weather was intermittent when we arrived, but by the time we got back it had brightened considerably and was really warm at times in the sun. We returned home and had dinner with Ken and Lin at our house.