Ice Bound.

We're still snow and ice bound in our little valley. (What's the opposite of Shangri La?) Yesterday's thaw has, in places, frozen to treacherous ice.

I made another journey into town and of course once past Indicott there is very little sign that there ever was any snow. Reaching the top of Whitefield Hill the view was amazing. The sun was reflecting off large areas of thick mist in the valleys making it look as if a magical silver lake had appeared overnight. Unfortunately somebody was right behind me so I couldn't stop to take a picture and when I did stop on my return journey the mists had gone.

Our problem is, as usual, the last stretch of road down into the valley. Yesterday Paul parked his Disco across the road to stop anyone driving down as the sharp bend makes it impossible to see what the conditions are like before it is too late. On my return from town I was able to slide the large box containing an oil filled radiator most of the way down which was good as I was also laden with more food - just in case.
We decided to buy the heater as our bedroom is unpleasantly cold. Fine when you're tucked up in bed with extra blankets and hot water bottles but not nice otherwise. The kitchen is staying warm with the Rayburn still burning. I've left the warming oven door open and Smudge is usually to be found sitting in there. The wood burner keeps the sitting room warm and in general it's not bad if you're moving around. It's been warmer this weekend but temperatures are said to drop again in the week so I don't think there's much chance of an oil delivery.

Town was its usual busy self with at least half the shops including the charity shops open. I parked in the cattle market and in front of Castle Mound (originally an almost vertically sided hill with a palisade on top from where a look out was kept for invading Vikings and later pirates,) I saw this odd sight.

Something to do with the panto or some sort of Christmas promotion? And then as I was driving away a Santa in full kit with tinsel, ran across the road, followed by another, and another. When I drove up to the junction there were at least 3 or 4 more Santas following on. Weird , or maybe not for this time of year.

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DISASTER.

Nothing major in terms of the family but my camera has GONE WRONG. How can this happen to a Nikon? It's making a suspicious grinding noise and on normal zoom you get a black shadow in the top right hand corner. It doesn't show when you use the zoom lens. I discovered the problem with the camera when I was in town on one of my leisurely shopping meanders in and out of all the charity shops and wanted to take some pictures of this wonderful metal sculpture/ seat in a courtyard by the Pannier Market. Whoever made it should have a sign up because several other people stopped to admire it when I was there. I wouldn't mind having one like that in the garden though it is probably extremely expensive. I might make some enquiries at the cafe that has some tables in this open space next time I'm in town. I wasn't too far from Jessops where I had bought the camera so back I went and they said yes there was something wrong with it but I needed to get the receipt and see when I bought it as it would only be under warranty for a year. Back home I checked and phew !! I bought it on November 28th last year. Just 2 weeks inside the year. I'll take the camera and my paperwork back to the shop next Saturday. I used my blog records to check when I had bought it and I had commented then that even though I had paid a bit more than if I had bought it on line at least I had a shop to return it to and thank goodness for that.
It has been a bright and sunny day today though when I drove into town I could see an massive weather front looming on the other side of town. If you looked one way up the High Street the sky was blue with fluffy clouds and the other way was all gloomy and grey. Luckily the rain held off and apart from the camera incident it was a good shopping trip. We are looking for a new 6ft wood bedframe and so far have had no luck on the internet. A friend had offered to get us one at trade price but I wasn't too keen on the 2 he showed us in the catalogue. Today I went into an expensive furniture store just to see what was around and they had both of the beds in the catalogue and they are actually rather nice. One of them is perfect so hopefully we can order it for a much cheaper price through this friend and then have a major move around of all the beds in the house. Also Peter asked me to buy him a new fleece neck warmer as his has gone missing. One of the outdoor wear shops had them on 'buy one get one free' and an extra 20% off today so I bought him one and a fleece headband for myself to keep the wind out of my ears. I have one I was given years ago which I love as I get earache very easily and it solves the problem much better than a hat.
My schoolwork has all been done so I've got tomorrow free, ah bliss!!

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W W Windy.

