Not A Good Day.

Wednesday was a miserable day. The cloud level was so low it enveloped the house and garden making everything wet with very fine rain. It was one of those days where I found it hard to get my mind and body into gear. It took lots of coffee and most of a book before I could gird my loins and carry on making the house ready for our guests.

Later in the afternoon the clouds lifted a little , (just to the top of the hill), and I decided to nip to Brian Fords to do some food shopping. It was quite a surprise to find the whole town in a major traffic jam. The roads were solid from the Muddiford turn-off, all through Pilton and Chaddiford Lane and up and down Braunton Road as far as the eye could see . It would be normal traffic for London but not for down here. It was only when I had crawled over the bridge that the reason became clear. There had been an accident on the 'stones' roundabout between a lorry and a motorbike. Tragically the biker had been killed and the lorry driver had been arrested, something that usually only happens when the cause is clear. I found out from the local news that the biker was a local man in his 50s, somebody's son, probably husband and dad. What a waste. It is just so sad when something like this happens.

Goodbye To John .

The sun has been shining today but today has been a sad day. Today I went to a neighbour's funeral. John was only 65 and had a heart attack while playing golf. His wife Penny is one of my WI friends and it is a terrible loss. John was a really nice person , ex serious crime squad and fraud squad with some interesting tales to tell. The service was taken by a member of the Humanist society. I suppose that it is hypocritical when people do not have any faith but still have a church service for weddings and funerals but it was still a bit of a surprise to me. That was the saddest part of the day for me, the fact that the family have no faith. I know that I would be lost, in all senses of the word, without my faith. The final choice of music made everyone smile - Always look on the bright side of life. It reminded me of the time some years ago when I was ill in bed and feeling rather down, Peter taught the song to the boys and they all came up to the bedroom and sang it to me to cheer me up.There were about 100 people at the funeral and most went back to Penny's house. The sun was blazing away and we were able to sit out in the immaculate garden. Several of my WI friends who were there have lost their husbands over the past few years including the lady who had lived in that house for 25 years before selling it to Penny and John. It was good to catch up with my friends as school work has stopped me going to the meetings this year.
I walked down the lane with a friend to collect her car from another friend's house and we were invited to have a look around the garden.

This is how a summer day in Devon should look.

The bees and the butterflies have been busy today making up for yesterday's poor weather. As I walked past the buddleia it was buzzing with hundreds of honey bees and I counted 7 different species of butterfly including the Hummingbird Hawkmoth. No wonder the other name for the buddleia is the butterfly bush. I didn't do much this afternoon but I did fit in a run to the dump with a car load of stuff to chuck. I was hoping to find some plain white tiles in the recycling section as I need just one more to complete the tiling in the kitchen but they didn't have any.

I'm glad that the weather was good today for Penny, rain is so miserable and it is such a sad day for her.

Weston-Super-Mare, The Battle.

After a leisurely morning Peter and I set off for the drive up to Weston-Super-Mare. The motorway was quite busy so it took 2 hours, (1 1/2 hrs coming home as the roads were empty). We followed the signs for the battle and ended up driving along and parking on the beach, something we've never done before. It was a beautiful day and as we were on the far side of the battlefield it wasn't too crowded and we had good views, we did use our binoculars as we were watching our old regiment, Earl Rivers and looking out for our boys. It was interesting to watch the battle but it is much more fun to be part of it. Sadly even if we had the time to rejoin Peter definitely could not be part of the pike block. Once the armies had assembled there was the usual standard waving and getting into position.

There were 2 groups of 9 horse, it is quite expensive to have horse as they either have to be hired locally or members have to bring down their own horses. I can remember a group of horse riding round the battlefield, nipping round the back and quickly changing their sashes and coming back out as the opposing side.

Plenty of cannon to make satisfyingly loud bangs.

Then there were the musketeers. Now you see them.....

....... now you don't.

The Parliamentarians were defending the ramparts which were eventually overrun by the Royalists.

The beginning of the assault on the ramparts. Earl Rivers regt along with Northamptons and Bluecoats are on their way up. Vytas (with a breastplate on), is standing in the middle of the picture looking at Romas (in black), on the far left.

Vytas then threw himself into the attack and is now half-way up the slope. When he got to the top he ended up launching himself onto the Lord General of the Parliamentarian army, knocking him to the floor and getting a cut just below his eye from the pommel of the Lord General's sword.

Once the 2 hour battle was over Peter and I followed some pikemen returning to the campsite in their cars and sneaked in past the gate guards to await the return of our gang. The campsite was at an old airfield some miles outside of Weston. A couple of thousand knotters had enjoyed the lovely weather this weekend but we do remember many wet, windy and muddy camping experiences with the Sealed Knot. We joined the Knot when Vytas was 3 months old and carried on for 7 years until we moved down to Devon.

Here we have Vytas, Sam and Kate E enjoying a welcome cup of tea after a strenuous battle. (Actually Kate had been dog sitting.)

And some more of the gang, Alex, Kate B, Romas and Pete.

More photos of Weston tomorrow.

Owls.

Some more pictures from Green Man Day. Each year I head straight to the owl display. They are such magnificent birds who sit there totally unconcerned by the crowds around.

