Small World

I noticed today that the Palace Theatre, Paignton are putting on a Production of Jack and the Beanstalk, written by Alan Frayn.

Alan was a member of the Stone Little Theatre group that Glynis was in and we have probably watched this Panto in Stone, Staffordshire.

National Lottery

Well the decision to dump the football pools in favour of the lottery has been justifed, with a number of £10 wins this year, plus one £89 win (4 numbers) and one other win just over £50. I'm not actually making a profit you understand, but the small wins do keep up my interest level.

What I'd like to know now is how many people in the UK do Euromillions, as there is a guarranteed million pound winner in the Uk every week for a stake of just £2. that's a £500,000 to one return and seems good value to me. I might just have a go.

A large win on either would come in useful at the moment as children of mine could probably do with a little financial assistance and I don't have enough to help.

A bad month so far

We believe it all started when a man at the Zoo sneezed all over Glynis at the beginning of the month, suffice to say she got a sore throat, then lost her voice and was generally unwell. Coughing put her back out so she now has a bad back as well. She also passed something on to me, (we think) as I exhibited similar symptoms. The cold and flu medicines I took then upset my stomach causing me to get gastritis for which I was given another packet of pills, plus two more for the original illness. They do seem to be working but it is now over two weeks since the start of this sickness period, we're still not fully recovered and Emily has now gone down with it and is currently off work.

I'm looking forward to us all being better so we can resume our normal lives, which apear to have been put on hold for a while.

Moral: if somebody near you is sneezing, turn your back and run away!

Where did this year go?

I cannot believe we are almost halfway though October, it seems no time at all since this year started. But then again, we have had another busy year.

A quick check with Glyn confirms we have commitments all this week.

Looking back, I note we had holidays in Woolacombe in April, Italy in May, Pittenweem (Fife, Scotland) in August, Alicante (Spain) in September, we are off to Cornwall soon for 5 days.

In between we’ve entertained numerous friends and relatives here.

We’ve been back to Wolverhampton, Northampton, Kislingbury and Towcester (Towcester greyhound show). We’ve had days out with friends in Teignmouth, Brixham, and Dartmouth (by steam train), Longleat, Chard, Lyme Regis and Seaton, we’ve met up with my mother on Holiday in Exmouth, met Northants Bowlers playing in Topsham and at Marldon.

I’ve also played in a number of bowls matches around South Devon between May and September at places such as Chudleigh, Crediton, Budleigh Salterton, Totnes as well as the local Torbay, Newton Abbot and Kingsteinton games and our home games in Marldon.

We’ve been for walks on Dartmoor and Exmoor, along the Coast path to Start Point and other places. We’ve had weekends in North Somerset with friends, visiting Dunster Castle and Minehead. We’ve visited Dartmoor Zoo, Paignton Zoo, Exmoor Zoo, Living Coasts and Longleat Safari park.

In Torbay we’ve seen Regattas, Red Arrows and Firework Displays, Cruise Ships and other parked ships awaiting work, and weekly Motor Cycle Rallies on Paignton Green. Glynis fits in her weekly volunteering work at the Zoo and the Hospital, getting a NVQ certificate for it this year, as well as her involvement with two Drama Groups, the Red Hat Ladies and the Marldon WI. I've just restarted my Ten Pin Bowling as well as playing a weekly snooker game in Paignton.

Perhaps that's why the year is racing by. Good fun isn't it?

More memory troubles.

I haven’t lost my mind, I’ve just put it down somewhere.

And I can’t remember where.

It was a few minutes ago and the short term memory isn’t so good these days.

The way I see it, I only have a certain number of memory cells and I have filled them all up with memories from years ago. Since a lot of these are pleasant memories I have no desire to delete them to make way for new ones.

Perhaps I will have to start using post it notes, as it is very frustrating to walk upstairs for something and having got there I have forgotten what I came up for. Sometimes retracing my steps helps but running up and down the stairs gets a bit boring after a while.

If anyone knows how a memory can be improved please advise me.

National Lottery - the eternal optimist

Regretfully I failed to win the National Lottery again on Wednesday night, but I do take heart from the fact no-one else won the jackpot either, meaning that if I win on Saturday it could be a larger amount.

My big worry is that the one set of numbers that I use every week are also being used every week by other people, which would mean if they ever do come up I will be getting less than expected.

The odd £10 win this year is better that I achieved on the football pools in the last ten years, so I have abandoned my pools Numbers after 40 years. I daren't even look at the pools results now.

August

August is being quite a busy month, we are halfway through but I've only had three games of bowls due to other activities.

