A Day Out

“ Shall we go for a drive somewhere?” said Mike.” It’s a beautiful day and we have nothing planned”

As always I avoided eye contact and said “ If you like”. What is it with me? I never ever want to go anywhere but, when I am dragged, kicking and screaming out into the real world, I love it. Of course Mike knows this and never passes comment, well, rarely passes comment – he is not a Saint!

So, I started throwing obstacles in the way – I must go and feed the fish before we go -

They were hungry and came up to feed -

Including my new babies who are learning that they  must compete with the bigger ones.

“Where shall we go , do you fancy Exmouth or Sidmouth “said Mike The next dreaded question which always follows the first. Now I bet you are thinking what a miserable cow she is – how does he put up with it etc. etc. So, I had better explain myself briefly.

I am a depressive and have been one all my life although it was not recognised in my younger days and then, when it was recognised it was a curse. You never told anyone you were depressed, you were ill with any illness on earth but not a mental illness. O no, you must hide that at all costs – which I did.

Then in 1998 I had a total breakdown and have been unable to work since. I officially retired in 2009 so it doesn’t matter who knows now plus, it no longer has the stigma it once had.

I am much better and lead a fairly normal life  and I love my family and my computer and my dear friends. So, after spending such a long time at home, my “safe place” I do find it difficult to go out and become enthusiastic about most things. That’s OK, everyone in my life accepts who I am and I don’t have to pretend. Well, not often!!!

So, what next? Any other diversions that could be made?

“ I’d like to collect my glasses from the opticians” I said. Fine we will do it on the way says Mike so ………… off we went.

An hour later and £35 better off ( yes, I got a refund) we hit the road.

I suggested a visit to Lustleigh, not so far so we would be home quicker, but Mike drove past the turning. We turned off the motorway for Exeter and stopped at the first pub we came to The Cat & Fuddle as we were hungry. A very large pub but the food was expensive frozen stuff. Would not revisit.

 

Further up the road there were several nice looking pubs – needless to say. Hey Ho!

Despite deciding on Exmouth we found ourselves on the Sidmouth road ( Tom Tom was being very quiet in the glove compartment). But I saw a sign for Budleigh Salterton and that is where we went. Lovely little seaside village

There is a  pebble beach which slopes steeply down to the sea; we didn’t go down but remembered the time when as kids we would have  run and slid on the stones without a care in the world.

Boats laid on the top of the beach, safe from the highest tides except, perhaps a tsunami. They have to be winched up from the sea which must be exhausting.

Budleigh Salterton and East Budleigh both won Britain n Bloom gold awards in 2010 and I’m not surprised – everywhere was immaculate and flower displays were well in advance of mine.

I photographed the weedsValerian and Daises DUH..

A picturesque stream runs down the main street

A charming Tea Shoppe with Very posh china

And a super Icecream shop – amazing choice of flavours.

 

We eventually went back to the car which showed a temperature of 85F! No wonder I was flagging walking around. We hit the road to Exmouth but took a diversion via Sandy Bay ‘cos it sounded nice.

Well, it was quite nice but not what we expected – the biggest caravan park in the world I reckon! There were hundreds of them, all stacked in neat rows and looking quite pristine.

There was a nice sandy beach but a long way down and too far for this physically challenged old lady!

It was very busy and full of happy families who were getting redder by the minute.Ii bet there were a few painful back s and necks that night.

Then back in the car and on to Exmouth.

We parked in the wrong place so just had a stroll along the prom and back but it was too hot to do very much. We did notice how clean and tidy it looked.

Then homeward bound albeit VERY slowly due to an accident on the M5. All roads in and out were jam packed and we spent ages trying to avoid going on the motorway, as did most others I guess. Eventually we drove through the city centre and decided to stop for a drink on the water-front and let the traffic clear a bit.

Some lovely boats moored by the quay

A nice little bar to sit outside  & enjoy a glass of red.

Good God! What is that -

HUBBLE BUBBLE PIPES – IN EXETER! Well I Never! The smell of the tobacco was lovely, reminded me of Holland House a pipe tobacco Mike used to smoke. The demon in me so wanted to try it but sense prevailed but it  looked so satisfying  - glad i didn’t after reading this -

“ Each hookah session typically lasts more than 40 minutes, and consists of 50 to 200 inhalations that each range from 0.15 to 0.50 litres of smoke. In an hour-long smoking session of hookah, users consume about 100 to 200 times the smoke of a single cigarette^] in a 45-minute smoking session a typical smoker would inhale 1.7 times the nicotine of a single cigarette. The water used to filter the smoke does not remove harmful cancer-causing chemicals from the smoke as is believed by some.!

O.K. Mike , let’s go home for tea.