Devon knows how they make it so creamy!

I got to Exeter St David's in one piece and was greeted royally by Baggy and a hug! Gus (the car) and Rob drove us back to No 8 (address still not known!) Where upon I caught up with Kezza and was watched as I scoffed a very large and lovely portion of chicken n courgette lasagne! Yum! Much gossing and another large glass of supremo fizzy Banrock red later bed loomed large... or at least it did once hairdryer, integral foot pump and good old fashioned puff had been utilised!

Saturday morning I awoke at 9ish and ventured to the kitchen for a cuppa. Finding Radio Five I could keep myself amused and do the washing up - but man, what a view from the kitchen window....

The upper most field provided the closest I have been to the Archers for a while. A changing of the farmyard guard! First the geese, then some ducks and a goat and I'm sure there are other creatures who head for that end of the field.... oh yes there was a man with a camera? or was it binoculars? - either way persons leaving the shower should be aware that all items will be searched by out door trekkers! (There were no curtains in the bathroom and to be fair I imagine 99% of the time no-one is ever out there - just today with the city girls in town there was! The Mirror or Sun do you think?)

We had bacon butties for breakfast. I have to say Rob is a tops notch cook! A gem indeed! (You will find that food is a theme of the weekend! :-) )
We were eventually dressed and ready to go by 2pm. The first stop Dartmoor - and waterfalls... except Canonteign Falls charge £5.75 per adult to view it - so being the tight fisted generation we are - we refused. Unbundled out of car to re bundle back in.

Cars. I had forgotten what being a passenger in a car is like when one has not been in a car for ages let alone in a car on the curvy wurvy roads of the Western counties! I had a few phases of feeling decidely green! I am sure it was car sick ness and not some weird response to the rather blue conversations we were having!

Anyway country roads aside we headed instead for the beach and Exmouth... from whence you should be able to see Weymouth and Torbay. We saw Ice Creams and Cafe! Yummy!

The Beach at Exmouth...

Ladies wot love an ice cream.... with a huge heap of clotted cream atop!

Me, Kezza and Baggy!

After ice cream there came the cafe.. and sea gulls and half time footie scores... !! Chips beans and cheese and buttered tea cakes with pots and cups and cups of tea.. bliss. The sun shone the donkey ride went up and down the beach.

We returned to the car via the Exmouth Cricket Club, a game in full swing and and open invite to all passers by to pop in for tea n cake. We resisted. A walk had been mooted. A walk from the car to the pub!! The Nobody's Inn.. where the discussion was teatime delights over a rather swell pint of Nobody's Ale.

We drove back to No 8 - despite the lull in our liveliness ie we all fancied a weekend afternoon kip - we braced ourselves for a chinese take away!

The thing I realised about the weekend was that socialising is about enjoying the basic joys of life - eating and drinking. (oh yeah and talking about sex and celebrities!) Baggy and Rob have a great social magnet - a kitchen table (oh a cat called Waterproof!) which you can sit round and talk about anything and everything. And this we did. The simple things. The pace of Devon life is so much slower than London. I knew that but I kind of had to readjust my sense of normal to get a real sense of what I was enjoying. Yeah it would have been great to go for a walk/swim/cycle. But it was just as good to sit and read Ok! Magazine, Glamour, Now and pull it all to pieces (girls - you'll be pleased to know I completed the set, as there was a Hello! magazine on one of the tubes home! they all use the same photos..... ). The simple thing of being with people you can talk too and equally in a period of silence there is no awkwardness. I think when you live alone you forget the joy of sharing a thought or naff joke (I have many!). For me - Baggy and Kezza represent the only girlie group of friends I have had for most of my adult life in that there are 2 of them whereas generally I tend to keep girl friends one to one. It's good for me to realise that well hidden part of myself and not feel overly stilted. No doubt each will disagree when they read this!!! Then again they now know too much about me!! LOL!

Definitely given me a taste for the western counties again! Defintely good to catch up with friends and share opinions and goss! So thanks to Baggy and Rob for having me and to Baggy and Kezza for making me feel like I have found something I never thought I would ... (Now! magazine!!! ONLY kidding!!)