She can seeee!

Well Tillie had her optician appointment today and is now proudly displaying her new set of eyes

They are nice and secure and have a pocket that tucks over the doors

Ok she looks a bit thick but I love her...

Darkens the inside of the cab nicely so we can get some zzz's

I had to work in Exeter for 3 days this week, so while I had the company van seemed only right to visit the daughter in Plymouth

First night she drove up to Exeter and we went for a meal. She recommended a nice local pub, the Mill on the Exe, looked lovely and thought it was really nice...

until she suggested we sit outside on the benches..

(I'm cancelling the life insurance in case there is an ulterior motive)

Safely out of harms way

but at least the local kayakers had fun and kept us entertained

Next night I drove down to plymouth and another meal, this time at the China House - at least the water outside the pub was safe looking

We had an interesting time trying to order 4 pints of lemonade though...(driving, we're not saddo's honest). 4 pints of soda water arrived, sent back, half hour later replaced, with more soda water, complained, waitress slammed glasses down on 3rd attempt. Quick word with manager and drinks were free. Even if they did taste shite.

I am looking forward to filling in the online questionnaire requesting if I was pleased with 'Chelsea's performance'. Lets say she wasn't going to get into any premiership teams

Next day returned home with grotty 6 hour journey, but at least i got my luvly woofers back

Didn't do a lot this weekend due to weather. Peed it down so couldn't fabsil Mr Men. Took a trip to ikea instead to take a couple of solar lights back. Refunded £46, spent £61. Should have just kept them it would have been cheaper

Might have a crafty sewing day tomorrow - Need to sort out the Mr Men fleece and a few other bits. Supposed to be packing up for next weekend in Exmoor, but weather forecast is crap again, think we are in for a soaking next weekend :(

And Cornwall again..Part 2

Not sure which day we actually visited Port Isaac, as they all morphed into one torrential week. Unloaded the dogs out of the car (they were pretty amazed as they had already had walks and were just settling down for some zzzz's...)
Homer soon perked up and thought the signs outside all the shops inviting him in to 'taste their prize winning pasties' were all targetted towards him.

They were treated to an ice cream instead, as Homer is now resembling a football round the non existant waste line. Barley got first dibs, the camera isn't quick enough to capture Homers grab and slurp

So Port Isaac was turning into a bit of a doggy paradise...then the icing on the cake....the beach....with...FREE DOG TOYS!! WOW!

So clear up time....as one by one they tried to remove the buoys from the harbour...

Bit of a messy job as they were covered in green slime, but they persevered to the amusement of onlookers

Apart from the navigational upset that my mutts have caused the harbour was very pretty

Back to the caravan for siestas...

Next day was a trip to Boscastle and Tintagel. It was raining again. I still managed to persuade the OH to clamber up the sopping wet elephant tho. (have to keep ourselves amused somehow)

Look no hands...(men are easily pleased)

There is one clothes shop that sells aqua coloured sailor gear in Boscastle. So it's very easy to spot the locals

Boscastle when its not flooded

Padstow next....

After waiting in car park entrance for 20 mins, we finally escaped and had a mooch round. V nice fudge. Everything belongs to Rick Stein here (except the fudge)

Was impressed with the dogs made of wellies though! I even donated a £1 for the honour of taking a pic

Back in Bude again, looking round the tat shops (who buys the bloody seashells??)....

Woohoooo!

We always listen to Radio Cornwall when we are down there. This week we were subjected to the horrors of the recycling and waste dept (they are not happy with them down there, Mr Brown has been waiting for 12 days now for them to take away his old readers digests) and the pasty wars. Although the locals seem very diplomatic about it...

Last trip was Launceston, not much there really except a nice shabby chic shop where I may have bought yet another bloody cushion

One strange arty farty building where they were exhibiting and selling. Had to have a nose in here

Is the kind of shop tho u are horrified once you are in, as we were the only customers, so we had to pretend to be interested in furry bitty hangy things. Went upstairs and it was even weirder, was a bloke painting but only exhibit we could see was half a loaf of hovis on a chair (I did ask if it was for sale)

And lastly a final walk over Widemouth beach before heading home, just so Homer can practice his Kangaroo impressions

And so think that's about it!