My sister, her husband and son called in on their way home from Cornwall, we took them to the firework display on the sea front at Paignton which they enjoyed.

We then flew to Scotland to visit the Pittenweem Arts festival where my Cousin/Brother in law were exhibiting paintings and had a great time due to great weather. Another of my sisters was there with her son and daughter and partners and family, and my Cousin travelled down from Perth to see us there.

Back in England now we hope to have a barbeque tomorrow with friends and are them off to see Hi-De-Hi, the TOADS production in Torquay, this should be a good day all round. Two of our friends then stay for a few days, so that will be an excuse to go out and about behaving like tourists.

Next month we hope to visit my third sister in Alicante.

Trainspotting in Devon

One thing I've noticed since moving to Devon is that quite a few preserved steam locomotives are allowed on railtrack main lines in this area. Special trains run most weeks somewhere around the country and Devon is popular due to the scenic routes they use. A lot of people are aware of these trains so if one is due you can normally tell from the number of people standing by the railway with cameras and video recorders

Photographing them at speed is quite a challenge, so sometimes I let the camera take a video instead. The brand new Steam Loco "Tornado, 60163" has been here a few times this year on the 'Torbay Express' and so have one or two others. Attached video is Tornado's first visit to Torbay. It travels down to Kingswear, leaving Railtrack at Paignton and finishing its journey along the Paignton to Kingswear Steam railway, which conveniently has a turntable where the loco can be turned round for the return journey to Bristol.

Watching the rain

I had high hopes for this summer, May and June seemed to go very well weather wise, however as soon as July appeared the sun decided to become intermittent and lots of rain has followed.

This morning I should be playing bowls, but the captain rang up very early to advise he was calling it off due to the weather forecast. That's sometimes a mistake, but this morning it was spot on, the wind has been blowing the rain sideways for the last two hours.

I feel sorry for all the people on holiday this week, at least now we live here all year round we are guaranteed some good days. And even bad days can have dry spells, we just have to make the most of them.

Too much to do, too little time.

I can't work out where I use up so much time. I can only assume people who blog are very organised and are natural writers or they have very little else to do. I'm sure the second option isn't the case so I will credit them with being very organised.

Now that summer is here I am quite busy with the outdoor bowls season, I play whenever I can or whenever I'm asked and in the last couple of weeks I peaked with 6 games in one week, plus the last ten-pin game of the season. If I'm not playing its usually because we have other commitment's.

I also got engrossed in researching some family history for a friend, which was fascinating as they went to and from America earlier this century and there are lots of records associated with these journeys.

Just when I thought I was catching up, my web sites mysteriously went off line, so I have decided to move them to another hosting company. That is now my first priority, just in case anyone is looking for them (at www.tameclan.me.uk). As I move the pages I notice errors and updates that need doing so I am doing that as well.

Facebook also has a lot to answer for, I have got a bit addicted, to the point where I have to log on every day to see who's doing what. Its a useful site for keeping up with friends though, and I like to see other peoples photos as well as uploading my own from time to time.

Must go now, back to the web site rebuilding.

Bob

Blogging

I note that the whole of April passed without additions to this site, I think Facebook may be to blame!

Parking Spaces (part 2)

As I was saying, parking spaces should be wider. I went to Coleton Fishacre last week and the helpful car park attendant was squashing the cars in so he could get more in the car park. Inevitably the person who parked next to me opened her door against my car leaving a small scratch. Careless person.... now where's the T-cut and touch up paint?

Objective Achieved

We moved here one year ago today, and this is the first house we have had where I could not get a car in the garage from day one. Well I like to set myself objectives, so getting a car in the garage was an objective for year one.

Today, on the last day, I finally achieved this, the Suzuki now fits in the garage. If I want my Ford Focus to fit I have to make at least another yard of space, so I don't think that will ever be achievable except by lengthening the garage.

Emily has ordered a car which we hope to collect later this week so I will still have two cars on the drive but it will keep the roadway clear most of the time, except when we have visitors.

Now what do I do with all the junk displaced from the garage?

The size of Parking Spaces

I had a brilliant idea today. Why don't I borrow a baby or toddler, then when I go shopping I can park in the parent and child parking spaces that have room each side for a pushchair. In fact I could take the mum as well then she could have the toddler back once we get there and I wouldn't have the worry of taking it round the supermarket.

Normal parking spaces are so narrow these days that I can hardly get out of the car if there is a car on each side and I am always worried that the adjacent car owner will accidentally hit my car with his door as he/she gets in, or clip the car as he/she reverses out of the space. I would shop at the supermarket with the widest parking spaces if there was one, but they all seen to work to the same dimensions, despite the fact that modern cars are getting wider each year.

