My Average Holidays

I was thinking to myself the other day that 2025 had been a ‘quiet year’ and then I had a look back at this diary. Blimey! It turns out this has probably been one of the most packed years we’ve had since I retired. A lot of the stuff we did seems longer than just a few months ago which is why it feels almost impossible we fitted it all in. We visited 3 new capital cities (Lisbon, Dublin and Cardiff). We’ve been to 25 National Trust Properties but only 4 English Heritage, which is why we’ll probably ditch that membership next year. We’ve been on planes, trains, automobiles and boats. We’ve been up mountains, down valleys, along rivers and visited two Zoo’s. We’ve seen a ballet, an opera, two celebrity lectures and won a prize at a book festival. How classy are we?! Oh yes! And my favourite daughter got married!

Last month I told you about my Erin Brockovich moment with the council. Well in a rather strange twist the unelected bureaucrats of Torridge District Council came back to the planning committee with exactly the same proposal that got rejected last time. I thought something was probably afoot so I got one of the neighbours to also give a speech opposing the proposal this time. Turns out it was a good move as they had a council bureaucrat speaking in favour (obviously couldn’t get any members of the public) and then in a House of Cards move (The BBC version was best) they got our local councillor Teresa ‘Traitor’ Tinsley, to speak in favour of it. The very person Lyn had been speaking to and who we all had a meeting with to get it stopped! At no point did she say she was all for it! Anyway it still got rejected despite them trying to ‘pack the planning committee. So go us residents… And treachery now has a name.

In a rare show (on our part) of neighbourly support Lyn and I walked up the hill to see the switching on of the Tower Street lights. Normally we wouldn’t have even known this was happening but I signed Lyn up to the neighbourhood WhatsApp group so she now gets all sorts of gossip. Lyn ‘claims’ she gets annoyed by it but I don’t believe it for one second. It was worth going just to see ‘Bunny’ (Claire) who bought her own bottle of wine, because she thought everyone else would, standing next to a cardboard cut out of King Charles glass in hand. (See photo below).

I also wrote last month that I’d applied to be a volunteer at the National Trust and that I thought it was a bit rude that they didn’t even bother to reply. Just to prove me wrong they got in contact and it looks like I’ll be starting in the New Year! I was invited in for a ‘taster day’ and the first thing that happened was I was told the code to get into the staff area, the procedure of how to let people in with mobility issues and given a name badge! I think they might be desperate for volunteers so if that’s your bag have a look on the National Trust Website here.

The Xmas decorations were up at Arlington so the following day we went back to have a proper look. As a picture paints a thousand words have a look at the photos below. I do love the effort they’ve gone to, not only at Arlington but all over the National Trust. There was a telly programme about it here.

For the 2nd year in a row we went out for Christmas dinner to 62 The Bank. I appreciate going out for Xmas dinner isn’t everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ but it’s so much easier and stress free. As an added bonus nobody (in particular me) is drinking too much in the kitchen worrying that nothing will be ready at the same time and then getting pissed off because nobody or anybody (both are bad) is trying to help. If this scenario sounds familiar might I recommend binning it and paying someone else.

I was looking for a good quote to go into the New Year with and there were quite a few about blank pages and new stories but the one below is probably the most succinct… And no, I have no idea who Brad Paisley is and I have no wish to find out.

“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.”

Brad Paisley

So that was 2025 and while the world might have gone to shit we had a great time and even did a bit of metaphorical fiddling. In a classic case of hope over experience I’m genuinely looking forward to 2026, at least for us. Best wishes to you and thanks for taking the time to read this…Quis Autem Reformationem