Chicken!

The chickens have excelled themselves today, six eggs. Four chickens, six eggs! Okay they can stay! Here's Nora.

Findog holding Nugget, Nora looking on, Drummers bottom on right.

Tour of Britain

Stoked with this photo! The Tour of Britain rolled across Dartmoor yesterday. With the likes of Hushovd, Thomas and the main man, the legend that is Mark Cavendish in the line up, it was a must see event.

There's Cav, as I know him (!), in the white colours of HTC sitting in his usual low position, keeping out of the wind. It's a strange spectator event. You sit on the side of the road for two hours, the tension builds as motor bikes and support vehicles start to come through, then you see the helicopter.. by the time the riders arrive the atmosphere is electric. And then they're through, quick as that. Actually we were quite lucky that there were two break away groups - so we had at least seven minutes of action!

From high up on the Dartmoor, I then went over the Exmouth to see the final sprint. Exactly the same build up - it's pretty awesome. Loved it.

Decisions, decisions

The surf has dropped off a bit this morning - still a good size mind and it's cleaned up heaps. We've had a meeting this morning about next years clothing range and yeah, quite excited about what's in store (or will be in store). Few new ideas bouncing around and some blue sky thinking - inspired by the sun's re-appearance. My head is spinning!

It's been too long

It's been too long .. and to have all this humour inside and not share it with you guys. It's selfish I know.

The forecast was "Great Expectations". What we actually got was more, "Wuthering Heights!" The spin off from Hurricane Katia had the potential, in combo with a good spring tide, to create quite a stir at Polzeath. We moved the trailer off the beach two nights in a row in anticipation of a 'biggy'. But in reality, apart from observing the disconsolate man staring into his BMW as if at the round window of a Zanussi ZWG (should have shut your door mate, one more spin cycle, then you can stick it in the drier!) - there was little to cheer about. The highest surge just about reached the top of the beach. 'Much Ado about Nothing' I'm afraid. (You'll notice I'm taking you on a tour of 'book titles that I know' collection. Did you know? I got an 'A' level in English even though I never read the book, Middlemarch - the principle novel of the exams. Genius - although to be fair the grade was poor! There's a lesson there somewhere.)

Of course, if you want to see the last real storm here at Polzy and you haven't already seen it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOAKZLwHhXU - you won't believe it. And who's that handsome, young man?

Surf's Up! Shorts - last weekend I headed off to Swansea with Findog for a footie match, we stayed there over night. Went to the local water slide place, but had no shorts. Had to buy a fine pair of drawstrings! I looked just like my Dad. None of you were there were you? Phew! : Billy's started Secondary School - all seems to be going well. I remember when I was at school, admittedly a long time ago it used to really bug me when kids would bring in notes from home (NTC - not to change) to say they couldn't play games. I tried taking one into Chemistry once (NTC - not to chemistry) but was forced to do the periodic table. Not fair! : first couple of weeks of September have been surprisingly busy considering the weather, it's all been a bit Kamizakee (bit of a nip in the air), surf's been okay though : sold those last remaining wetsuits in about 5 mins : few Beach House dates available back end of September and early October if you fancy coming on down, best price, best price, you wan cheap watch? : off to see the Tour of Britain bike race on Thursday passing over Dartmoor, looking forward to seeing how fast they really go : Kelly Slater remains the man to beat on the ASP World Tour, can he really win 11 titles? Amazing.

Our chickens have laid some eggs - we're getting about two a day, which from my point of view, balancing work / reward ratio, is poor quite frankly. But they're sweet (and sour), that'll be the marinade I wash them in at night or as they know it, 'bath time'.

It's a given

Sarah's day off - I'm manning the shop. This is a mistake as I'm being creative!! Ladies size 14 winter West wetsuits - we've got three left - yours for £40 reduced from £150!! And everything on-line, no post and packing, for a few days until Sarah notices. Can't say fairer than that.

We thought it'd be a bit quieter today and then I noticed Wailin surrounded by the trailer on the beach!

Summer Report

I am going to do a Summer Round-up. Should be able to get around to it in next couple of days. It's all gone quiet now - that'll be the kids back to school and bad weather combo! Windy woo. Not that it stops our clients from heading in.

Just a bit cross!

Turns out Esme has been lost 250 miles away. The people who took her had a big black rottweiller and our best guess is that as soon as they opened the front door, she decided she was outta there, no doubt onto the busy road at the end of the terrace! Unfortunately the cat nappers seem to have taken on absolutely no responsibility to help find her, so we went there ourselves on Bank Holiday Monday, stayed overnight and have done our own door to door search. But with no luck so far.

