27th Honiton

An Admin day.

The night was quite cold but the morning was warm. It was a bit of a shock to find that dad no longer has coffee for breakfast, fruit juice is his thing now. I unpacked the asus netbook and soon had the 3 stick up and working. I was surprised to get 3G coverage in the trailer but as I discovered it was quite unreliable. Gemma with her 2G stick had a slower speed but at least it did not keep on dropping out on her.

I spent some time on admin stuff, looking up train times, hotel bookings, moving money around and the like. Dad and I decided that we would go into town and sort out the hire car and my accommodation. Honiton does not seem to have changed much since my last visit, there seemed to be more street traders and the independent newsagent has turned into a Smiths but other than that it seems to be much the same as always. The hire car is a local trader garage on the other side of the town from Dads trailer. Seems to be an all service garage that does some hire cars on the side. We sort out the car for pickup the next day, it will be a black Diesil golf. Its a manual so I have a bit of a challenge ahead of me. Gemma is glad that she can't drive. Everybody at the garage seemed to be a bit eccentric, inbreeding or small town? Dad tries to convince me to have two hire periods so as to save money as there are a couple of day in the middle where we do not really need the car but I resist as I can't be bother to do it like that, it's just to much hassle to save a couple of days hire and I have not got time to waste buggering around. Dad does not seem to understand that I am time limited not money limited on this trip so I am quite prepared to spend a bit more money if it saves me time.

Then it's just across the forecourt to the Turks Lodge motel. A bit seedy and run down but what do I care? I make my booking and chose the double room with breakfast as it's on special and does not cost anymore than a single room. It should be ok for three nights. The place is about 12 rooms around an open parking area. I am a bit bothered to discover that there is no laundry, forgot that it's just NZ motels that always have a laundry.

Then it's off to Tesco for some travel supplies. This has to be the most run down Tesco that I have ever seen, peeling paint and cracks everywhere. Dad explains that they had been trying for ages to build a new one nearby but had just been refused planning permission again, they had been running this one down in expiation of closing it. I would have liked to spend more time looking around the shelves but Dad was getting fractious. I don't think he has any idea what it is like for me after all these years, he just wants to get a move on. I bought a real pork pie to share with Dad for lunch

After the pie it's off to Castle Drogo. I have been here before but it's an interesting place, I would not want to live here. It was built in the twenties but styled as a medieval castle. I think the owners must have been a bit mad. Large halls, very cold in winter despite the heating. I of course are more I treated in how the house worked than the portraits and works of art.

They are having a real afternoon tea event but don't seem to be having much trade, after I saw the prices I understood why. While we were walking around dad put on some of the props and insisted on having his photo taken. I guess we were lucky not to get thrown out.

The whole system is setup to make the staff as hidden as possible with hidden doors and corridors etc. It's really more like a manor house than a castle.

We manage to resist the bouncy castle as we return to the entrance. Dad and I had our photo taken in the garden. This place is now a national trust property and there is a new combined tea rooms and shop at the entrance. We have a nice afternoon tea and Gemma joins the national trust, I think about it but decide not to. We buy some things at the shop and I stock up on cards to send Clare

Back to Honiton where Gemma is cooking the tea. We have cheese fritata potato salad and I make a green salad. Hilda come across again and we have a good time other than dads foul wine. I will have to do something about that wine.

After a lot of talking I realise it's 22:00 and time for bed. I hope I will not be so cold tonight. It's time to hit the road tomorrow what adventures lie ahead and will I be able to conquer that manual gear box!

26th Honiton Devon

Honiton

Down to Dad

Fairly early start. Oh! What a surprise the safe has broken again!

Went to go down to breakfast but where oh where is my room key? I spent 20 minutes searching and still no sign. Gave up and went down for breakfast. I had a good feed (well even though it was not that good it was all you can eat, and I can eat a lot) then went to the front desk to ask for another key. They did not seem very bothered by this request, guess this happens quite often. It was 8 pm by now so it was time to be on my way but where is that damn key? Finally found it down the side of the bed! I had kept it on the desk so how it made it there will always be a misty.

I decided to take a black cab to Waterloo rather than try the tube partially because of the busted bag and partially because I always find riding in a London taxi to be a bit special. The taxi system is one of the cities special assets, some thing that cannot be said about the toilets at Waterloo.