It was wild , wet , windy and warm this morning. The day continued with more of the same with a strong gale blowing by lunchtime. That was when one child in the playground was hit in the face by a small branch which fell off a tree. On the way home another branch fell in front of the car narrowly missing the bonnet. I actually left work earlier than usual because of the weather conditions. As I sit here at the pc I can hear the wind roaring in the trees outside and rattling our windows. Being Thursday it was time to go swimming. They've started putting in the glass windows/ walls in the new Tescos. I hope they haven't been caught by the wind as that could be rather expensive.

Stopping at the roundabout gave me a good view of the stone installation. I was told another story about our stones - one dark night somebody planted a set of smaller 'baby' stones at the feet of the big stones. That would have been funny to see.

Another view of the New Bridge but this picture also has a story to do with the large white mansion right in the middle up on the hill (click on the picture for a bigger view). Not that long ago, a middle aged local man who ran a small building firm, kids went to our school, wife was part of the PTA in other words an ordinary chap, unexpectedly inherited the mansion from a relative who he knew little or nothing about. This was an uncle who had moved to Australia many years before. That must have been a real surprise.
Not much else to say about my day. I have a 3rd year teaching student working in my class who is supposed to be doing quite a bit of teaching which I have to monitor but that does give me a bit of a break to get on with making assessments and some of the other 101 things that always need doing.

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Jai Ho.

It was a good day today. We satred with nearly an hour of Indian based dancing which the children loved. The visiting teacher was impressed with their enthusiasm and grasp of dance techniques. She worked with the children to create their own dances and when I told her we had been trying some Bollywood steps she taught us Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire. That was fun. Later in the afternoon all the classes performed their dances to each other and we had a whole school performance of Jai Ho. Our headteacher was videoing it and I noticed the camera swinging around to us teachers quite a lot. She could probably put that on YouTube to show just how unco-ordinated we all are. It has been raining all day so the children didn't get any time outside but as well as the dancing we had a lot of things to finish off. No chance to take photos today so here's few more from yesterday's trip to the swimming pool. Firstly here's an enormous Tesco's superstore being built on the site of my favourite independent store - Brain Ford's.

Then as we approach the New Bridge a view of our infamous rock art roundabout. Our local council paid over £200,000 for this collection of stones in their ugly metal cradles. The best stone was the one on the far left which was rather phallic and had various ribald local names until the council doctored it to a less obvious shape, spoil sports. Not only was this a massive expenditure at a time when the recession was beginning to hit but the placement of the stones on their sides has left them open to rapid erosion as the stone is a relatively soft slate that forms loose layers which can split off quite easily.

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Strange Goings On At The Post Office.

I've been quite busy today, starting with more school planning even though the Internet was down for some unknown reason. Then I headed into town to post a parcel. It was rather strange at the Post Office. When I walked in the place was almost empty, just one man who had walked in before me. This is so unusual, due to most of the local Post Offices being closed down in the last 10 years the queue generally winds around the Post Office often right out of the front door. As we waited to be served the sight of a curtained off cubicle in front of one of the serving windows prompted me to overcome my British reserve and chat to the man. We speculated on the purpose of this Heath Robinson looking structure with ideas ranging from extremely private posting (mine) to dancing girls (his). I did ask the counter chap about it and apparently it's for biometric scanning of anyone who comes in to renew their driving licence or passport. Big Brother! (Peter did a course on biometrics as part of his degree and the scary things are 1-It's not 100% reliable so you could be arrested? or worse for program error and 2 - all the information will be kept centrally and we know how secure that can be. There have been enough recent cases of information lost or stolen or simply given to the wrong recipients to make me seriously worried.) I didn't have much else to do in town, just a quick visit to the library and to the health food shop (for oat bran). It was quite warm and sunny in town. This is a view down one of the few remaining medieval lanes, the still being used alms houses on the left while on the right is a specialist comic book shop and straight ahead is a coffee shop in the former tea-rooms which used to be the first girls' school in town.
Turning the other way looking up Paternoster Row can be seen the tiny building of the old grammar school, this was built in C14 and was the original boys' school. This thoroughfare is unfortunately the haunt of the local alcoholics. The girls by the bench were drinking those awful alcopops (sweetened flavoured alcoholic drinks) but I hope they don't fall into that category.
Back home the sunshine disappeared but it was still warm so I did some more weeding of the bank. It's looking quite bad once the weeds have been pulled out so I may have to do some major refurbishment next spring. Either reseeding or even buying turf.

