Bovey - first week in June


I came down to Devon on Wednesday and immediately felt the stress fall away from me.  I had a lovely walk in Parke and then went to see Mary, who was ok but seemed mostly interested in stroking Suki (who was behaving really well that afternoon - hardly even growling at the staff).  Jayne came in at 6 and it was lovely to see her again and catch up.  We had a lovely chicken and veg stir fry with a glass or two of wine and a nice early night too.  She is working at Trago Mills 8-6 each day although on Friday she went to Glastonbury for the weekend for a wedding so I had a couple of days to myself which is nice too. She has Mondays and Tuesdays off so we plan to go for a walk on the moor whatever the weather.  I went up on the moor on Friday morning and it was very wet and misty - I had a lovely walk but it was easy to see how someone might get lost when the cloud comes down as I was on a route I knew very well but still had some unsure moments.  When I got back the rain turned torrential although it eased off  later.  On Thursday I went to handbell ringing and everyone was very pleased to see me.  Margaret has left me her official shirt, so I now have one of my own to wear.

On Saturday I went with the Moretonhamptstead Ringers to the Regional Rally of the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain in Christow which had as its theme Australia and New Zealand.  Zoe picked me up which was nice.  It turned out to be quite tedious because the guy doing the compering liked the sound of his own voice and decided that between each ring he would tell long boring stories about Australia and his experiences there.  It was quite a long afternoon and we only rang two pieces and did three lots of massed ringing.  All the ringing was lovely and very enjoyable both to do and to listen to, but the afternoon was too long and drawn out and quite badly organised as there was no schedule so no-one knew who was ringing next until it was announced.


One team all wore cork hats


The handbell ringers "Ensemble" rang Elgar's Chanson de Matin


The Heavitree band - complete with kangaroo heads
The "kangaroos" watch another team!













Ringing a 4-in-hand contraption
with a bell on his hat for the extra note







I ordered another computer for down here from Morgan Computing - it is a refurbished Windows7 desktop PC (only) for £76 including carriage.  I now have something which will work my phone and iPad down here, and will also copy and manage music effectively, without me needing to bring my laptop down each time. The refurbished laptop I bought runs XP and I found when I plugged my phone in that it wouldn't recognise it so I was unable to download my photos etc which I wanted to do.  Ditto the iPad.  So I am pleased with this one.  Jayne and I put it all together and then we set up the TV in the living room and got rid of all the surplus equipment and cables into the cabinet so it looks much neater now and I can record something while watching a different channel at last.

I started listening to the Jeffrey Archer book which is fourth in the series, and reading a Tim Weaver book on Kobo, and I also have a hard back book on the go (Inspector Linley) so I have plenty to keep me going!

I was in the bank on Thursday for an hour and a quarter.  Lloyds have changed their interest bearing current accounts, and their savings accounts, so I needed to get all my accounts and Mary's accounts reviewed and changed to maximise the interest etc.  As a result I now have 12 Vue cinema tickets - a lifestyle benefit of opening a Club account! - so I will have to find some films I want to see now.  Lorraine loves going to the cinema so I imagine I won't have to go alone.  The manager had to print a huge amount of paperwork to give me - so much for the paperless society - and I had to sit through a video too (presumably because they are nervous after the mis-selling of PPI costs).  What a huge palaver and waste of time just because they decided to change things.
Jayne pushed the two beds together
and transformed the room
with the help of some new bedding







Suki stays in bed!


Jayne's transformed room

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