Return to Devon

I went back to Devon on Friday (5th Jan) so that I could go to Tim's handbell day the next day.   I arrived at 3 pm and had a quick chat with Malc before taking Suki out for a walk.  Peter had prepared bolognaise for supper and we had it with jacket potato.

The handbell day was good fun although I didn't like leaving Suki for so long - I ended up being longer than intended because someone was ill and I had to cover for them.  I rang 3 QPs - Cambridge Royal, Yorkshire Major and Little Bob Royal - and over the day 7 QPs were rung which had been the target.  The Cambridge Royal was a real struggle and we had so many restarts that we ran out of time for the scheduled Yorkshire Royal, but then fitted in the Yorkshire Major to keep the total for the day on schedule.

It was Suki's official birthday on Monday 8th Jan - I discovered birthday cake for dogs in the local pet shop (made primarily of lard I think) so of course I had to get it for her.  She didn't look particularly impressed but certainly wolfed down the bit I cut off for her.


I spent the week updating my blog, and going through all the old paperwork (statements etc) and shredding it.  The shredder I had purchased from Trago earlier in the year was really not up to the job,  running for only 2 minutes before needing a 30 minute recovery period.  So I decided to treat myself to an industrial strength one from Amazon (with my wedding money from PPT).  This arrived on Tuesday and made a huge difference.  It was much more powerful, had a bigger receptacle, and ran for much longer before cutting out.  I ended up with the blue paper sack full of paper plus 3 large sacks full of shredded paper.


When I went up to ringing on Sunday morning I saw the order of service for John Horrell, who had died just before Christmas.  It contained some lovely photos of him.

On Wednesday I went walking with Jackie in Parke.  It was cold but sunny - in the field at the top of Parke it was clear and the sun was warm on our backs, but down by the river it was misty and very atmospheric, and noticeably colder!  It was incredibly muddy!  We ended up doing an extra loop at the end to help a lady look for a scottie dog she had lost - but we didn't find it and the lady had gone by the time we got back.  The cafe was closed for refurbishment, which we hadn't realised, so we went to Inner Light coffee shop.  We were the only customers, but the coffee was excellent as was the (shared) toasted teacake.  She had kindly given us two plates and two pats of butter each!


I rang handbells with Tim again on the Thursday - although once again the Cambridge Royal eluded us!  Went to Moretonhampstead in the evening - there was a full house and I shared the little bells with Jean again.  Ann invited me to tea beforehand - we had quiche followed by toasted tea cakes.  Lovely.

All too soon it was time to go back to London again.  😢

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