My Average Holidays

I like September! I liked it as a child because it was the start of a new school year and so new things. Not that I was very academic but you could catch up with people you hadn’t seen over the summer and it was always a bit thrilling being the next year up. I also like it as an adult, initially because my own children would go back to school and now because everybody else’s have to. The weather for me has just the right pitch as we’re now past the ‘dog days of summer’. Having said that the older I get the more I crave those warmer days.

That was quite a good intro. I wrote it at the beginning of the month before it just rained and rained and rained. It was also before a right ‘C’ drove into the back of my car while I was queuing in traffic, failed to stop, did a U-turn and made off like he was in a fucking video game. There goes my ‘no claims’. This year September can go ‘F’ itself… But there has been some bright spots.

Our first day out was a family trip to Paignton Zoo. Cards on the table, I really don’t like zoo’s. Not for any ‘animal rights’ reason I just find the whole concept utterly depressing. The day before we went, the zoo announced they had to ‘put to sleep’ their one and only rhino. I think they missed a trick here. How much would they get if they sold the rhino horn for example? Technically it would be ‘ethically’ sourced. Do zoo’s sell dead animals whole or in part?

Anyway the rest of the family love animals and zoo’s so I’m definitely in a minority of one. The purpose of the visit was so that Matthew could see the sloth we’d sponsored in his name for Christmas. We were going to pay for a feeding experience but the zoo has cancelled those because the sloths won’t be fed on demand. Sensible animals. Anyway everyone except me had a loverly time and as it rained a bit Victoria was pleased she hadn’t waisted £5 on a poncho.

The next thing we did in amongst all of my hospital appointments (you wait months then 5 come along all at once) was Appledore Book Festival. Specifically we went to a talk by Tracy Borman about her new book The Stolen Crown: Treachery Deceit And The Death Of The Tudor Dynasty. Have Lyn or I read the book? No. Was it the only talk that we thought both of us would find interesting? Yes.

It was actually very good and reminded me of all the podcasts I listen to. When I say listen what I mean is fall asleep to after the first 5 minutes. Fortunately there was absolutely no chance of doing that because the talk was held in St Mary’s Church Appledore and I’d forgotten how deliberately uncomfortable church pews are to stop that very activity.

Just a quick mention about the audience. This was the whitest most middle-class audience I have ever seen/been a part of and keep in mind we went to an evening of medieval music earlier in the year (you can read about that here). Not a bad thing per se but it did feel a bit … odd. Thinking about it, who else would attend a talk about the Tudors and Stuarts at a book festival in North Devon!? At the end I expected everyone to put on their black hooded cloaks like in Hot Fuzz and start chanting “Greater Good”. If they’d been ‘checking credentials’ we wouldn’t have been let in… especially Lyn with her Basque heritage! (When I read that bit to her she was most indignant saying “Why me? You’re more German” which is true but Basque is more exotic and interesting). The least said about how common we are the better.

For my mother-in-law Mary’s 85th birthday we had a trip to the Donkey Sanctuary at Sidmouth. This does have a live webcams. Click here Mary and you can watch them all day… if they’re working. We did the Donkey Passport Trail which is definitely meant for children and not an 85 year old lady in a mobility scooters. There was only one very dodgy bit on which she nearly fell out but she did get a bag of jelly sweets at the end so definitely worth it.

The sanctuary was very busy for a random Wednesday at the end of September. But given that its free entry, has a nice cafe and the sun was shining it was basically like Gods waiting room. This was bourn out by the myriad of memorial plaques both for humans and given some of the names, I’m assuming dogs. It was a bit like walking through a graveyard but with extra donkey. Nevertheless a nice day with an extra bonus, at least for Lyn and Mary, as we stopped at the Hare & Hounds just down the road which did a carvery for lunch! It was also very busy with the same clientele as the donkey sanctuary.

My newest favourite thing is Nano Banana or Googles Gemini 2.5 Flash Image Editor. It’s so much fun! Upload any photo, or just tell it what you want give it a few seconds and BAM! There it is. The new site logo which of course you noticed was done in less than 10 seconds. And yes I did notice the spelling mistake but thought it was so on brand I’d keep it. Now I personally think AI shouldn’t be used for creative stuff, just jobs humans don’t want to do but I’m not going to argue with free and I suggest you make the most of it before AI gets murderous… Probably in about 6-8 months. With the way the world is going that may be a blessed release.

For a more serious use of Nano Banana, it’s very good at restoring old photos. There’s a specific section called ‘Lora’ which can also colourise them. Below is a before and after picture of my grandfather who died before I was born and it really brings him to life.

No video again this month but the Gallery theme is ‘Random September’ and features, you guessed it, random photos I’ve taken this month.