For a start you have to pay (30 p) and then they are down steps and behind an automatic barrier that won't let bags through. What an appalling system. You can't just leave your bags while you rush in, especially when every couple of mins there is an announcement telling you not to leave your bags unattended. Watching people from a bench (another thing that there are not enough of) while trying not to burst I noticed that people were indeed leaving their bags unattended as there was not enough space in the shops to take them in. It just does not make sense to me, it's such a contraction, they want you to shop but not leave your bags well you can have one or the other but not both so make your mind up managers!

Lots of school kids (almost all girls, where are they boys do they keep them locked up?) all wearing the same uniform. That is very short shorts bright top and cellphone. If they were a bit older it would be very enjoyable. They were demonstrating herd behavior, occasionally I see one separate from her herd working her cellphone frantically trying to locate them. The station seem busier than I remember, seems a wider variety of people traveling than on the streets. I do enjoy people watching the whole world seems to be happening in front of me here.

I had purchased my ticket from a robot intending to take the 10:20, but I noticed that it seems to be a open ticket so I decided to try for the 9:20 instead. It's then that I realise the crappy trolley system. It's really a con job, first you have to get a trolly, of which there are not that many. You have to put a pound in the slot to release it, then when you have to return it to the racks to get your money back. But the only racks on the platform are at the gates at the head of the platform, there are none along the way. So how does this work? Well you walt all the way up the platform to your carriage and put your bags on and return but wait, you are not allowed to leave your bags both because you don't want to and because the voice in the heavens is telling you (every 10 mins) not to. So how can you get your trolly back? Well, of course you can't. So you abandon your trolly and some staff member takes it back and keeps your pound. What a rip off, airports don't charge so why do train stations.

A class 159 is waiting for me, it's actually two trains joined together, I make sure that I get in the front three as I don't want to go to Axminister. The train is almost empty at first but fills up as we get closer to my destination. But again something sucks, the catering trolly only makes one pass through the carriage. When I go looking for it I discover that the train has already split in to two and the trolly has gone with the other carriages. So no catering for the last two hours of the trip. That sucks!

Still other than that the service is reasonable and look here is Honiton station. I suffer a slight anxiety attack as I am not sure that they got my message about my change of train times but there is Gemma on the platform. We do the squeezing thing and I wonder where dad is! Turns out that he is turning the car so it's off the platform to the car park. There is my old man looking the same and sounding the same as always. He seems to be invincible.



It's lunch time by now so with just a slight delay to drop my bag off it's out to lunch. Dad sometimes goes to a local airfield for lunch where you can eat and watch the planes landing etc. It's a cheap cafe and though the real English ale was nice it must be the chefs day off. I ordered place and chips, the place was frozen supermarket fish as were the chips and peas. Dad was not happy with his either so we assume it's just a bad day in the kitchen. He assures me that usually it's better than this. Even the entertainment is a bit unimpressive as only two planes come and go in the hour that we are there.

Then it's back to the trailer for a bit of a rest. All my aching muscles and over heating is maying me walk like dad! My room is gems usually and you can tell it's full of stuff but some how I find enough space to fill it even more. Nothing much seems to have changed here other than he now has led path lights. The sort that charges from a small solar panel during the day and then illuminates at night. Gemma is staying at Hildas while I am here.

Later in the evening Hilda comes around for dinner. She is a caricature of a little grey haired old lady. Seems very nice other than being a bit indecisive. Dad decides it's time for the Duke at Sidmouth which is about 25 mins away on the sea side. So off we go in his new car. Sidmouth turns out to be a nice town on the sea side, at bit touristy but not to bad. Before food we have to have a look at the cliff. Gemma and Dad have a project of watching the sea slowly eat away at a cliff at the end of the sea front. We take some pictures then to the Duke. The Duke turns out to be a food pub which the English do so well but that is so missing from New Zealand. Again I have place but this time it's fresh caught and could not be more different than the sorry over frozen over cooked specimen that we had at lunch time. When it's all over we all declared that it was very good food. ( potted mackerel, place and toffee pie with Devon cream for me).

Then it's back to the trailer and coffee. Soon after I realise that I had better turn in other wise the sky is likely to fall on me. All together a very good day