So we had a lovely time in Devon. It was like taking a holiday in some kind of mythical kinder, gentler time, with everything you could possibly want from a seaside holiday if you are, like me, endearingly wholesome*. This included beaches (sandy and pebbly); retired donkeys; mini golf; craft galleries; stripy deckchairs on the prom; thatched cottages and elegant Georgian stuccoed houses; clifftop walks; gardens filled with flowers. And it was warm. We paddled.
J started compiling a collection of Things Overheard in Devon – samples:
“Joyce, what did you do with my teacake?”
“Has anyone here lost a sunhat?”
I slept very well and it was highly restful and I’m glad we went.
J's mother sent us some photos of the trip, and while I can enjoy them as a record of us having a nice time, my pleasure is tempered slightly because I look really chubby in every photo. It would be nice if the camera was lying, but I don't think it is.
I am not taking this too much to heart. J described the photos as "lovely" before I had seen them, and I'm sure he genuinely thinks I look nice in them. I may cringe gently, but nobody else cares particularly.
However! This should spur me on in continuing with the healthy eating and trying to move a bit more than I currently do. My efforts in this direction are going OK as far as food is concerned, but not exercise because two days after we returned from Devon I started coming down with a cough, which is still with me (that's almost two weeks). I'm going to the doctor later today, as I'm too short of breath to do anything much, and frankly it's getting me down a bit.
* This is now my official description - see comments to last post. I would say that the “wholesome” bit is pretty accurate. Nobody would ever mistake me, even at a distance, for someone who is edgy, louche or slinky. Despite efforts in my late adolescence to wear a lot of black, read intellectual books and cultivate a taste for international cinema, I am still a fundamentally unsophisticated person, and I still like doing pretty much the same things I did when I was ten. Some might call this boring.
6 comments:
I'm telling you there is some sort of essence of slug in the atmosphere at the moment - just about everyone I know is affected. Maybe you'll have to give yourself an incentive (Great Winter Run? Hint hint!)
And "Joyce, what did you do with my teacake" is now my phrase of the day. No name other than "Joyce" would have fitted there, would it?
I hope you also overheard something along the lines of "More clotted cream, Muriel?".
You know, Painfully Fluffy originated from someone making a comment about me and it sticking, this was at age 17, and it still fits.
I am absolutely certain that someone must have been saying that just out of earshot! Sadly, we didn't actually eat any clotted cream, although we did have honey and clotted cream ice cream, which ought to count.
As for the Great Winter Run... yes, I do need some kind of incentive. I also need to be less busy. Do you think you can train for a 5K in roughly six weeks which include Christmas?
How did I miss this post? Perhaps it's time for me to try a new RSS reader!
Regarding looking chubby in photos, I relate. However, in looking at photos from ten or twenty years ago, I realize that I didn't look as bad as I thought I did - I wouldn't mind having those bodies back at all! By extension, I suspect that ten or twenty years from now, I may look at photos taken now and wonder what I was fussing about.
I now suspect that although improving our well-being is important, it's equally important to accept and enjoy our bodies as they are.
When I was little we used to go to Southwold in the summer. It was all teashops and craft markets and shops that sold stones and old fashioned sweets. Beach huts and deck chairs and punch and judy.
These days Gordon Brown and half of Hampstead go. And I'm scared to go back. Perhaps Devon would suit me better. Whereabouts were you?
Tanya - I wrote a second post really quickly, so it's not surprising this one got missed. Not like my usual three-weekly posting schedule at all!
And you are so right about looking back at old photos. I look back at teenage photos and wonder what, exactly, I thought was wrong with me.
Scoliyogi - we were based in Sidmouth, though we also made little excursions to Lyme Regis, Budleigh Salterton and Beer. It was much as you describe. I suspect it's a lot busier if you go in the summer rather than late September, since the schools were back by then.
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