Somewhere nowhere near the sprawling metropolis

[andrewducker]

I am in Devon, introducing Julie to my parents.

I understand that this is traditionally a time of fear, uncomfortableness and the like, but it all seems to have gone very well so far (she spent a happy half an hour chatting to my Dad about research methods!). We arrived down on Friday evening, I introduced them, and then we crashed out shortly thereafter - arriving in Devon always seems to leave me exhausted. I've never been sure whether it's the travel, the air or simply leaving my stress in left luggage at the airport.

Saturday we have breakfast at 9am, then went up Hay Tor. Where we saw a variety of lovely views, including the incredibly pretty nearby disused quarry. We got caught in the rain on the way back to the car, but that just meant we got to come back to the house and sip hot drinks, which is (if you ask me) an integral part of the walking/holiday experience. Julie then marked a whole load of essays, which got a huge chunk of her weekend work out of the way, and I went through a checklist that my parents had given me, detailing all the computer problems they had. The laptop now prints to the desktop's printer, Norton has been removed, and the various email glitches are now fine. And then we played Ticket to Ride, which was great as ever.

Today we had breakfast at 9am again, and then headed off to a pony farm, to see ponies, pigs, sheep, goats, gerbils, chickens, peacocks, and sundry other cute things. A kid (baby goat) suckled at my fingers, which was unbelievably cute. Then lunch, and now Julie is having a nap, while I lie in bed next to her and type this.

All in all it's being a lovely weekend away.

I've got £$%$£% all mobile signal here, so if you've tried to get hold of me then you'll just have to wait until Monday night :->

Meantime:

Comments

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

Point to note: If it's feeling effortless, it's probably going well.

Good luck. It's nice watching this, and I'm cheering on happy things :)

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

Where's the question of the day from, and who was polled (country etc?) I'm not convinced it isn't a fake.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

WEll it wasn't exactly traumatic when I came down to meet your folks for the first time either - basically atheists as you are, the house is really very Jewish - feed visitors lots!! and your mum is very charming. I hope you've had less intrusive phone calls this time though.

[pickwick.livejournal.com]

I wondered too - it's from What They Play, a parents' guide to video games. There's a Wired article about it, which points out that it is an unscientific poll of a few hundred self-selecting respondents, but still, it is real.

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

Not traumatic at all; having a great time - it feels just like being at home with my grandparents.

[andrewducker]

It's all been blissfully non-interruptive. Well, apart from Ed looking for phone bills, and you texting me from airports :-p