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We gave up ‘normal’ life to go travelling back in October 2008.  We’re usually on a plane by now heading off for fun and adventure far away from the prospect of a chilly British winter.  While we were away last year, way before the pandemic hijacked everyone’s ‘normal’, we had decided we weren’t going to go away this month, as we usually did, as we wanted to experience a full year in our new house and town.

It’s strange that even though we planned to not go away this month, the fact that it’s not possible is really bugging us!!

Here we are at the start of chapter 13 and Covid is still with us in a big way.  Perhaps this is our new normal as we are about to enter another lockdown.  Vast swathes of the North of England have already been under tighter restrictions for a while whilst here in Seaton we’ve continued to enjoy very low infection rates.  When we see young people on the TV partying on the streets of Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham without masks or any social distancing we have little sympathy.  You reap what you sow but it’s just a pity that the minority of idiots have now forced the whole of the UK into lockdown even where the new cases are very few or even zero in some places.

We weren’t going to abandon all our travelling but as Covid has dictated that we won’t be getting on a plane for the foreseeable future, one of our first tasks of the month was to cancel our flight to Mexico which was booked for January 8^th next year.  That also means no rendezvous with friends Tim and Sandra for a tequila or two before they leave after their trip.  They have just heard that their upcoming flight has been cancelled.  There is no way we’re getting on a plane for 10 hours to wear a mask with the added risk of travelling through airports at both ends and breathing possibly infected air on a plane.  Planes are definitely off the menu!

Feeling sad about not travelling inspired Neil to contact our friends in Goa to find out how life is for them and for the village of Benaulim which had become our winter home.  We’ve developed some strong friendships over the past few years with both fellow travellers, locals and the people who work in hospitality out there.  It was during the money crisis in November 2016 when we were overwhelmed by the generosity of the Indian people.  No one could get hold of cash but the staff just said, ‘’come in, eat and don’t worry, you can pay us when you can’’.

We got a lengthy reply from Bee and Dave and also our favourite young shack owner Alton.  Life in Benaulim is going to be very different this season with very few western tourists and, possibly, a limited number of domestic tourists.  It’s looking like a very tough year for all those who rely on tourism for a living, especially the majority of workers who travel to Goa from the North and Nepal.

Life in a Southern Town

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October began wet ‘n windy and went out with a big hoolie, winds of 60mph and buckets of rain.  Still, by UK standards it was warm rain.  The wet weather along with mild temperatures gave us some beautiful Autumn flowers in the garden and stunning colours in the trees.  Yup, the garden just keeps on giving and not just colour.  At the start of the month we had delicious Cox’s apples followed by a big crop of conference pears.  We’ve picked our last cucumber but there are still some tomatoes to come. 

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Whilst on the boat last month we picked lots of sloes and made several bottles of sloe gin.  These have been stored in the pantry along with the several bottles and jars of raspberry gin, redcurrant gin, gooseberry gin and blackcurrant gin that we made from the surplus soft fruit in June.  Christmas and New Year, in whatever format they come, are likely to be something of a blur!

We’re getting used to our new normal in Seaton.  We’ve got a recently opened fruit and veg shop called Squirrel and £5 gets you two very large paper bags of assorted Devon grown seasonal vegetables.  Another local small business that we have started to use is Hand to Mouth.  It’s a small time enterprise run by a young couple who only bake twice a week.  Many of the local restaurants get their bread from them and we’ve now got ourselves on the delivery list.  £2.50 gets you the most delicious sourdough loaf that is highly dangerous – it’s like a tube of Pringles, once you start you can’t stop!

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With Covid infection rates very low here we decided to try and eat out once a week.  Our first outing was to our local Tapas place, The Caper.  We last ate there on the evening that lock down was announced back in March.  We had a good chat with the owner who was pretty upbeat in the circumstances and had even sourced another former café unit opposite where she plans to expand when things get back to normal.  Half term week was obviously different as there were a lot of tourists here so we decided on our first Chinese takeaway in years with Diane and Glyn. 

