Desperately Seeking Toothpicks

...or something to keep my eyes open. My journey from the grandbabies' house in Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver)to our holiday caravan in Devon took approximately twenty hours. I arrived at the Ivybridge railway station at 7:13 last night, and I happily let Robin relieve me of my suitcase. Before we came back to the caravan, we stopped at the supermarket to get a few supplies (bread, cheese, that sort of thing), so it was after eight o'clock when we came in the door. I was proud of myself. I unpacked my suitcase right away, had a shower, and came out to the living room. I didn't go to bed until after 11:00, and I slept through the night -- or as close to that as I ever get.

Today, we took a drive over to the town of Brixham, where we had a look at a replica of  The Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drake's ship, before heading over to The Bay Coffee Shop, where we took each other's measure over cups of cappuccino. This is Robin giving me a suspicious "Who is that strange woman?" look -- which is fair enough, since we'd been apart for five weeks.

I'm afraid my erstwhile talent for bringing glorious weather to England has deserted me this time. We dressed warmly, but it was cold and blustery and drippy enough outside that we didn't get very ambitious about walking. In Brixham, after our coffee break, we walked through the town to the sea wall and back to the car park, all the time huddled in our coats, exchanging wry looks with all the other pedestrians, who looked just as cold as we felt.  They call this The English Riviera.  Hmmph.

I like this sign. Believe me, nobody was attempting to bathe in Brixham Harbour today!

Robin wanted to show me Berry Head, a National Trust site not far from Brixham, so we drove up there and took another walk -- just as cold, but with a wonderful view (except for the clouds). I think we'll go  back there when the weather is better and take a longer walk.

Now we've come home and I'm working on staying awake until a respectable hour tonight. I've done pretty well, really, except that from time to time my eyes get heavy. Tomorrow, I hope we'll get some sunshine so I can give my camera a good workout.