1 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:04,880 Come on, Poppy, let's be having you. 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:13,920 We're dressed for the weather today because I think my 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:19,160 previous predictions about spring approaching have 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,960 disappeared, so we didn't get that one right. 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:28,840 It's very, very grey today. And Misty Missy, and there's 6 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:33,800 quite a bit of light rain coming down and that very fine sort of 7 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:39,920 drizzly rain. So I'm here with the full foul 8 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,440 weather gear, as it was called in the Navy. 9 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:48,640 The dog didn't want her coat on. I'm a bit iffy about this 10 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,480 because Poppy's missing a little bit of fur in a couple of places 11 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:57,640 and she can get cold, but she also doesn't like wearing a coat 12 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:07,040 and so I gave in and Poppy is here commando and we'll see how 13 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,640 we get on with the walk. But I'm feeling quite pleased 14 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:17,040 with myself because I've been sat indoors doing some UK column 15 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,040 work. I'm not allowed to say what it 16 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,600 is. Well, I probably could depending 17 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:28,200 on the the future programming of when material goes out, but I 18 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:32,200 got on quite well. I was also pleased to receive a 19 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,640 couple of packages from one of those companies that delivers 20 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:41,360 stuff. And I was really pleased with 21 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,920 the young guy that dropped the little packages off because he 22 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:52,120 actually did ring my doorbell. And this is a big deal because a 23 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:54,880 while ago we thought it was a good idea to have a doorbell 24 00:01:54,880 --> 00:02:01,320 because we didn't have one. And having selected one and 25 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,960 fixed it by the door at an appropriate height where people 26 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:10,759 could see it, I was then stupid enough to expect people who were 27 00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:15,920 making a delivery to ring it. But I quickly found that the 28 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,800 delivery men, for whatever reason, would always knock on 29 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,800 the door, which we can't hear, and they would fail to ring the 30 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:29,440 bell. So possibly I need a big sign 31 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:34,640 actually saying ring here, but I don't think we're going to do 32 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:40,280 that. Well anyway, a few birds out and 33 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:41,920 I wonder whether you can hear this one. 34 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:51,680 Well, we've got the birds singing, but that was a dove 35 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:56,400 cooing sat on the gate looking at me with some suspicion. 36 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:04,240 And there's quite a few doves around here, and it's quite nice 37 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:09,360 to see them all grouped up. And yes, as you walk past, they 38 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,560 look at me with this sort of suspicious look on their faces, 39 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:19,520 cocking their head to one side. Now, I'm really pleased that a 40 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:24,440 few of you have come back with me because I had absolutely no 41 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:29,000 idea what was going to happen with my first walk with the dog. 42 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,840 And I have to say, I was absolutely amazed when the 43 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:43,120 YouTube views got up to 30. Sorry, 3000, a little bit over 44 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:47,800 3000, but I was delighted with that because it's been a long 45 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:52,080 time since we put stuff out on YouTube because of course 46 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:56,760 YouTube decided they were going to censor the column and, and 47 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:02,080 the main site was taken down. So as I think I said in episode 48 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,040 one, I know that I've got to think about what I'm saying at 49 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:10,880 certain times, but nevertheless, it was great to see you all 50 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,960 there. And I've looked at most of the 51 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,040 comments. There might be a couple now that 52 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:21,920 I haven't. And yeah, a lot of really nice 53 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,640 comments, which is a big boost because you do what you do and 54 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:28,920 you're not too sure how it's going to be received. 55 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:34,200 So it was really lovely to to see those comments coming in a 56 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:41,320 little bit of fraw with a couple of people over the fact that it 57 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:46,120 was audio and I had people saying, Oh well, it should be 58 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,440 video and you should have a selfie stick. 59 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:53,320 And I'm thinking no, no, I don't want to do that because the 60 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:58,040 moment you start videoing, I'll have to just wait for this lorry 61 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,760 to come down. Part of this track, the moment 62 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,600 you start videoing you, you have to concentrate on the video. 63 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,920 And that means that I'm not having an enjoyable walk with 64 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,520 the dog. And so I thought, yeah, the best 65 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:20,960 thing to do here is audio. And I did like the fact that a 66 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:24,480 couple of people said to me, yeah, Brian, it was great 67 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,360 because I was doing other things. 68 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:31,360 I think one lady said she was making lunch or a meal. 69 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,080 So we're going to stick with audio. 