It is soo frustrating! We've had her since she was a kitten, she's 6 now. I was trying to work it out, give or take a week here or there for holidays she's been with us for 2280 days. You form bonds and we're responsible for her. She used to come with me to walk the dog around the field in the evening or walk down to the beach to do the final trailer pack. In the evening she'd settle on Fin's bed whilst he went to sleep and then I'd put her out when it was time for me turn in. She was part of the family. Why someone chose to take her I have no idea. And then having discovered that she did have a home, lose her? And then having lost her, make no efforts to find her. It's beyond belief really and very, very selfish. So unnecessary. Bit of a sad cloud hangs over the Craskie household at the moment. I know, I know, she's just a cat. Doesn't mean that we shouldn't care.

Smelly Poo Protest

Our cat Esme went missing - so we went in search. We know that the local caravan park is a favourite and only a short meander away. People had seen here around, but not for the last few days. So we put up a load of posters to see if we could get some info. We thought she perhaps had been locked in a caravan by mistake, sneaked in as someone packed up to go home - so we checked all the empty caravans. But no success.

To cut a long story short and following many, many search missions. We found her. In a locked caravan? No. Got stuck in a bin? No. Got shut in the old white house? No. No we found her in Stoke on Trent!

I'm not sure exactly what happened yet, but someone must have fed her, thought she was a stray and bundled her into the car at the end of their holiday. I can't quite get my head around this because if you know cats, you'd know that if you feed them and encourage them, they'll be your best friend. But that doesn't mean they're stray. Esme looks far from a stray, she just likes chicken! It's one thing to feed a cat for a few days and quite another to then bundle them into the car. And I do think that if they'd really thought about it, they'd have asked at reception if anyone knew who the cat belonged too. Driving past reception they must have known they were doing something wrong. She's well known to most people on the camp site. What makes me laugh is she's not a good traveller - howls like a banshee after 400 metres. Hit the 5 mile mark and she'll release a stinky poo protest unlike anything you've ever smelt before. We've had to make an emergency evacuation of the car before now!

They're driving her back today (from Stoke on Trent) - it'll be great to see her.

Green Army! Great news last night that Plymouth Argyle are to survive- we got the news at the boys training. On a selfish level, it would have been a bit of a blow for the boys had they gone out of business. It's tough to get in. The Cardiff supporters and coach were very complimentary about the way Billy played after the match on the weekend and they had him down as the one to watch. That's my boy!

Bank holiday weekend - here we go! Is it going to be busy? I have no idea. Weather looks okay. Better than yesterday. But the surf was cranking - had a few sweet rides. Oh, and let's look out for the waves from Hurricane Irene - normally takes about a week for the swell to get here. It's always the best type of swell, long travelled, big gaps between the sets - happy days. I'll keep you posted on when it's expected to arrive so you can get down here.

Here we go - a nice little wave to be had and really not that busy.

Now then, what's to report? Sooo much driving, that's all I know! Went up to Cardiff over the weekend, Billy had a footie match. Now I understand what it's like when visitors make the long drive home. It took us six hours to get to Wales! And they lost 4 - 0, that was the bad news. Good news, Billy played a stormer. The score line isn't a true reflection of the game - the oppo had two teams and Plymouth ran out of legs in the end on what was a scorching day.How do you walk around the turrets of a Castle? Caerphilly! Someone had to say it.

And the chickens are here!! Jalfrezi, Drummer, Nugget and Nora, picked them up yesterday and they're all bedded in, happy chucks.

Bang!

The British Firework Championships down at Plymouth were pretty cool last night. Couldn't believe how many people were there! Thousands and thousands! It's on again tonight 9.30pm.

Janey's staying down in Thurlestone for the week with the boys - I stay behind to keep an eye on the empire. With a good team behind us, I'm able to travel over most days. Don't really know that stretch of coast that well, but loved North Sands and Salcombe. Oh and we went to Quay West in Paignton. Quay West is the number one water park in the UK! Exactly, I didn't hold out much hope either. But much to my surprise it was really good, loads of fun. We've been to water parks all over the world, and if the way you judge a water park is fun per square inch, Quay West does it for me. Because the rides are short, twisty and fast, banging your head on the side is a given. Cool thing is you can wear wetsuits - pure genius.

Speaking of genius, two other nice surprises this week (slow news day) - David Sedaris, listened to him on Radio 4 - that man is hilarious. And Captain Flint's in Salcombe - pizza and pasta family restaurant. With a queue forming down the road at 5.30pm prior to opening, you know they must be doing something right. Highly recommended - great food, but more importantly with kids, quick, quick service and delivery of grub.

Back to the beach - the mixed bag of weather has not been that great. But then again, not too bad either. Surf's been okay. It's been quieter at the surf school generally this summer - we're cool with that. The shop on the other hand is doing great, well against the general trend on the beach I'd imagine. Not that that is relevant. We've put together some really cool Surf's Up! branded gear this year, and it's really apparent that whereas we used to just sell our hoodies etc just to our surf school clients, the shop is as popular with those who are buying the gear just because they like what's on offer, those who have seen others walking around in our stuff and come and find our shop. I think that's very positive and one reason why we're bringing the on-line shop right up to date. It's definitely opened our eyes as to where we want to go with it.