Look Lively

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

Although I wouldn't dream of getting on such a small boat, the name of this one caught my eye. After all, I am a lively lady! (Or maybe I used to be).

This was on the beach at Beer, in Devon.

Back to Pecorama in Beer again. This is one of the narrow gauge steam trains that gives the passengers rides. Don't you just love the name of that station?

Now these two trams are part of a set of miniature replica trams that take you on a long tour starting from Seaton ....... another seaside town in Devon, close to where we stayed. We boarded a tram there and after a half hour journey, we ended up in a quaint little station where we disembarked and had refreshments in the cafe at the station, in the small town of Colyton.

Why not click the link here for a virtual free ride?

When we were on our return journey on top of an open tram, the weather turned suddenly windy with slight rain. I remember saying to Harry, "Hang on to your hat."

He replied saying, "Oh, its not too bad at all.....oops, I lost it." His hat went flying off behind him, when a strong gust got under the brim of it. Luckily, another passenger caught it further down the tram and everybody laughed.

If it hadn't have been for my grandsons' choice of things to do for a holiday treat, then I wouldn't have ever discovered these trains and trams, so well done to them.

While we are on the subject of transport...... it is now two weeks since our holiday and today we decided to go to our local seaside resort Weston Super Mare, where the sea is anything but blue because of the mud in the Bristol Channel.

We used our free bus passes and had a lovely day, even though the weather forecast could have put us off because rain was predicted. As it happened, the sun shone all the time we were there and it wasn't until we were on the top of a bus home, that a couple of events happened. Just as the bus was about to pull out of the bay, Harry and I realised that a stink bomb had gone off some where.

The bus stopped and the woman driver, who seemed to be a *stickler for the rules* informed us that some boys had thrown a stink bomb through the downstairs window of the bus.

Now practically all the passengers on this bus were of a certain age. Most had been brought up in World War 2 or at least been born during the war like I had, and survived air raids and food rationing for years. In other words we had all been brought up in a very different world where only the tough and fortunate survived.

The lady bus driver came up the stairs and informed us, *This bus cannot leave because of Health and Safety. You might all have to get off as I am not allowed to drive it in this state.*

She had already told the people downstairs to get off the bus and they were all moaning in protest outside.

No one could believe their eyes and ears. All this fuss for a stink bomb, which was unpleasant but was hardly going to endanger our lives. Suddenly the oldies grouped together in force and started to remark about the namby pamby attitude of the day and how Health and Safety had gone too far. Everyone started swapping tales of the old days when stink bombs were something that happened frequently and a window would have been opened to get rid of the smell and the journey wouldn't have been interrupted. I suppose I was as bad as the next one.

Anyway, the driver summonsed a co worker to come and deal with it. *This bus will not pull out until this smell has cleared. Health and Safety will not permit me to drive this bus.*

A man came along in blue rubber gloves armed with a pail,mop and air-fresheners and proceeded to remove the remains of the bomb and to wash the floor and spray smelly stuff around that I thought was worse than the stink bomb had been in the first place.

Well, that crisis over, the grumbling passengers were allowed to re embark downstairs and we were all left saying that it was quite worthwhile for the teenagers who were probably snickering across the road watching the mayhem and would be inspired to do it again for all the attention that they had received from the action of the bus driver. Most of us thought it would have been better to do nothing and ignore the situation, giving them no satisfaction or inclination to waste their money again on another attack.

We were about to pull away when two men came running out of a large store, racing through traffic and grappling each other. One was a security guard and the other, a rather fat man with bags of goodies in his hand.

The security guard grabbed him round the neck in a very tight grip and pinned his arm behind his back..... frogmarching him back into the store.

I do not condone shop lifting in any way and I am really pleased that he was caught. However what about Health and Safety in that situation? Surely the man could suffocate!

The bus pulled away without further incident and everyone resumed silence.