(Out of order) I finished gluing craft wire to our scrabble board and now we have a non-slip board with the tiles staying in place even if the board gets jogged while being turned around. Only one drawback in that the board does not fold flat but I can live with that.

After my weeding I took some time out to relax with a cup of tea and a book. I feel so refreshed when I am completely surrounded by nature. I even had my own personal lap warmer in the form of a fat black cat though he does demand a few cuddles in return for gracing me with his presence.

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Sleep !

Oh the joy of being able to turn over and go back to sleep when the first sounds of the radio still set for 5.45, permeate my dream world. Another bright but cold day, the bright blue sky finally tempted me out of my warm bed. First job of the day was to turn up my new jeans while listening to the radio. I was taken aback to hear a man from Christie's say he was looking at some 'visuals' meaning photographs - pretentious jargon or poor language? Either way I didn't approve. I needed to do a few things in town so had another gentle stroll around the shops trying to do some more Christmas shopping before the crowds start building up. Saw my first Christmas tree on display, and we've not even had Bonfire Night!
Once home I spent some time out in the garden cutting back the artemesia in the scree garden. Even though I wasn't actually in the sunshine at least I could see it as it lit up parts of the garden. The red garden lillies only open in the sun so they are strategically placed to catch those last rays which make them shine like red candles. After the hustle and bustle of town it was good to only hear the sounds of nature.

Discovered the source of an unpleasant smell downstairs which had me searching all the dark corners, a deceased mole under the table in the living room. mole now removed, windows opened and candle lit to get rid of the smell. Flipping cats!

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Odd Eyes.

Peter and I drove down to Exeter this afternoon as we both had check ups on our eyes after the laser surgery. My left eye is a bit down which is why I was having a check up a year after the surgery. The slight difference in my left eye is allowing me to read things a few feet away which I would lose if I have more surgery in that eye. I have three choices, have the surgery and lose all close vision, keep the different eyes (this was one of the original options offered as some people prefer to keep some close vision) or think about it and review things in a year. We have full lifetime care so there is no more payment to consider. At the moment it is quite useful to use a pc or read stuff without glasses, maybe as my eyes change with age I'll chose to correct the left eye and wear glasses for close work. I'll wait and see how I feel. The eye clinic was in one of these buildings which are in Southernhay, this is a street of elegant Georgian town houses that follows the line of the great ditch just outside the city wall. Southernhay existed as far back as 1278 and in 1667 the central area of this wide space was made into a park for the people. It was certainly very pleasant today with the mature trees shading the street from the hot sun.
We arrived early so I had time for some shopping. From Southernhay I crossed the city wall and entered the Cathedral grounds. The area is full of wonderful old buildings and I loved this great wooden gateway with its tantalising glimpse into a small courtyard.

Exeter Cathedral sits on a spacious green which was filled with students and tourists enjoying the sun. This building was completed in 1400 but the founding of Exeter Cathedral dates back to 1050.

More buildings around the cathedral.

Plenty of cafes but with only 1 1/2 hours the shops called me onwards. I finally found some cargo pants, another size smaller -yay, in M&S. After the eye clinic it was the drive home via the scenic route passing through Crediton. This takes you through the typical Devon countryside with steep rolling hills covered with a patchwork of fields. Think 'The Shire' which is not surprising as Alan Lee (artist for LOTR) lives near Dartmoor. The route home also took us along winding river valleys and through thick forested areas, very beautiful but I can understand why Peter is relieved not to be having to drive that distance every day.

Finally the diet. Yet another 2 lbs gone, I shall have to keep on until those last few pounds have melted away. I think I shall call it the Chocolate Diet as I have several squares of chocolate every evening and a whole 100gms on Mondays. I treated myself to some more expensive white chocolate today, normally I stick to the 30p value bars.

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Old Barnstaple.

