About Simon

I live in Woolwell, which is a lovely area next to Dartmoor. Woolwell is situated in Plymouth, Devon.

Summer Holiday

Hi, well I am back at work again now after having a good two weeks holiday, although the weather wasn’t particularly good, and it went way to quickly!

We didn’t manage to get to the beach which was a shame and only had a couple of BBQ’s on the last weekend of the holiday, but we did manage to do quite a few things, which was great.  The first week we mostly did a lot of painting as we needed to lighten the hallway up as it was way too dark in there, especially during the darker days.  So we painted it all a light sandy colour and I think it looks a lot better now.

Also during the first week, we went off and visited a few places in Devon.  We managed to go to Barnstaple, Braunton, Saunton Sands, Croyde and Illfracombe in North Devon all on the same day.  It was very tiring but highly enjoyable!  The weather stayed good for most of the day, up until about 4pm when we were leaving Braunton.  We had a good look around the places we stopped at.  Barnstaple was like a normal town (like Plymouth really) with nothing out of the ordinary apart from having to walk across a bridge to get from the car park to the town centre!?!  We had never been to Barnstaple before so it was something new anyway.  Braunton was a very small village made up mostly of restaurants and Surf shops.  Nothing much there at all, so we didn’t stay long.  I had been there once before, over 10 years ago and it didn’t look at all like I remembered it.  We then drove past Saunton Sands and stopped on the cliff to have a look down at the Surfers and the rain that was coming in from the sea.  Then we went on through Croyde and made our way to Illfracombe.  By this time it was absolutely pouring down, which was a major shame.  Even so, we parked up in Illfracombe, but Ben in his pram with the rain jacket on and went for a walk.  It was quite quiet there and lots of shops had closed, I guess because of the weather, but we had a good walk from the car park (which was on the cliffs) through the resort-like area and ended up at the harbour.  We did have a nose in some shops on the way and bought some lovely fudge, and finally had fish and chips back at the car.  Unfortunately, the fish was horrible, which was a shame.

Later on in the week we went out to Tavistock for a look around and Ben had a go on the swings, and the weather was good after a heavy shower to start with.

The following weekend we went to Polperro as we had never had a proper look around their before.  I had been there once before for a meeting for work, but Kelly and Ben had never been.  There wasn’t really much to look at but we had a nice walk through the town and out to the harbour.  We then met up with Mum, Darren, Marina, Robbie and Myra at Smugglers Rest at Talland Bay for a meal.  There was also a band playing and they were great, and so was the food as usual.  I had a lovely mixed grill which completely filled me up!  Luckily the weather was pretty good for a change, so we all had a good time, especially Ben who had several people we didn’t know wave him goodbye after he was stood on the table dancing. 😉

During the second week of my holiday, we didn’t really go anywhere at all.  Just lazed about at home.  We did go down to my Grandpa’s house in St Columb Major with my Mum for the day, and took Ben to the park and had fish and chips for dinner.  It was a very nice day, but went very quickly!

So all in all, the holiday was very nice but went too quickly as usual and I didn’t really want to go back to work to be honest! ;0)

Bantham with Ben

During the last fine weather we had (which was a few weeks ago now!) we took Ben to the beach for the first time (properly, not just for a walk) and he seemed to enjoy it.  He did find the sea a little cold but was ok until he fell in!  He then had a go on my bodyboard and was enjoying that until, again, he decided to roll off into the cold water.  Let’s just say there was a bit of crying involved! ;0) We had bought a tent for him to stay in to keep the sun off him and it was great, he even fell asleep in it for his afternoon nap.  We were a little surprised at this as it is usually a struggle to make him sleep anywhere but at home.

Kelly and I enjoyed the day at Bantham Bay as well, as we hadn’t been to the beach for over 2 years (2 years ago the Summer was terrible, and last year she was heavily pregnant) so it was great to finally feel the sand between your toes on a hot day (even though it was a bit drizzly and cold to start with!).

I went on my bodyboard for the first time in years and enjoyed it a lot, even though I was struggling to catch any waves.  I don’t think it was me though, as others seemed to be struggling as well!  The water was cold when I first got in (no wetsuit) but I aclimatised to it after a few minutes, and had some fun.  Looking forward to doing it again, although my ankle did ache a bit after all the paddling.

To end the day we had a BBQ at home which was very nice, and a few cans were downed as well! ;0)

Here are a few photos from the beach. Enjoy!

Farewell to the King Of Pop

Goodbye to Michael Jackson who set the world alight with his music and charisma.

Goodbye Michael Jackson

copyright BBC

This is the first time that anyone really famous has passed away since I have been a ‘grown up’ so it is a bit strange how the World is reacting.  I guess it is almost up there with the reaction when Princess Diana, Elvis Presly and John Lennon passed away, but being several years ago, I was not even alive for the last two of those.  I do remember the day Princess Diana died but was only about 14 at the time, so it didn’t strike me as anything much.

However, growing up with Michael Jackson always being in the news and his music being critically acclaimed, this feels a lot closer.  One of the first tapes that I bought when I was about nine years old was his ‘bad’ album, and I thought it was fantastic.  I also remember watching the ‘Thriller’ video when I was about the same age.  He then brought out his film ‘Moonwalker’ and my brother and I used to watch that over and over again (with my brother hilariously trying to recreate the moonwalk and his other various dance moves!).   So you could say, he has always been in the background somewhere.

Even through all his well documented troubles (which he was aquitted for) his music still kept being played, and people still widely recognised him as the King Of Pop.

So farewell to the greatest entertainer of them all and I will be sad not to see him do his famous ‘Moon walk’ live again.

( unless he has faked his death of course, as the conspiracy theorists will no doubt suggest! )