Wednesday 17th August 2022

 Mum said she saw sheet lightning this morning, I heard a few rumbles in the clouds which was eerie.  I went to paignton zoo today, I caught the 22 bus from outside the diner.  I had to change at Torquay as the bus went out of service, there are a lot of people down from the northern parts on holiday in Torquay.  We stopped at Paignton itself, I heard the steam train whistle which must have been very familiar before the desisil came along.  The bus parks about ten minutes walk from the zoo and it's a short walk, there used to be a Sainsbury's just over the road which is now a Morrisons.  Next time I'm going to bring a packed lunch as the price of the food was a real expensive rip off, I had a chicken burger and a can of Fanta which came to £12!  I got chatting to a woman who agreed that it was very expensive.  

The enclosures are being changed up to Modern standards, most of the animals were hiding through I got to see a few storks, Flamingoes and apes.  The zoo is bigger then Newquay zoo, the lions are going to arrive there from Newquay, I hope they are happy.

I got lost on the way back trying to find the bus stop, a foreign man washing a car pointed me towards the bus stop.  Quite nice sitting upstairs as I'm a nosy bugger staring into people's back gardens, a lot of which have Aferican lillie's; got some in our back garden.

Went to a cafe in Torquay for a latte, it began showering so Alan's brolly came in useful.  I got the last bus back at 7pm back to Teignmouth, the damned timetable is so small it's very hard to see.  I sat on a bench next to a couple who were staying in Dawlish, the veranda kept leaking water onto a bin which kept splashing over me, I wouldn't have minded a couple of weeks ago but I don't like being wet.

Went to Weatherspoons  (The Jolly Braise) and ate some chicken breastbites, they seem to be running out of food again and didn't have any fresh fruit with ice cream.

Now I'm back typing and a tiger moth is flying about the room, must have come in through the window.  Hoping to go to Agatha Christie's house tomorrow if the weather is fine.

It's going to be hard to say goodbye on Monday as I always feel like I've come home here, I want my ashes spread along Teignmouth seafront where the sunken garden used to be and the well.  Teignmouth is my happy place.

I once saw a video on U Tube showing what Teignmouth was like in 1960, here's the link

Teignmouth 1960

Most of the people shown in this clip are now most probably dead, but it shows a different world which does not exist now.  Life has changed and will do so again after we have all gone, so it's very important to document it while I can.