Just dropped by

I expect you're wondering whether we went to the clothes optional day at Abbey House Gardens. well we did and we had such a great time. I didn't have very high hopes for the weather, and I'd almost shelved the idea by Saturday. But we had to drive past anyway on our way to Devon, so we decided to look in. As it happens the weather turned out nice. I thought it would be just a couple of hard-core naturists and hundreds of clothed people sniggering at them. Actually though, it was more like the other way round.

There were hundreds of nudists, and about half a dozen clothed people. There wasn't any sniggering. It was a very strange atmosphere indeed. I actually felt out of place wearing clothes. So I took them off. We didn't realise it when we went there, but they had a system in place in the tea shop whereby those wishing to disrobe could place their clothes in a numbered plastic bag and leave them there to pick up later. We should have done that. We had a bag for baby things however, so that was utilised as a clothes holder.

I've never done the naturist thing before, but I'd actually recommend it. They were all so friendly. Actually, I discovered through the people there that there is a nude swimming session every Saturday at the local pool. Great way to get the little guy into swimming I'm thinking.



We spent the rest of the weekend in Devon with the parents. Their ruby wedding went off quietly. They were pleased to see us, and even my brother showed up.

I've been in London for work today. I read the time table wrong this morning and just missed the train I wanted. The next one was delayed so I was late. Coming back, the train I wanted was cancelled. I took the next available one, but when I got on board, the notice said that it didn't stop at my station. So I got off again. The departure board outside said that it was making an extra stop at my station. So I got back on again. Then the train moved off and all the stations were announced over the speaker system. My station wasn't announced. So I asked the ticket collector if the train stopped at my station. He gave one of those huge shrugs that leaves one in no doubt that he'd really rather be doing anything than answering this question. "No one has told me anything about it", he told me, and moved away.

I resolved to get off the damn train at the earliest opportunity and switch to one that I knew was going where I wanted. I found that other people had also made this decision and I accosted a railway worker chap on the platform to ask him if he knew where the train was stopping. He didn't know either, but he went to ask the driver, and came back to tell me that it definitely was going to stop at my station. So I got on a thrid time. I wasn't 100% sure about the info, but it turned out to be right in the end.