Paul and Maureen from directly opposite came round for drinks and a ‘get to know them’ chat.  They moved in around the same time we did and they too have been busy on changes.  It’s a relatively modern house but it was poorly built meaning that, like us, they discovered things they hadn’t envisaged due to poor workmanship rather than old age. 

Bob from a little down the lane happened to ask Neil if he played snooker.  Neil said ‘yes, badly and not for more than 20 years’!  So off they went to the  village hall in Branscombe and enjoyed a few hours playing snooker.  They’ve introduced Mike from next door and Don who lives next door to Bob.   The Four Snookerteers agreed to go every Tuesday night, government restrictions permitting, for snooker, beers, laughs and the opportunity to rectify the world’s problems.   

Demolition Man

Phase 2 of the renovation is now officially underway.  Starting with decorating and adding an en-suite to bedroom 2 and a much enlarged and improved family bathroom.  The existing main bathroom contains a yellow bath which doesn’t match the huge shower and the tiny curved sink unit. There’s also a separate toilet in a fetching shade of pink. We spent days, not hours, but days, planning the layout, taking measurements and even as Neil types this on the 30^th of the month Cheryl distracts him with yet another design change for him to stew on….ho hum! 

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We also spent days, not hours, but days trying to source the suites.  However, it all paid off as we managed to save more than 30% by switching sinks and baths, checking shower trays and screens and Cheryl getting a trade account and using her charm on her newly acquired account manager at VictoriaPlum.  

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The destroyer was back and spent a week removing the shower cubicle, basin and radiator, destroying the old bathroom stud walls, smashing up a cast iron bath and hacking the tiles off the wall…..so satisfying.  We try not to trash anything which could be re-used and managed to sell the small sink & vanity unit and swap the shower enclosure for a joint of free range pork.  Unfortunately the bath was just too difficult to shift, we think it weighed well over 100kg, and so it had to be collected for scrap.

Cheryl tackled the remaining bedroom and spent several days steaming off the layers of wallpaper.  There were two signatures this time, but sadly not legible.  We think one was probably Tim Moulding again as it was dated 1957, which was the same time as his signature in the back bedroom.  The other message told us it took 8 rolls of paper in 1981 so you could say that it‘s about time it was redecorated!  Sadly we will be the last ones to see these little messages from the past as the walls aren’t in great condition so the whole room will be replastered before we can paint.

We’ve also moved on from using graph paper and cut out shapes for planning.  We’re now on real size mock ups to make sure we have allowed enough space for everything including allowing doors to open. 

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Before you start thinking they’ve gone mad – no we aren’t planning to have a suitcase in the bathroom! The sanitaryware won’t arrive until next week so we used cardboard templates and various props to get an idea of sizes.  Did you know there are recommended acceptable standards for space requirements for toilets, sinks and baths?  For those of you as sad as us or are looking for something to do during lockdown you can look these up.

The house is starting to look at lot more cosy as the new furniture is starting to arrive.  We weren’t expecting anything until next month but the corner sofa was ready and delivered at the end of the month.  Regular readers will know that we took a long time to decide on the colour of the sofas and finally decided on something rather bold that would hide red wine stains!  Make sense?  We held our breath as they started to unpack.  If we got it wrong it was going to be a massively expensive mistake that we would have to live with for the next 20 years.  Result, we love it, it works fantastic in the room and we’re really pleased…..phew!

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Reasons to be Cheerful

1 – We’ve finished planning and have started phase 2 of the renovations

2 – One of the sofas arrived early and we love it

3 – We spotted a pheasant in the garden.  He spent the afternoon exploring and found the seeds we put out for him.  The following day he was next door visiting Mike.  We’ve got our fingers crossed that he will return.

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Stay Safe and see you on the other side of lockdown 2.