This owl was trying to get a little shut eye.

A Little Owl- the people running this stand rescue and rehabilitate owls. Little Owls are often road casualties as they swoop low over roadside verges. I rescued one once. It was lying in the road with a wing sticking up. My first thought was that it was yet another pheasant squashed on the road but then I realised it was too small. I drove back and saw these 2 big eyes looking at me. I threw my jumper over it and drove back down to the vets in Barnstaple and rang the night bell. I assumed that even though vets charge (loads) for their services they would be able to pass it on to the RSPCA if it needed treatment. By this time the bundled up owl was moving and later when I enquired I was told it had made a full recovery and been released where I found it.

Barn owls are so beautiful, we have some down in our valley and occasionally catch a glimpse of one. We hear them hooting all the time, well in the evenings I mean.

A Lammer Falcon, which I managed to catch in mid feather shake.

There were 6 birds on display and were proving popular with children and photographers.

So now it is the start of the 6 week holiday. I've decided that so as not to fritter my time away I'll do something of note each day. I do have so much to do but it would be easy to let one day slide into another just relaxing. Yesterday of course was Green Man Day. Today I've gone through all my school folders discarding papers and filling in tracking sheets. Oh the government loves tracking sheets, then they can say we are not teaching the children enough ! I had a rough night as my arm is getting worse, thank goodness I'm going to the physio tomorrow. In the afternoon I'll be driving Peter down to Exeter for the treatment on his joints. I'm so upset at the service provided by the NHS. 5 months ago when it all flared up, (after a previous undiagnosed spell in hospital) on 3 visits to the GPs he suggested that he had the symptoms of p-arthritis and each time he was told categorically it was gout. The delay has meant that he has had other joints affected and possibly damaged and there are now issues at work as well. Even now when he finally had a MRI scan the treatment he will be given is a system changing drug, metatraxate, which will have to be taken long term and can damage liver and kidneys. What makes me really upset is that there is a much better type of drug which is given in the first instance in all other countries and is also given in this country but only after metatraxate has been shown to be ineffective. We'll do everything we can to see if he can have the other treatment but the consultants are bound by government guidelines. This is all making me feel a bit down even though I know there are plenty of other people with much greater problems. I'll be cheerier tomorrow. One more bit of glum news, Romas' band tour is not going ahead after all. He was so excited to be going on tour but that is the way of the music business and with the current recession I'm not surprised. To add to the household joy, Linas is coming back tonight for about a week. He is a very noticable presence in the house with his loud music, mess, strong views and and slowing down the internet with his downloads. He is used to 20 gig? but here we only have 1/4, just on the limit for broadband. Oh and it has poured with rain for most of the day.

Green Man Day.

Green Man Day in Pilton was not blessed with the best of weather. We arrived in a shower during the afternoon but luckily the rain soon cleared and it was overcast but dry for the rest of the time. Pilton was granted a market and festival day by charter from Edward III in 1344. The present festival which includes a Green Man parade with lots of medieval characters, started 21 years ago.

About 3,000 local people come to wander up and down Pilton High Street which is lined with stalls. Most of the stall holders dress in medieval costume. There is plenty of entertainment at the festival, bands of course but also magicians, buskers and this pair of exuberant story tellers.

There are many weird and colourful characters around.

The stalls are either craft or charity stalls. This stall was selling interesting felted items, bags, purses and colourful jewellery.

The haze over the middle of the street came from one of many pavement food vendors providing burgers to the starving masses. This is actually outside a very good fish and chip shop and I treated myself to some cod, (no chips). I'd left Peter down at The Reform partaking of the beer festival. There are 2 pubs and beer drinking plays a large part of the festival.

The festival overflows into Rotary Gardens where there were more craft displays and demonstrations.

And of course more beer drinking.

Don't ask !

There were 3 music stages so that you could have music with your drinking and socialising. There was a very different demographic to this festival compared with the other festivals we go to which are more music based. Green Man is definitely a social occasion and looking about there were many of Barnstaple's rougher element around and a lot of cigarette smoking which I'm so not used to. Admittedly the band playing were a good local group, The Liquidators, who play Ska. Peter did come and join me outside to listen to the music before we left for home. I had been quite happy wandering up and down on my own every now and then hearing little voices saying 'Hello Mrs M'. The festival is supposed to end at 5.00 when the road is reopened to traffic but I have been assured that the partying goes on till late.

Look, Green beer glasses.
I had several phone calls from Linas who was trying to organise a trip back home from Plymouth. Latest is that he is still in Plymouth and won't be back till tomorrow or Monday. Romas also phoned asking to be picked up from the bus station so I had to drive back into town to collect him.

Rain fails To Dampen Spirits.