Stuck working this week, but planning a trip to Exmoor the May Day bank hol. Hopefully Mr Men 2 will get an airing

Cornwall in the tin tent..part 1

Got back last weekend from 9 nights in Bude. I have a small caravan in storage down at Wooda, and usually visit a couple times each year. We had to take the journey via Exmoor, as the daughter (the Mr Men one) was camping and needed to rob some stuff off me. So we rolled up at Doone Valley Campsite after negotiating hills like Everest. Daughter arrived shortly after, so we left them and their friends to get pitched (and pissed evidently) and went on our way

5 minutes after leaving the OH started shouting 'Over there, over there!!! in the trees! a black thing moving!!!'...Well had he spotted the beast of Bodmin?? No actually, it was a man walking a black labrador....Obviously a rare sight and the stuff legends are made of.

We arrived in Bude, sorted out the van and settled down for a week forecast of torrential rain and a few thunderstorms. Most days are the same - lie in, eat, walk dogs, eat, sleep, eat, sleep.

My 6 legged dog at the beach at Northcutt Mouth

Bude shops tend to change each season, as they close down and re-open as something else. The only steadfast ones are the Wild Wood shop and the fabric shop. Wild Wood is to blame for many of my purchases for the bells, it's a real Aladdins grotto, consisting of 6 rooms full of tat

The lady who owns it has red corkscrew curls. Her sister also works there with brown corkscrew curls. The OH insists every time we go in it is the same person. It's not. Red hair is a misery, brown hair is nice

Trips out included a day visiting St Ives.

After driving through 3 times and finally finding out where the only dogfree beach is we made our way to Porthkidney beach. We parked up and asked the Cheshire cat (dog) the way to the sands

A quick walk past the graveyard and throught the golf course and we dropped down onto the beach

The beach was gorgeous, very picture postcard, and empty of anyone. Probably as it was so blummin hard to find

Now this looks like a picture of a friendly fisherman. Which he was.

Until 5 minutes later when Homer managed to eat his entire lunch of sandwiches he has foolishly left exposed by his tackle box.

We ran.

Next stop was St Michaels Mount.

According to legend:-

Legend says that a mythical giant named Cormoran once lived on the Mount, and he used to wade ashore and steal cows and sheep from the villagers to feed his gargantuan appetite.

So pretty much like Homer really

Moving on we travelled through Penzance (nothing to report, although there was a robbery there at the same time as us which we missed)

And finally arriving in Lands End (with a milligram of petrol left) to take a few pics

Not really sure what's in here, as it was £3 to park, so we did a runner

Heavens opened so I left it with the OH to take some pictures on the return journey as I was driving.

First off we have the wind turbines which looked pretty elegant..

Evidently they are just behind the wall....

At least with the horrendous weather conditions, we had some stunning double rainbows....

After his final picture of the walk in the woods, I figured it might be better to give his snapshots a miss

Be grateful I have spared you his sepia, and pin prick effect ones

Stopped off for a meal on the way back, it was pretty busy, but he usually finds some way to amuse himself if there's a wait

Mr Men again...kitchen on back boiler

Well the theory was I would finish the kitchen decorating before starting on the second Mr Men Bell Tent

But decided painting kitchens is rubbish, and painting Mr Bump and friends is much more fun, so the paints are out again

Pretty much finished now, just need to press, pitch and fabsil it. Hopefully it will be done by the May Day Bank Holiday where it can be pitched by Mr Men 1

So some random pics, tried to theme it more towards camping this time to make it a bit different....and just realised I haven't painted the Mr Tent patch, so will do that after....

Mr Fussy was first...

Mr Strong holding up the entire tent - not sure how this is going to look really until it's pitched...

Muddle, Tickle and Tall attacking the bunting

Mr Small gets to grips with his swiss army knife

Funny and Rude back on the doors again

Messy and his fly swatter (he's a bit 'fluffy' is mr messy, preferred him a bit rough round the edges on the first tent...)

Greedy and Rush (dunno what happened here, as greedy has a hand like Jeremy Beadle that appears to be in a position which is impossible to replicate, and rush seems to have weird legs. I'm thinking they are both perhaps double jointed)

Grumpy and Bump (bit lethal this one, as if Mr Bump does actually fall he will be stabbed in the middle with a tent peg. Not brilliant childrens entertainment really)

Even a out of season Mr Christmas got a look in

Lastly Mr Nonsense and Sneeze, in what had to be included on a camping trip....

Other news is Tillies 'eyes' have arrived, but as she is having surgery (booked in for service) atm she will have to wait for opticians appointment until she comes home

And still have Cornwall trip over easter to blog but is taking forever