Marie's Web Log

Today we took an impromptu trip to the seaside. We had gone to the city centre in the morning (I had to stop myself from writing "downtown" just then, as they don't say that here) to buy a canvas and wood wardrobe thing to store some of our extraneous stuff in. It was supposed to be a quick trip, but Amelia (who, as you know, has not been napping well) fell asleep in the car on the way back. We decided we should let her sleep a bit, so we followed the roads down to Budleigh Salterton on the coast - about a 20-minute drive. It was a gorgeous day - sunny, but with those big fluffy clouds blowing over very quickly, the way they do here.

Amelia was still asleep when we parked by the seafront - luckily we had brought sustenance in the form of Cornish pasties. When Amelia finally woke up, we strolled through the small town and then walked up the path that ran along the steep hill up the cliff. The view was spectacular - long sweep of pebble beach, backed by amazing red cliffs. There were even some beach huts lined up along the shore, but (note to Jackie and Dave) no windbreaks. Probably too late in the season - the wind would have destroyed them anyway. We did see a couple of crazy people running into the surf!

I did not have my camera with me, but I have included a photo I found on a web site as a separate entry.

Ian by now has met the other people on this course - I think there are 13 in all, from Greece, China, Japan, France, Thailand and England. He seems to be quite energized by the challenge of it - of course the hasn't had to do any work yet.

The other day I was listening to BBC Radio 4 and they were discussing something called an ASBO - Anti-Social Behaviour Order or something like that. It seems intended to be used against drug dealers and the like, but the thing that shocked me was that apparently ASBOs can be served on people without the burden of proof required by the courts, and even based on hearsay evidence. They can be used to force people to keep out of certain areas. I didn't take in all the details, but this coupled with the presence of CCTV cameras in virtually every town centre does make me wonder what this country is coming to.

More soon...