Despite it being Saturday it was an early start to the day as Peter had to leave by 7.00 to drive down to Camborne (230 miles round trip) for a day's study and exam, (it was to do with routers and other networking stuff). I too had an early start, did some housework and went into town earlyish. I had to visit the bank, post office and library and then had a leisurely stroll around the shops looking for that elusive top that will cover up the flab and still make me look totally glamorous. Needless to say such a thing doesn't exist but it's fun looking. I also searched for sunglasses to wear after I get my eyes done. I know what I want but even going into the pricey surf/sports shops I didn't find the right pair. I'll probably end up getting a £2 pair from Primark. It was sunny but cool in town and there weren't too many people around, I hate being jostled in crowds or having to dodge slow moving groups which always seem to stop right in front of me. I did manage to get some clear photos of some of the older parts of town. The spire of the church is twisted because after it was built the timbers shrank unevenly as they dried out.
This is a 14thC chapel that was later the school , (in one tiny room).

The almshouses are still lived in by 'the deserving poor', ie needy older residents of Barnstaple. These narrow alleys are the original town roads.

Back home I finished off some school paperwork and tried to enjoy the patches of sunshine. One minute it was burning hot, the next it would be rather cool.

More of the hardy geraniums are coming into flower. There is such a range of colours and sizes and they will flower for some weeks.

This one is psilostemon, a large flowered tall variety.

This is 'Roxanne' which I bought years ago at the Gardeners' World Show at the NEC.

As well as the iris there are 3 of the common varieties here.

I like the unusual foliage of this one which has a special place up in the scree garden.

Earlyish night tonight as we are both rather tired, as always.

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Barnstaple Pannier Market.

I didn't get to the Forest Schools course after all. I started the day with symptoms of cystitis. I've never had it before but a quick phone call to NHS Direct confirmed my self diagnosis and I was advised to get some medicine from the chemist's and to drink LOTS. I couldn't really see myself running around doing outdoor activities , rather running to the bathroom a lot, so I pulled out of the course. I was disappointed as I've done a lot of outdoor activities with youngsters at scout camp and at a city farm and it would have been interesting to see the kind of activities we are allowed to do now. Also it would have been excellent to spend the day with my colleagues. Never mind, that's the way things go.

At home summer is truly on its way. The wisteria is making its yearly attempt to flower but the snails are already lining up to munch their way through the flowers.

Today I saw the first of the climbing roses over the porch. Such a cliche but I had to have roses scrambling up the walls alongside the honeysuckle and the wisteria.

The purple drumstick alliums are making a grand appearance.

And a very tattered butterfly was soaking up the sun in the scree garden.

I had to go into town to collect some medicine from the chemists so I popped into the Pannier Market. Friday is the traditional market day, until some years ago we had a cattle market on Fridays as well. Many local businesses sell their wares here .......

.... from market gardeners to


Jacob sheep breeders.

This lady was busy knitting at her stall selling sheep's cheese, wool and woolly jumpers.

This stall specialises in organic vegetables, herbs and unusual varieties of plants.

There are also a number of farmer's stalls. If you look closely you can see that one of the duck's eggs on sale is bright blue. Occasionally there are goose eggs for sale.

This stall seemed to be specialising in dogs' toys.

I love the olive stall, it smells wonderful as you walk past. There are all kinds of olives to choose from and other delicacies such as sundried tomatoes and feta. Unlike the rest of my family I don't like the taste of olives but I love the smell.

The seconhand book stall has an overflow area around this traditional phone box.


If I wasn't planning to move I would have been very tempted to buy this wonderful iris on sale at one of the many plant stalls. I also managed to resist Roly's Fudge shop. The smell of the fudge cooling on a marble slab as you walk past that tiny shop simply makes your mouth water.

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Barnstaple's Alleys.

Barnstaple is not a pretty historical town but a working commercial centre for North Devon. But once you look past the scruffy slightly run down facades you can see the layout of the medieval streets and alleys and there are architectural reminders of its ancient history.

This is on the wall of a building in Cross st above a baby goods shop.
The 1960s M&S building is an eyesore compared to these lovely old cottages.

The sun shone down on the throngs of shoppers walking along the High st which is pedestrianised during the day.

I went into town to do a few things and collect Romas from the bus station. The rest of the day has been spent organising paperwork. The pile is about 3" high so far but I'm almost ready to start filling in the forms.

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