Sunday August 1st brought us our first batch of summer guests, all 10 of them! Neil’s sister June, her daughters Tracy and Anna, plus their children Ol, Fred and Heidi. An old friend of Tracy’s, Emily, also arrived with Mae, Tom and Eve. Bedlam ruled instantaneously and the vast consumption of cold beers and Prosecco began.
They enjoyed the paddle board on the sea, eating out at The Ship and then it all ended just as quickly as it started. On Tuesday Tom woke up complaining of a headache and a cough…….oh shit. We were all tested and Tom proved to be Covid positive. Ten minutes later Emily had bundled the three children into the car, said her tearful goodbyes and set off to drive back to Warwick.
We had previously planned a surprise for everyone for the last night of their stay. With the swift departure of family Dilley, spirits were low so we decided to put the plan into action. The remaining guests were sent off to the quiet end of the beach with instructions not to return until 5pm. We quickly set about decorating the loggia with a Christmas theme. Baubles, Christmas trees, a reindeer, crackers and Christmas Dinner including Christmas Pudding and Arctic Roll. The family were greeted by a medley of Christmas music as they walked up the drive and the smell of Christmas dinner wafting from the kitchen. The surprise was a great success and the finale was that Neil appeared dressed as Santa and proceeded to offer his sack of the usual low cost secret Santa presents. It was such a good evening but so sad that Emily and children couldn’t be there.
We continued to test on a daily basis, and thankfully we all proved to be negative. The remaining guests left on Thursday and the house seemed so empty and quiet. With the help of neighbour Sheila who brought round some milk and our very first online shop we resigned ourselves to the 10 days isolation as per the guidelines. We did have a laugh the following weekend when we put the enormous amount of recycling out. The glass and tin containers have never been so full. Thankfully, the silver lining, we stayed uninfected.
Having had to cancel our volunteering on the tram during our ten day self-isolation, once we were free we were eager to attend the second of our allotted sessions, The Dinosaur Tram. We help out with the kids activities in the garden at the station in Colyton. The kids seemed to love it with a ‘dig’ in the giant sandpit to look for fossils and the arrival of an extremely large Tyrannosaurus Rex that roared loudly. Most of the children took to it immediately, some took a little time to take it in but one boy who apparently is mad on dinosaurs was extremely frightened, hey you can’t win ‘em all!
August 12th brought us our next visitors, Tony & Brenda. We met them in Goa a few years ago and have remained friends ever since. We had a number of walks planned including catching the bus to Lyme Regis and walking back along the coastal path. It’s about 8 miles and took almost exactly 4 hours.
Their visit also coincided with Neil’s birthday which needless to say took in a few celebratory drinks and the following day we took the twilight tram to Colyton for a meal and a few more drinks. It was great see them again after almost 2 years.
Our next volunteering event was to be The Pirate Tram. By now we’re really getting into the theme of each trip so we dressed the part. The kids really got involved and the games were a big hit as they involved lots of water….say no more! There were plenty of challenges for the kids to show bravery by walking the plank and team games involving water. Luckily it was a hot and sunny day as the ‘assisting’ we provided, aka cheating, resulted in us getting very wet. On the second trip Neil was put in the stocks for ‘plotting a mutiny’ and as it was very hot he actually found the wet sponges very refreshing.
No sooner were we finished with the tram we headed off to Newcastle to get to Connie’s delayed 70th birthday party. To break the journey we stopped off in Bromsgrove for the night and had a very good curry just around the corner from the Ibis. The food was good and the added bonus was that it was a BYO meaning that the overall bill was very low.
Next day we travelled to York to stay with Colin and Jan who we know from our travels to Goa. They gave us a couple of tours of the city which is much bigger than we remember. So many little streets filled with eateries and independent shops, very pretty. It was great to catch up and we’re looking forward to hosting them in Seaton and also in Goa as they too have flights booked to go out in November.
We decided to stop off in Sedgefield on the final leg of our journey so that we would arrive in Newcastle for the party fully refreshed. Newcastle has a reputation for being full on party so we weren’t expecting the Travelodge to be quiet, hence the overnight in Sedgefield. Right next door was an Indian restaurant which was very overpriced but the food was good.
Final stop Newcastle Travelodge on The Quayside. We managed to get one of the limited free underground parking spaces, big result, and the room was clean and comfortable. Showered and ‘glad rags’ on it was off to the party later that afternoon. It was great, lots of people from Goa, a bar delivering some superb cocktails and endless BBQ food, buffet food, cheese and deserts. Dancing and silly games followed. Well done Connie and her children for laying on a great bash – when are you coming to Seaton?
We decided to break the 7hr journey home with a couple of nights staying at Leanne’s. Despite a mix up on our arrival day we had a great time catching up with her. After a long day out walking around Rudyard lake we had an excellent meal out at a local pub.
Covid case numbers in Devon and Cornwall have shot up, largely due to being inundated with with staycation tourists. We’re used to being well below the national average but during August we had some of the highest cases per thousand in our region. Thankfully the hospital admissions have remained low so we are hopeful that this pandemic is becoming manageable. Sadly near the end of the month we heard that both Freddy & Alex tested positive in London. They have both been double vaccinated but at least their symptoms were mild and both have recovered.
Reasons to be cheerful
- Despite having a positive case in the house we didn’t get Covid
- We’ve had a lot of fun with friends and family
- We have more visitors coming in September
Cheryl & Neil Our Story 
My goodness, you guys sure know how to have fun. Keep up the good work as it’s always a joy to hear about your latest escapades.
LikeLike