As I can't find a toddler to borrow, I will continue with the current plan which is to park between two newer cars in the hope the owner will be more careful than the owner of an old car might be.

Travelling

It was nice to go back to Northampton to see all our friends at the weekend, but I'll be so pleased when they invent a machine that can 'beam us up' as driving up and down Motorways and through roadworks is no fun at all.

Alternatively, I'd like a 'special car' for these trips that can be programmed and then left to get there without my intervention, so I could do something other than sit in the same position for hours staring at the road in front. The 'beam me up' machine is my first choice as that could be instantaneous whereas the 'special car' solution still involves me being sat in a metal box on wheels for hours on end.

Parkinson's Law

Apparently this chap called Parkinson came up with the theory that work expands to fill the time available. This may well be true, I was always busy when I was at work. Most of my colleagues were also always busy, even if I thought they sometimes some of them were inventing things to do in order to look busy. ( I never did that of course!)

(Parkinson also observed that bureaucracy always expands, and predicted in about 1958 that one day there would be more Admirals than Ships in the Navy, and apparently that is now the case, with 41 Admirals and only 40 ships.)

Now I've retired I am quite happy to set myself just one task a day, and if it doesn't take all day to do then I can then relax, content in the knowledge I have done what I had planned for the day. I would like it to get warmer though as I have one or two outdoor jobs I want to do, such as repairing the leak in the garden pond so it will fill up and stay full (except when the seagull starts splashing about in it) Why can't he use the sea?

Morgan the Hunter

Who would have thought that this innocent looking cat would become a successful hunter. I suppose we trained him with that fimble on his left, as he used to carry it around the house. For years now he has caught mice and occasionally birds, frequently letting them go unharmed in the house so we have to catch them and return them to the wild. On other occasions he brings then in dead just to show us how clever he is.



Since we moved to Devon he has located the field across the road and we have been receiving frequent presents of Mice and Shrews.

This week he suddenly changed his prey and brought in a rabbit which he let go in the garage, unharmed but somewhat worried. We returned it to the field and it ran off into the gorse bushes.

Today he started by bringing in a dead rat which he left in the living room, (I hope he doesn't bring in any live ones) and when that was taken off him he went out and returned with a dead rabbit. We caught him trying to take it upstairs so he turned round and took it into the kitchen where he put it down by his food bowl.

As the field across the road can be very muddy he also comes back covered in red mud, as if he has been digging it up. Who knows what we will get next?

Extended Warranties

This month, being nearly twelve months since we moved to Devon, is the month the warranty runs out on stuff we bought when we arrived here, like the dishwasher, the fridge freezer and the Sky + box.

All of the companies concerned have written to me, pointing out that the warranty is about to expire and offering an extended warranty, for so many £’s per month of course. I can’t say I am impressed by any of the prices on offer, it either indicates that the equipment is incredibly unreliable and is going to break down every couple of years or the companies offering the warranties are making a fortune.

Anyway I have decided that providing only one item breaks down each year it is cheaper to replace it when it fails than to take up the three warranties. Only time will tell if this is a good decision.

Memory troubles

Just after I turn off the computer I usually remember the primary reason why I turned it on in the first place. The trouble is I am easily distracted by the content of my Emails and by Facebook. Perhaps if I did what I had to do first then opened my Email and Facebook I might do better.

Now why did I turn it on today?

I haven't lost my memory, it is backed up on disk somewhere!

Family History Research

All sorts of interesting facts turn up when I research my family history.

The latest I have discovered is regarding one of my Great Grandfathers’ families. According to the 1871 census, the remarks against his elder brother state ‘Born Idiot’ and the same remark is also applied to his younger brother! My great grandfather was an agricultural worker. (his father was a shoemaker who also ran a small farm). Great grandfather eventually left the farm and became landlord of a Public house.

Ten years later, on the 1881 census, his elder brother is now described as a ‘harmless’ lunatic, unable to work, his younger brother is no more (died in 1880 at age 18) but he now has a younger sister who is also described as a ‘lunatic, unable to work’.

What makes this more odd is that there is actually a column on the census form to highlight persons who are either:- (1) Deaf and Dumb, (2) Blind, (3) Imbecile or Idiot and (4) Lunatic. I wonder if there were a lot of these in the 19th Century. I also wonder who made the distinction between an Imbecile an Idiot and a Lunatic.

I'm worried now in case the ‘Lunatic’ Gene will reappear at some time in future in my family.

