It's a fact of life that as you get older you just have to blink your eyes, or, with my painful dry eyes, dash in a few drops, and a week flies by. Einstein didn't mention that in his general theory of relativity did he. He only said time sped up or slowed down according to how fast you were travelling through timespace. He didn't mention the old age time whizz thing, did he.
At any rate I'm here now and as this is meant to be a sort-of diary I'll mention our five day holiday in Exmouth from 28th June to 2nd July. Unusually for us, we had paid top whack for a sea-facing superior room at the Imperial Hotel, Exmouth, Devon. When we entered the magnificent room and stepped out onto our balcony, breathing deep sighs of contentment as we looked across the swimming pool and vast lawns to the blue sea beyond, we were not to know what hell awaited us, starting at about 4.30am and going on for two or three hours every morning. The sounds of boulders crashing down, heavy furniture being moved, and heavy footfalls clomping around just over our heads, dragged us out of our sleep each night.
To our astoundment, it turned out to be nesting seagulls on the flat roof above us, crashing down clams to break open for their babies.
On our last night I arranged for the night porter, who I was told was called Jean Philipe and therefore I judged to be sexy, to come up to our room so that at least one member of staff could experience the din. At 4.30am as usual, the racket began. I got up, brushed my hair, covered my bareness with a slinky robe or, in actual fact, an M&S dressing gown, and reached out for the phone. As I started to dial, the racket stopped. I waited. Nothing. Zilch. Just my husband's gentle breathing. So Jean Philipe did not get invited to our room.
It transpired that the rowdy baby seagulls had fledged and, I guess, the brief burst of noise that woke me up, was from ma and pa seagull having a celebratory party.
Anyway, I leave you and this blog, with a warning. Do not book a superior room at that Devon hotel for the dates mentioned above. Seagulls breaking their clam shells and crashing about are noisier than you or anybody might think!
