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The only way I could get this one to look right was to flip it horizontally, so the big boat on the left didn't get cropped. Boats on the estuary at Topsham. You'd never know my ancestors were sea captains, would you?
Morris dancing - what the really macho English man does in his spare time.
I have more photos for you. But first, some news. What news? Not much. Less than a week till Amelia and I go to Canada. I sent off two work projects tonight - one of them is finished, and the other one is still in the early stages. I also mailed in a story today to a short story competition. I haven't done that for several years. It wasn't a new story, but one I'd revised slightly.
Here are the photos, taken in Topsham when our friends Alison and Terry and their kids came to visit us after our holiday south of here. Topsham is 'the ancient port of Exeter' - about as far up the estuary as the boats used to go before unloading their cargo. It's a really quaint village with very interesting house styles.
Crap - I can't get the photos to work properly. Lynda, maybe you can help me out - how do I size the photos so they don't get cropped? I don't mind some cropping, but sometimes it just looks ugly. Interestingly, they look fine in the preview, but then they appear to get chopped to make way for the sidebars.
Can't be bothered to change the sizing, so I hope they come out OK.
Looking out over the estuary at Noss Mayo.
The human fruit machine at the Noss Mayo village fete.
Kids.
The gang.
Looe, Cornwall.
Yes, down south. South west Devon, to be precise. Almost in Cornwall. The photo in the last post is of the estuary at Salcombe. Unfortunately, when I upload the photos they get cropped a bit, sometimes in the wrong place. I'll try to fix that later - probably something to do with how I've sized the originals.
Bigbury-on-Sea.
Some of our friends' kids enjoying the beach.
Another shot of Salcombe estuary.
Salcombe town.
(Yes - it is England!) More to follow...
Some breathing space. A little bit, anyway. This morning I posted back to the author the proofs of the book I've been working on since before we went on holiday. I'm waiting for another client to make amendments to a file and send it back. And I have another project, but don't have to start until Monday.
Hot again today. I went to a yoga class this morning (haven't been for weeks - now that I'm a parent, when work comes along something has to give, and it's usually my fitness activities) then into town to catch up on all my errands. I had lunch (a falafel wrap) at a place called The Boston Tea Party - I may have mentioned it before. It's a place I feel at home in, for some reason. The ground floor is tiny, but the second floor is big, with high ceilings and massive windows. I believe it was once a post office. They've filled it with an odd assortment of wooden tables and chairs of all different sizes, and there's always an exhibition of someone's photos or paintings on the walls.
Last weekend I went to two talks at a place called Dartington Hall, as part of an annual 10-day literature festival. Dartington is a half-hour drive south west of here. It's an old estate, with a group of stone buildings arranged around a central square, like a college. When I got there for the first talk, there was a big queue (translation: line-up) of people waiting. The speaker was a woman called Xinran, who was a journalist in China and now lives in London. She was talking about her new book, called 'What the Chinese Don't Eat', which is a collection of the columns she writes in The Guardian newspaper. It's a fascinating look at Chinese life and the differences between Chinese and Western cultures.
The talk was held in a room called The Great Hall, which wasn't as large as it sounds, but had an upper level minstrel gallery, and big arch-shaped windows. (And behind the speakers, a gigantic fireplace that must have been about 20 feet long and 6 feet high. Sorry about the imperial measurements - showing my age.) There were about 200 people there. I sat on a bench that had been placed in one of the window ledges - I told you they were big windows.
I was almost in tears several times during Xinran's talk, when she spoke of women in China and how the lives of those in the countryside (about 80% of the population) are still very hard. China apparently has one of the highest rates of female suicide in the world. I can't help but think that that would have been Amelia's life.
The second speaker was Anna Massey, a well-known English actress (she recently published a memoir). She's been in loads of things, including a couple of Hitchcock films (she was Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca) and numerous television programes including Inspector Morse. She gave some interesting insights into the actor's life.
Watched the last episode of the second series of the new Dr. Who. Don't know if they're showing it yet in Canada. It was sad - I knew it was going to be. I put off watching it for that reason.
All for now...
First, a block apology to those whose e-mails I have not yet answered. I'll get to them soon, I promise. Back from holiday for a week, but still not caught up. Lots of work, plus looking after Amelia and trying to keep the house from falling into complete disarray. Sometimes I think it would be easier if I were working in an office, then I could go there and do the work and come home. This way, I have to snatch hours when I can, which means I feel like I'm working all the time.
No photos of holiday yet - there are two films sitting on my bedside table waiting to be developed, but I haven't had time to take them into town. (I know, I know, if I had a digital camera...) If you'd like to see the place we stayed in, have a look here, It was really lovely - a former lambing barn, in a complex with about five other stone buildings, three of them holiday rentals and the others lived in. The original owners live in the Caribbean now, apparently. The place was just about big enough for the 15 of us, with five bedrooms and four bathrooms. There was a shared indoor pool, too.
We had great weather - only one day of rain, and the rest sunny and hot. Yes, hot. It was 32 the other day, which is very muggy for a country with few air conditioners. I actually went and bought a fan. And it was wonderful to see our friends again. Amelia got on really well with all the children, especially Carys (11) and Daisy (6). She kept running around after them, wanting to hold their hands. We hardly saw her.
I was in a foul mood on the Saturday when we came back. Seeing our friends made me miss Canada - or more accurately, the life I had there. On the Sunday we went out with some friends from here to a pub by the canal, and I felt a bit better. On the Sunday night, one of the families we stayed in the house with came to stay with us for two nights, and then we drove down to Lyme Regis with them and met up with another family of friends for one last visit before they all headed off to Brighton and other points east to visit friends and family before returning to Canada.
In less than four weeks, I'll be there myself...