Another of my Great Grandfathers worked in a railway works but had an accident in which he lost his leg and he was fitted with a wooden leg. It didn’t seem to impede his progress through life too much, as he eloped with a young lady on the day she was due to get married to someone else, but they later returned to the town where he set up a photography business and a bakery as well as having several children.

Great Grandfather number three apparently worked in a brewery until he got the sack for excessive drinking and then became a milkman. Great granddad number four had a fairly normal life as a Coalminer in North East England.

Friendly lemurs.

Glynis works as a Volunteer at Paignton Zoo on Fridays, where she patrols the Lemur Wood to make sure they are OK and not escaping or being harassed by the visitors. Normally the Lemurs keep to themselves, but one of them, called 'Bonny' now recognises Glynis and likes to come down to say hello.

Are Plumbers contortionists?

This morning I discovered a pool of water under the sink in the utility room (again) which is coming from the inlet pipe for the washing machine. For some reason it works loose, but I cannot work out how to get a good grip on it to tighten it up. The inlet pipe is located directly behind the drain pipe from the sink and it is impossible to get more than a finger on each side to try to tighten it up. I cannot work out how the plumber fitted the tap there in the first place, he must be a contortionist or he fitted it before the sink and drain pipes were fitted.

This is not the first time I have discovered 'difficult to get at' plumbing, is it a master plan of the plumbing industry to locate pipes, taps and drains where only another plumber can fix it when it goes wrong? Anyway its tighter now, but the bowl stays underneath just in case it starts again.

Close Encounters of the Furred Kind

Today, while visiting Paignton Zoo to collect Glynis (she's a zoo volunteer on a Friday), I went to see what animals I could photograph. This lion was quite close to the edge of the enclosure, which has a glass window as a viewing area, and I was waiting patiently for him to look at the camera, but he was more interested in the Lioness at the top of the Enclosure who was getting a fuss from the keeper.

After taking a few pictures of the lion, I turned my attention to the lioness, and was leaning on the glass window to minimise the reflections when I heard this thump and was conscious of two large paws and a big animal just the thickness of the glass away from me. I was so glad the glass is nice and thick, but after he backed off the whole area was covered in Red Mud from his enormous paws. Moral of Story, don't turn your back on a lion unless there's a barrier between you.

Rising Sea levels

I'm beginning to think that rising sea levels are a myth, it's the weight of Individual and National debts that is causing the UK to sink into the sea.

Air flights - Part 2

My daughter booked a flight to Newcastle on Tyne at about the same time we booked our two flights to Alicante, and I noted the cost of flying from Exeter to Newcastle is about the same as Exeter to Alicante. I conclude that it doesn't matter how far you fly, the cost is for getting through the airport departure lounge and onto the plane. I hope there's no shops in the departure lounge!

Air flights part 1

Why does booking an air flight remind me of the scene in Carry on Camping when Sid James and co arrive at Paradise Camp for their holiday. The conversation goes something like:

Are you members?

No

Well its £1 each to become members.

OK, heres £4, can we come in now.

No, you have to book in advance, but I may be able to let you in if you pay the booking fee.

How much?

£1 per tent. Ok heres the £2 now can we come in?

No, you have to pay rent.

How Much?

£1 per tent or per person, whichever is the greater No

Ok heres another £4, can we come in now?

Yes.

Sid then realises its not the nudist camp he was trying to find and goes for a refund.

Sorry sir no money is refundable.

Later still, after they put up a washing line between the tents.

I'm sorry sir there is a fee for putting up a washing line

How much?

£1 for 4

So thats 25p for one then?

No One is 37.5p, but you can put up four for a £1.

Booking a Flight to Alicante:

Cost of flight £30 - so two flights are £60
Will you want to come back -thats another £60

Ok so thats £120 to pay

Plus the airport taxes £71 out and £28 coming back.

So that s £219?

Are you taking bags? thats another £16 - £235 in total.

Plus the insurance of £24.

Ok heres £259 can I go now?

well theres the booking fee: £16

OK heres £275 now can I go?

Is that a credit card, only theres a credit card fee of £12, so thats £287 in total, thank you.

Oh and by the way, no money is refundable, but you can change names for £30 per passenger per flight, or you can change flights for £25 per passenger per flight.

Its just as well I have a kind sister living in Alicante to pick us up from the airport and provide accommodation for the week, thank you Sis.

Parking Charges (part 2)

The newly installed parking meters in Torbay are biased in favour of the Council in three ways.

