Time to Say Goodbye

Not exactly what we were expecting ... But then we didn't have a clear idea of what to expect.

The quiet period of the year in teaching English as a Second Language has just past, and the jobs are coming on-line again.

The student thing never really happened. And the Homestay Tutoring kinda fell through too. All that was actually Plan B. Plan A was to take a break after our time in Sheffield, so we did manage to do that.

We have jobs

at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich. We start on January 7, so we have to get moving.

I've never been to Norwich, or that part of the country at all. So, time to start a new adventure.

Winter in Devon

When we first arrived here a lot of the trees were losing their leaves ...


>

But not the oak in our back yard.

Then slowly, slowly we watched the leaves change colour.



Those leaves hung on and hung on ...

Eventually, a few of them fell, and most of them gravitated to the pond.



But then we had a really wet weekend, with a lot of wind.



A sunny winter's day

But it happens every now and then. The sky clears, and we get to wander on the beach.



Nothing quite like a vacant beach. This is Preston Beach, rolling on to Paignton.



That's Paignton Pier over there. And back this way, some lovely rock pools to play in.




One of the nicest things about Preston Beach in the winter is this little kiosk - that actually stays open.



Young Madeleine in there serves great coffee and bacon baps and the like. And while we sit there and enjoy our meal, all sorts of interesting people come by to chat with her and grab a coffee or a snack too.



Musicians and all sorts of interesting locals. And because this is England and the people are friendly and we can speak the language we can enjoy a bit of jovial banter with them.

Time to stay indoors

Of course there are still a lot of days when it's too wet to go to the beach.

And no students.

So lots to do on the computer.

Visitors from the East

Well, Brighton. That's a bit East of here.



Charlotte and Susan (who we stayed with in Brighton when we first left Sheffield) visited us for the weekend. We tried to go see the local little castle at Compton, but of course it was closed for winter.



But we did manage to go and see Brixham - what a great little place. We had fudge from one of the fudge shops, and we had a Devonshire cream tea - with fruit scones and jam and clotted cream - in a little tea shop.

And we went to see "Bygones" in Torquay.



Lots of displays of how things were in the Victorian era, and also back in the '50s and 60's. The house is set up like a Victorian street (inside the house), and you could hear lots of "Ooh, d'you remember those?..." from people walking though.



There is a train - a real (huge) steam engine - inside the house up on the first floor.



Apparently the madness of purchasing this piece of machinery and installing it in the house (using a crane to lift it to its present resting place) was what started the whole 'Bygones' idea.

But the BEST thing at Bygones is the old coin-slot games and machines. For a lot of them you have to buy an old penny to play with (costs 20p!), with others you can use 10p or 20p.



It wasn't exactly air hockey, but there was a score to settle and this was a lot of fun.

And then the weather closed in for a while, and what better between English teachers than a game of Scrabble.



A most enjoyable weekend.

Walkies around Torquay

To get from here to anywhere else in Torquay, we pretty much have to go back to the main road first - and the main roads are often choked with traffic. So places that are very close by "as the crow flies" are quite a distance away by road.



So this afternoon we decided to leave our car sitting where it is, and try walking along some of the public bridle paths and footpaths through the woodland areas.



Some paths have gravel, concrete, or bitumen, sometimes there are steps or stiles to climb over.



At the bottom of our hill we came across this Gatekeeper's Cottage. It was closed, but through the dusty windows we could see someone sitting at a writing desk ... a dummy for the displays that are open in summer.



There were several small lakes - ponds, really - and lots of these very unfriendly plants with massive (prickly) leaves.

The ducks seemed very glad to see us, all twenty or so of them came across the water at us like exocet missiles - but we had nothing to offer.



This little robin hung around like he was trying to get our attention - in all the stories you are supposed to follow the robin ... but when he headed into a dark corner behind the big prickly leaves we decided we weren't in the stories.



And then the path led right through this house, with the gate that is closed at dusk - these days that would be around 3pm.



Then we came to Cockington Village. I gather in the summer this place is a tourist Mecca. Everything closes between September and Easter.



It's certainly very rustic. We had been walking about an hour, it was 3-ish and it was getting dark - time to head back up the hill to our place.

Torquay in Autumn

Torquay is very beautiful. And this part of England is generally warmer than the rest. Here we have a bright, sunny Autumn day.



Even the ducks like a bit of sun now and then.



It seems like the trees are doing their best to outdo the colourful ducks.

We have autumn in Australia, too, but not like this. In Oz we have a lot of Eucalypts (gum trees) and a lot of those are not deciduous - they don't drop their leaves. There's not a whole lot of leaf-dropping going on in Oz in Autumn.



And if I found a pile of leaves like this in Oz I certainly wouldn't go kicking though it like this, because who knows what might fly out at me (not to mention the dust!).



Despite the delightful weather, Torquay is pretty quiet this time of year - imagine what this parkland is like in summer!

Except, of course, for the squirrels.



They have so much to get done.

All that twitching and switching and jumping about.

Nuts to find, nuts to hide ...

...games to play maybe ...



things to look out for.

As for us people, when we are not out kicking leaves, there are some great walks around Torquay. That's another thing we don't generally have in Oz - Public Foot Paths, they are all over the place and you can do some great hiking or even just gentle strolls.



In the summer a lot of people come to Torquay for the beaches.



Yes, I know, they are not a patch on Australian (especially West Australian) beaches.



And that red sand would take a bit of getting used to. But, hey - this isn't Oz (or anywhere else). This is TORQUAY, and it's kinda nice, isn't it?

A Home in Torquay

Most people have heard of Fawlty Towers, and are familiar with Basil Fawlty's little hotel in Torquay ...

There was one particular episode where a woman who was hard of hearing and refused to turn on her hearing aid (because it would use up the batteries) wanted to complain about the view from her window. Basil points out to her that it is, in fact, a view of Torquay Harbour, and asks her what she expected - "wildebeest sweeping across the plain ...?"



Yep, that's Torquay Harbour. (No, that's right, no wildebeest.)

And here is our new home in Torquay.



And that's even our car parked out front.



This is from the back. It's the second-last house in a cul-de-sac, up on one of the many hills of Torquay, and that big window has sweeping views of the bay.



Like all views, it's always changing with the weather and time of day. I especially like looking out at night when it's full of twinkling lights.



Unlike the places where we've lived lately (in crowded cities like Wuxi (China) and Istanbul), we have a garden - quite a big one really.



There's an oak tree in the middle of the garden. Even though we are well into Autumn and the streets are full of piles of leaves that are rather fun to kick your way through ... our tree still has most of its leaves. I'm thinking we are going to have a bit of a raking job to do when it finally drops them.

Inside

We have an upstairs! You have to realise that this is exciting for us West Australians.



It feels very romantic going upstairs to bed. There are three bedrooms upstairs.
And there is a bathroom upstairs, and a toilet downstairs as well.




There's another bedroom downstairs, too.
The kitchen is lovely, again with a great picture window over the sink.



Through the kitchen there is a laundry, with all mod cons.



And in the hallway, tucked under the stairs, a piano!




The main living room is big and bright and airy.




There's one of those instant gas fires that has flames and feels just like a real fire (without the smoke and mess) in the grate.



And, looking the other way, down the other end is the dining room with that huge picture window and views over the bay.



We reckon Torquay is a great place to live, and we are looking forward to having people stay with us and enjoy it with us.