I want to marry a lighthouse keeper

Actually no I don't. Because for one, I am still married to the Prince of Darkness so that would be illegal and for two, my legs wouldn't stand it. Imagine how your heart sinks when you are all ready to go out an enjoy the sunshine and you realise that you have left the radio on. At the top of 126 steps.

But don't get me wrong. It was an amazing experience and something I will always remember. Things I loved...

The view from the top. Especially the sunsets.

The lantern room itself. The glass floor. The old lantern with a candle inside. Watching seagulls soaring past at eye level.

All the quirky nautical paraphernalia lying about the place. The ships bell. The captains hat and jacket. The diving helmet. The flying seagull in the kitchen (ok thats not nautical but it is quirky). The carved mermaid in the bathroom.




So moving on to the hints and tips for the would be lighthouse keeper:

• Remember to buy upstairs and downstairs wine for the upstairs and downstairs fridges. That way however tired you are life will always seem bearable.



• Keep a pen on each floor. Nothing more irritating than climbing 100 steps to find a pen.



• Keep some energy drink and sugar snacks half way up the stairs for when the glucose levels dip.



• Cancel gym membership immediately as all exercise will be taken in your own home and for free.



• Learn to abseil so that you can paint the outside of your own house. Lets face it the local painters and decorators are not going to do it.



• How ever tired always climb the stairs last thing at night to check out the view and remember how lucky you are.


• Only look down from the balcony at the top if you are very very brave.
  

And if you can't be a lighthouse keeper, or indeed marry one, then the next best option is to have a holiday in one. I whole heartedly recommend it.

A little post

I am a little post. Post-holiday. Post-birthday. Post-30's. Post-sandy beach feet. Post-caravan. Post-lighthouse. Post-climbing 126 steps to get from top to bottom of the house (actually there is a little yay there). Come to think of it I am also post-unreliable wifi connections, post-no hot water in the kitchen and post-being entertained by the giant fox and chicken. To top it all I am also feeling post-healthy having today developed post-holiday head cold.


The holiday was very lovely despite dodgy/complete lack of wifi connection which rather hampered up to the minute reportage. Highlights of the first five days were:


Crab fishing off Brixham harbour. We bought a couple of lines, crab bait (some bacon from the butchers) and a bucket. Then we sat on the edge of the harbour for two hours and had the best entertainment possible for four quid (five if you include the coffee I bought). We caught four crabs. All of which were named and promptly returned to the bottom of the harbour. As we sat and talked youngest was inspired by the view and said that Brixham looked like Balamory (which probably means nothing if you are not the parent of an under 5 in the UK) but is certainly the most eloquent thing a small child can say to describe the view...

We watched auks diving under water . That's auks not orks (which would be a whole weird Lord of the Rings meets Waterworld type experience).

Incredible. Mesmerising. I could have watched for hours were I not dragged off by the children.

And the one day old penguin being fed by mother. I would post the picture but it does rather look as if the mother is attempting to swallow her baby whole which even I find vaguely distressing and I know what I am looking at.

The food. Fish and chips. And mushy peas (I may have lived in the south of England for 20 years but I remain a midlands girl at heart). The fresh crab (not the ones we caught obviously). The devon ice-cream. The cornish pasties (ok we weren't in Cornwall but they do a pretty good job in the county next door). The locally caught fish.

Collecting smooth sea washed wafer thin pieces of slate from the beach. I have no idea what I will do with them but they make the most delicious noise when you run them through your fingers.

The giant chicken entertainment in the evening...

Note: no crabs were harmed in the making of this post.

Tomorrow: hints and tips for the would-be lighthouse keeper.

Tomorrow...

We are going crab fishing off the harbour in Brixham.
We are going to eat fish and chips with seagulls whirling all around us goading us into throwing a few chips into the air.
We will have a paddle in the icy cold sea.
There will be sand castles.
We will drive over Dartmoor and I will point out the huge granite tors to a pair of uninterested children.
We will arrive at the lighthouse.
There will be a wifi connection that is reliable (yay!).
There will be photo's posted on the blog.
We will have pasta puttanesca cooked by eldest daughter.
There will be gin and tonic at the top of the lightouse for everyone over 18 (i.e. me).
There will be contemplation of impending 40th birthday ....but not in bad way.

Holiday happiness.

Four hours in a car with kids

We are here. Phase one of the holiday. A caravan in Brixham on the south coast of England. Home for the next five days looks like this...

My two lessons of the day are as follows:

1. When putting a post code into your newly acquired satnav check it is the right postcode. So if you actually want to travel to the headquarters of the holiday company that you are staying with go ahead and use the postcode at the top of the receipt. Otherwise you might want to look a little further down the receipt and find the postcode of the site you actually staying at.
2. When deciding to give a child complete responsibility for a bottle of water in the back of the car (especially a small child, especially a child with co-ordination difficulties) you might want to check that the lid is on before they wave it over their head. Otherwise small child will end up suddenly covered in water. Which will be quite a shock to them. And you.

More tomorrow from the caravan park....