A rather wet retirement party but good fun anyway. Peter strapped up his knee and manged to walk around though I suspect it was with some difficulty. He said it was better once he got moving. It was such a shame that the good weather has melted away and it was an afternoon and evening of sudden, very heavy showers. There must have been about 500 people there and the event took on a festival atmosphere as people decided to ignore the rain and carry on having fun. I treated myself to a Hockins ice cream from the van which was selling these delicious traditional ice creams made with cream rather than chemicals to thicken the mixture. There was a hog roast and burgers as well as the nibbles brought in by everyone. The children were having a wonderfully messy time with the chocolate fountains and I must own up to sneaking a handful or two of the cherries to eat sans chocolate. It was great to talk to ex members of staff and catch up on their news. I wore a jazzy pink, purple and black top supplemented by lots of pink swans down. Live music was provided by a local band and by some of the entrants to the Pilton Stars in Their Eyes Show. Mrs B and the rest of 'ABBA' sang as well and then despite the rain we all sang the rest of the songs on their cd. At least ABBA is something that everyone young and old can join in. At one point somebody on the stage said it was just like Glastonbury but without the mud which put a good spin on the rain. Some of the children got completely soaked playing in the puddles, the bouncy castles had deflated by this time, but it was still warm so it didn't matter.

The sound quality on the clip is pretty terrible, sorry Mike, but it does give an idea of the atmosphere. I could have made a much better video when the stage was full of kids just dancing away to a cd and the boys performing spectacular leaps off the front of the stage but then I wouldn't have been able to post it anyway. We left at 7.00 while the party was still going strong but 5 hours was enough for us oldies.

LLAMA.

Had a wonderful day today at the Lynton and Lynmouth music festival. I love listening to almost any sort of music in the open air (except hip-hop which does absolutely nothing for me) and to to bask in the sunshine and have the sea in the background makes it perfect. Even better, it's free and only 12 miles from home. The festival lasts for the weekend but we've always just gone there on the Sunday. Sometimes its been overcast and distinctly cold with the wind blowing in from the sea but today the sun shone until it started going down behind the cliffs at about 7.30. One of the problems with Lynmouth is the limited parking. We got there a little after 11.00 and got one of the last places in the car park. Other years we've had to park in Lynton and walk down the cliff path. A nice walk down but not such fun at the end of the day. The first band to play was an Australian girl, Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halos. They were pleasant to listen to.
Then another band, The Travelling Band, who were also good.

And then a brangra/rock band who were lively and fun. After that there was a band from Bristol , kind of reggae/ska . Their last 2 numbers were hip-hop which I don't like and Peter got very annoyed because it was definitely gangster (gangsta?) rap and he finds the words and sentiments quite offensive.

It's a beautiful setting, down below the wooded gorge of the Lyn Valley, (think Lorna Doone) . All the local hippies turn up plus locals enjoying a day out and plenty of young people many of whom camp at the local campsites. Part of the fun of such events is meeting up with friends ( more in Peter's case than mine this year) and people watching.




I kept spotting sunglasses that I liked and pointing them out to Pete. Funny how many of them were on good looking young men.

This was the sort of event where long hair was common both on men as well as girls. While I've never liked dreads, ( I warned Romas that any dreads would be chopped off by me in the night), this (blond) guy has the the most amazing hair almost down to his knees. Last year he won the busking competition. I think long hair looks good on blokes as well as girls and I love the fact that both Vytas and Romas have hair that is longer than mine. Linas had hair almost to his waist and then he cut it off :( .

There are always plenty of food and drink stands and unlike some of the other festivals where you have to pay to get in, the prices are not sky high. Partially this is because the festival merges with the adjacent pubs and eating places in Lynmouth and unlike Oceanfest the stall holders are not themselves charged an exorbitant fee by the organisers. LLAMA is done more on a voluntary basis and only needs to cover the overheads. A man does come round with a bucket for donations and you are asked to support the site bar which also does some food. We complied by having a fresh waffle (me) and nachos with chili, sour cream and cheese (Pete).

For liquid refreshment , apart from the on site bar and local pubs, jugs of Pimms were very popular.

Or for the more health conscious there were fresh fruit drinks available.

And of course there were stalls selling hippy/indian clothing and jewellery and stuff.

I had a great time checking out the jewellery. Normally there will only be one or 2 stalls like this at the local market but here there was plenty of choice.

You know that nursery rhyme line - Rings on her finger and bells on her toes. Well that described my purchases , except the ring was my first toe ring and the bells were a bracelet made entirely of small purple bells. And there was another ankle bracelet (I was already wearing one), a pretty torque, a necklace and some earrings. And I also found a pair of really wild,, cheap sunglasses in a shop on the street, wrap around, mirrored surf/ski type. All Peter could say was 'wow'. (I was very tempted to get an air brushed 'tattoo' but that might not have gone down too well at work even on a temporary basis.)

There was a recycling theme going on and some excellent craft like these recycled bottles,

and drift wood lights.

Being an open & free festival there were a lot of dogs around. Spot the lab on his back with his paws in the air.

And this beautiful greyhound sat quite peacefully near us.

Just a little taste of the festival music. Sorry about the swinging around style, I haven't had much practise making videos. Emily, told us that a little while ago they had been doing some house gigs when she was approached by a producer/ responsible for doing the music for tv series. He asked her if he could use one of her songs for a series (Wallander)he was doing with Kenneth Brannagh , she agreed and the song got nominated for and won a Bafta award.

It's been a wonderful day and I'll post pictures of Lynmouth itself tomorrow.