1. One has to decide when parking if the shop will be able to serve you within 10 minutes or whether you have to buy 30 minutes, or even more, and have to err on the side of safety to avoid the danger of getting a fine.

2. If you vacate your space before the time paid for has run out, anyone taking over the space has to pay again for time you have already paid for. (This does not happen in towns where conventional parking meters are used, the space is paid for a set time, and if you leave early the next person may use the unused time) These are not really parking meters at all, they are parking ticket dispensing machines.

3. The machines do not give change, so if you don't have correct money you have to overpay.


The existing car parks in Torbay are all similarly biased; does the council think this is a fair system? Why can't we have some pay on exit car parks in the town centres, such as those used at Exeter airport, so we can shop without worrying about how long we have left on our ticket? It would make for a more relaxing shop.

And why is Torbay more expensive than South Hams or Teignbridge, it has no more to offer its visitors that those places?

Parking Charges (part 1)

Torbay Council are having financial problems due to the rising no of free bus journeys taken by pensioners with bus passes. They pay the bus company a fixed charge for every journey we take.

They don't seem to understand that putting up the cost of car parking in Torbay by introducing parking meters will only lead to more pensioners using their free bus passes. Pensioners cannot afford to pay £1 an hour every time they drive into town. Instead of the council getting £1 per hour from the parking meter they may have to pay the bus company an equivalent amount, or more, for providing the free travel, probably for two pensioners at a time in and out of town. (4 trips)

When I moved here last March, all the on street parking was free, which was one of the reasons I moved here. I accepted the high council tax in exchange for free on street parking, or so I thought.

£1 an hour is an excessive charge for a small place like Paignton anyway as most of the shops have now closed or become charity shops. Only Tesco seem to be flourishing. What a surprise that is.

The Dawlish Swans

Drawing by William Tame

The black swans have been a feature of Dawlish, South Devon, for over 100 years, but the Environment Agency has suddenly decided that they are polluting the stream that runs through the centre of Dawlish and into the sea. Unless the council can stop them doing this then the swans have to go! Bearing in mind that this stream runs down off the moors where sheep cattle and deer graze and do their business how can we be sure the swans are guilty? There are also large numbers of Ducks and Seagulls in this stream. It would be a shame if these birds, which are on all Dawlish Tourist publicity were to be removed, since this pretty stream with the birds is one of the main reasons to visit Dawlish. The council are now having to consider building them a toilet (well a septic tank actually) so the effluent doesn't flow back into the stream. I'd like to know how they propose to toilet train the Swans, Ducks and Seagulls.

Ten Pin Bowling

Tonight I will try harder.

I bowl every Monday in a Ten Pin league with my Daughter Emily. She was recruited by me for my team in Northampton when some of my other players left and she did very well, winning a few trophies.

We now bowl together in a pairs league in Torquay. It goes without saying that I think I ought to score higher that Emily as I'm her dad, I have been playing longer than she has and I have a higher average, but just lately she keeps scoring higher than me. I can never work out why my game can vary from very good to very bad without warning, I have to put it down to lack of concentration, so tonight I will try harder.


Postscript:

Well I tried harder, scored slightly more than Emily and almost reached my average in one game but one of our opponents then went on to bowl his best score ever (242) so we lost again. Still, there's always next week.

The ups and downs of the last few days.

I knew the concrete post in the front garden would damage a car one day, unfortunately it was on Thursday, when I let the car door open and it went too far and hit the edge of the concrete, I now have a dent in the car door to get fixed. I only parked there for a moment as I knew I was going out again, I normally park at the other side of the drive, well away from the post. So annoying.

The rest of the week went Ok, apart from Glynis's bad back from falling down the stairs at Karen's house. This is still giving her a lot of pain, although she denied it at the time of the incident. It didn't stop her appearing on Stage in the SADS production of Robinson Crusoe.

I had a game of snooker on Wednesday with three other retired guys in a social club I discovered in Paignton Telephone Exchange. Membership is free to ex BT personnel such as me and I did not make a complete fool of myself, I may go again next week. The sun came out yesterday and everywhere looked so much brighter.

My First Blog

I keep having random thoughts I want to share so I thought I'd give this blogging a try, all I have to do now is work out how to use it.

Of course now I'm on line my mind has gone blank just like it does when someone asks what present I would like for Christmas. What makes this worse is the follow up question of what would I like for my birthday which happens to be on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. For the next few months I see loads of things I would like, but I can't wait til Christmas so I buy them for myself. As a result, when Christmas comes around again and people ask what I want, my mind goes blank. The upside of this of course is that I get surprise presents, which are more exiting to open.