Our social calendar is getting back to something like normal. Don and Pat hosted a lunchtime get together where we met new neighbours from just up the road, Harriet and Steve. We arrived at 12.30, had a drink followed by a delicious lunch. The conversation flowed and then somebody announced that it was 7pm……wow, where did the afternoon go!
Our volunteering for the tramway began with Cheryl helping out with the story tram. This is a special tram event aimed at under 4’s. Lots of stories, songs and activities for the kids and for the yummy mummies a chance to get back to socialising. Neil’s trip was for young folk with behavioural and learning issues. Really nice kids and one in particular was highly intelligent and it seems such a shame that he has to attend a special school.
Next up was a night out at The Kings Arms with Diane and Glyn for their Friday night steak night. The food and wine were very good but as it was quite cool we weren’t able enjoy the lovely garden with stunning views over the River Axe….maybe next time.
A few days later we drove to Bristol to our grandson’s 3rd birthday party. It was a BBQ for family and his friends plus parents. The weather wasn’t kind so due to covid restrictions on indoor contact most of us huddled under a very small gazebo. The kids didn’t care, they just ran around in the drizzle and for those of us joining in the fun also got a tad damp……it was a good day!
Whilst all this is going on Cheryl has been a regular at the twice weekly outdoor Zumba classes in the gardens by the tennis courts and once a week Animal Flow Yoga, or as Neil calls it, Yoghurt. It’s a challenging class but each week it gets a little easier and flexibility and muscle tone is definitely improving.
Whilst not the preferred way to meet more neighbours we did meet Jerry and Carol at Mike’s wake. They live on the other side of Mike & Karen’s house. Due to number restrictions we weren’t originally invited but the rules changed and it felt good to raise a glass to Mike in Karen’s company rather than sitting in our own garden. One nice touch, which Neil wants to adopt for when he gets the call, was that they had a projector showing photos of Mike over the years with friends and family. When it first started you could hear a number of toasts and ‘RIP Mike’ from the crowd. We think he would have approved.
The following day we hosted a BBQ for 12 neighbours. The weather was set fair and forecast to be very hot so it was with confidence that we could invite so many people in the knowledge that we could all be outside. It was a great day with us providing the BBQ and others bringing the pre-BBQ nibbles, salads and desserts. Of course we forgot to take any pictures!
This was quickly followed next evening by a trip to The Shed Steak House. They advertised a very special evening of a 7 course taster menu accompanied by a wine flight comprising 5 natural wines from Italy. It was meant to be hosted by the owner of the vineyard but due to Covid he couldn’t come over from Italy. Instead, the importer of the wines took us through the wine flight whilst Andrea took us through the taster menu. The new owners are trying to move away from being just a steak house and are keen to move into the ‘fine dining’ arena which we are fully supportive of. You can get a steak anywhere but having the option of a special treat once in a while is very appealing.
You may remember that shortly after we bought the house, and whilst we were away in Goa, 30ms of wall collapsed at the front of the house. This was fixed whilst we were away but on our return we carefully looked at other parts of our perimeter brickwork. One area was identified as being quite dangerous, which we fixed, and some at the back of the garden was seen as less urgent. Alistair, the guy who did our lovely patio area, called to say that he had a cancellation and that he had 3 days to demolish the leaning wall and erect a new fence. Fab, something else off our ‘to do’ list.
We even got round to the final job – cleaning up the porch, repairing & cleaning the light fitting and painting the front door. With everything done we invited another Alistair, the estate agent that sold us the house, to visit and see what changes we had made to the house. We thought he would be interested and he definitely was, what we thought would be 30-45 minutes turned out to be 2hrs! Like most people’s budget for renovation projects we broke ours but by just a few percent and we are extremely happy with the outcome.
The revised valuation which Alistair gave us was beyond our expectations so now we’re even more happy! We are in line with price rises that have occurred over the last 18 months, mainly due to more and more people working from home and realising that they don’t have to be in the city near to their office. Now they can live by the seaside or in the country and this has seen prices escalate in East Devon.
The last day of the month saw us both back at the tramway to help out with the Fairy Special. July 31st brought us our first tram volunteering together, The Fairy Tram. The weather wasn’t kind and the kids on the first tram just had time to be greeted in Fairyland before the heavens opened and we were forced into the cafe inside. The sun came out for the afternoon session and we enjoyed being part of the fairy magic.
Reasons to be Cheerful
- Olympic medals are flooding in
- Covid case numbers in East Devon continue to decline
- Next month we have lots of visitors coming to stay
Cheryl & Neil Our Story 
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