We ain't no simple folk down 'ere

For the past three days, I have been in the land of the carrot crunchers, specifically Devon, more specifically Exeter, visiting Melly and incidentally hooking up with Tommy J and Lynny at the same time. On my way here, I thundered through gorgeous landscapes on the train, past rolling verdant landscapes on rolling hills, ponds half-smothered by lilies in bloom and picturesque canals dotted with quaint longboats. One could easily see the attraction of being a farmer because it's like this on your doorstep, at least in the summertime (winter would be more harsh for the rustic than living in the city).
On Friday, went out for dinner with the trio at the Double Locks, an archetypal rural pub next to a canal, but no worse for that. I had a steak and ale pie with mash and peas to soak up the gravy, though a little put out at first that it was the traditional pub way of putting the pastry covering top heavy on the contents rather than totally enveloping the meat. But it was still a swelegant meal. Many owners had brought their dogs who had great fun throwing balls into the canal for their dogs to chase after. It went a little too far when some owners threw their dogs into the canal without even the customary bait to swim for, so the dogs swam back, were picked up by the scruff of their necks and thrown back in again, as if it was some dog-throwing competition - maybe a West Country tradition.
On Saturday, we went to the beach at Budleigh Salterton with Melly's family as well, where it was windy and threatening to rain and while the others dressed up in windbreaker jackets and over-sized woolly jumpers, I prowled the promenade in nothing more than a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. Despite the weather, it was warm and I even went for a paddle in the creek estuary leading out to the sea, something the others were prevented from doing by being overdressed. We moseyed on into town to partake of the ice-cream shop Melly recommended. I had a curious mixture of Turkish delight and Blackberry cream (the latter like raspberry ripple, only not) and I had to take care of those messy pups, Lynny and Tommy J (Tom's vanilla cream refusing to be sucked out by the bottom until the cone crumbled in his hands) with a paper napkin to the rescue. At the same time, I revealed my ignorance of these parts, asking if Taunton was nearby, having passed the station the day before, believing it to be a nearby summer seaside resort when it's actually landlocked and in the neighbouring county of Somerset. At night, we met up with friends of Melly and I had a twenty minute staring competition with one of her friends which ended in a draw, primarily because he had tried to make me laugh by opening an umbrella while sitting down, which had the accidental effect of knocking his drink over Lynny. After that, we just wanted to laugh like the others were doing. Just goes to show you shouldn't open an umbrella indoors.
The next day, I went to Exeter Cathderal and stayed for matins after the sung eucharist, one reason because I came in halfway through the first service as it started contrary to my expectations at 9.45am instead of the 10.30 of churches in Gillingham and 11am at Canterbury Cathedral.
And now I'm back to face more days without work in Kent. An antidote, I applied for a post within the Foreign Office but that will take about eight months to complete if I'm successful.