May 30th finds me not in my home village of Glemsford but in the Devonshire village of Marldon. Margaret, my wife and I have hired Rose cottage for a week, we have been joined by our daughter Caroline and her boyfriend Dave; they have come down from Bristol where they live. The village is approximately four miles inland from Torbay. It is a quiet and pretty spot but with a working rather than chocolate box feeling. Today, rather dark and heavy clouds did not portend an abundance of sun, so rather than head for beach or country, we decided to make our promised visit to Exeter. This was a novel experience for three of us but Dave had attended university there and so knew it very well. With his knowledge of the city, Dave was volunteered to drive the thirty odd miles to Exeter: this was a smart move as he knew every alley and back lane and so soon found reasonably priced parking close to the centre. I would have had to go for 'Park and Ride'. Our first port of call was the Cathedral area with its Green, and its assorted old buildings, many of which were shops. Fortunately we discovered a hostelry which is called the Abbey Well and faces the Cathedral.. We had a round of drinks .I remember mine to have been a pint of a local brew ,very fruity and flavoursome ,excellent cost 1.80. The younger generation decided to go their own way for the day, and so after arranging to meet at 5 o'clock back at the Cathedral, we duly split and started to explore.

Our first visit was naturally the Cathedral. It has very clean lines and an air of spaciousness; much of it has been rebuild and restored since the end of the war, when bomb damage was severe. In some parts of the woodwork shrapnel repairs are clearly visible. Exeter has many attractive buildings and as with many towns and cities the best architecture is to be found by raising your view above the modern shop fronts. The city centre and parks are clean, but wandering through the lanes there is evidence ,as everywhere ,of the constant battle with litter ,the result or non bio-degradable packaging and an ill-disciplined 'Don't care a damn' society, which it seems likes squalor. How I wish the Government would take measures to tackle this blight .There seems to be less signs of ostentatious wealth than in some parts; that is to say the company Mercedes and B. M .Ws are thin on the ground .I guess their numbers fall in direct proportion to the distance from the south east and the M25 .Strange that wherever there is productive effort i.e. .working the land to feed us ,in contrast to say banking, there is less reward -no million pound bonuses here yet! Those in commerce could not survive for a minute without producers . Walking the city streets it is apparent that there is not the same mania for ripping out perfectly good paving here and replacing it with fancy stone , whilst ignoring decent road repairs . No. Here there seems to be none of that, but the roads are fine. I can't resist pointing to the staggering money wasted in Sudbury and Bury St. Edmunds to say nothing of the money poured down the drain in Long Melford a few years ago .Who can notice what they did, now that it is dirty and covered in cars, whilst our roads are full of badly repaired pot holes and the hedge rows are littered with drink cans , bottles and crisp packets ! Towards the end of the day we visited the old dockside area now a pretty basin very pleasant and well done. The old warehouses are now maritime museums and other public attractions, in common with most waterfronts in the majority of cities in Britain today. No working boats, but just close your eyes and imagine the past sights, sounds and smells of this area.: now it's nightclubs not night shifts. After our day exploring we met up and had a bite to eat before making our return trip. As I am not driving I am able to take in the changing scenery which is very relaxing ,as it is the quintessence of our green and pleasant land .For the record ,I notice the many petrol stations where unleaded petrol is 84 .9 pence a litre , the highest in Europe .What a rip off !