BASKETTCASE

We've been home from our holiday in Devon for a week, and have had the awning of the caravan up on the lawn to wash it, done loads of washing and ironing, been to work and continued to harvest and preserve fruit and tomatoes. The above photo is interesting as the first successful use of the remote control Joe and Sally bought me for my birthday. Joe actually set the camera up and I confess I still don't know how to do it. It is good to have a photo of all of us who went for a lovely walk half way through the week when the children were at nursery and Dom at work. I forget the name of the place which is on the edge of Dartmoor. We did some very hairy driving around the Dartmoor lanes in Joe and Sally's Autohome, and on the Friday we pushed our luck too far and got wedged in a very narrow side street in Totnes. The metal bollard that deformed the door of the calor gas compartment had obviously been put there for precisely that reason. We were stuck so tightly that Joe was convinced that it was a 'police job', but Dave and a kind local took the weight off the post as Joe edged forward and we got free. The kind motorist then reversed his car back down the street slowly to prevent anyone else coming down while we also reversed out into more accomodating roads.

We followed this up with a truly memorable meal at the 'Jack in the Green' PH, where they use organic and local produce and cook it beautifully.

It was great to be so near Mary-Ann, Dom and boys, and thank you Mary-Ann and Dom for a wonderful evening and meal at Mandrake Road. You are following in Dave's footsteps with your culinary skills, and don't need to follow in mine by criticising your own efforts!

Our return home has been a bit sad knowing that it will be a long time before we see the boys again. We can't wait for them to be old enough to come and spend their school holidays with us. Plans are in hand for a re-vamp of the blue room for a boys bedroom, ? complete with train-set, and the playhouse to stand on one of the concrete plinths that were under the Mobile is ordered and hopefully almost made.

Finally, a photo from one of the attempts to get the remote control working. It isn't complimentary but really made me laugh.