70 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,160 And I'll just say nicely, if you were one of the people who said, 71 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:43,960 oh, it's not a video, just stay with me for a bit and see 72 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,840 whether you can enjoy the fact you can just, you know, relax in 73 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:53,720 a chair or you can be driving or walking. 74 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,560 And we can do this together. And it is good. 75 00:05:58,720 --> 00:05:59,880 It's great. You've come. 76 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,560 And I see that a few of you have come properly prepared with the 77 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,320 welly boots, and you're going to need them. 78 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:10,960 Yeah. So there we are. 79 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:13,560 Poppy's just what you up to, Poppy? 80 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:16,960 Yeah, she's having a good sniff around today. 81 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:21,520 I mentioned the squirrels previously and my goodness, the 82 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,520 the woods seem to be alive with them at the moment, so she's 83 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,000 happy to keep a watchful eye out. 84 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:38,320 And yes, where were we? Well, the other thing is that I 85 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:44,360 was able at home to sit down and watch the UK Column News and UK 86 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:49,520 Column Extra. So it was Mike with Vanessa and 87 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:52,960 Charles Mallett. I don't know whether you've ever 88 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:56,520 seen UK Column News, but if you haven't, I'd I'd encourage you 89 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:01,920 to watch it and you'll need to go to ukcolumn.org to do that. 90 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,920 I'm having a bit of fun here. But I know of course that many 91 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,120 people watch stuff on YouTube and we don't actually get near 92 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,400 websites. They don't actually go and look 93 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:20,280 for the source material. But it's always nice to be able 94 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,720 to sit at home and and watch the news. 95 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:28,880 And yes, I do try and join in the chat box when I can. 96 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,960 But I was also surprised when I saw the time because I did 97 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:39,200 another piece of work and sent a couple of emails. 98 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:43,560 And then I discovered that it was 3:20. 99 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:45,080 So I thought I'd better come out. 100 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:50,480 And here we are coming down to the river. 101 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,800 Hello. I'm actually recording a little 102 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,280 bit of audio here. So I'm meeting you. 103 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,880 You don't give me any names, but tell me about your dog. 104 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:05,000 Oh, this is Molly. She's 13 years old, very 105 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,840 arthritic and very slow, but she still likes to go out. 106 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:09,640 She's well travelled. Excellent. 107 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:10,880 She's. Been to Dubai and back. 108 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,200 Really. She lived on Channel Islands for 109 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,000 two years. Dubai a bit hot? 110 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:17,280 It was awful. She came back after six months. 111 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,440 Right. OK, Yeah. 112 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,520 Is that enough? That's absolutely perfect. 113 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:23,880 Thank you very thank you very much. 114 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:30,120 I've I've got it up on YouTube. It's it's just called walking 115 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,640 the dog. My name is Brian, Brian Gerrish 116 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:36,360 walking the dog. So I did the first episode, I 117 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:42,880 think it was about 10 days ago and I got, I got 3000 views on 118 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,080 it, which was pretty good. And a lot of people have said 119 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,440 that it's just nice to be able to listen to something that's 120 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,360 well, one person said it's a bit like listening to the radio 121 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:57,600 years ago when when those things. 122 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,240 So I walk along, I comment, I talk, talk to the dog. 123 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,720 And I've spoken to a couple of people, no names is all 124 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,560 anonymous. And yeah, people seem to have 125 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:16,640 enjoyed it. So, well, unfortunately we also 126 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:21,080 do a bit of that, but This is why I decided for this one, you 127 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:33,520 know, just to keep it upbeat. OK, well, there we are. 128 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:37,640 That's fascinating, isn't it? I wonder what will happen when 129 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:41,840 that Lady goes and if she does, go and have a look at episode 130 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:47,320 one. And also interesting, of course, 131 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:51,960 she talked about doom scrolling, which is the expression I 132 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,800 haven't heard before, but I know what she means. 133 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:01,000 So I thought I'd just bring you down to look at the river 134 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,880 because it's, well, it's dropped a bit, but it has been very high 135 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,200 over the last few days because we've had some, some really 136 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:12,760 extraordinary rain. And so I'm just stood here 137 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:19,640 watching it go down towards the old railway remains the old 138 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,640 railway bridge which I've talked about, but it's all looking very 139 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:30,320 wintry again today and little beads of rains clinging to the 140 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:34,960 ends of the smaller branches. And yeah, there's this little 141 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:41,200 bit of mist which swirls around, but I thought we'd we'd just go 142 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:42,960 in a slightly different direction. 143 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:47,360 So I'm, I'm going to head up through some farmers fields in a 144 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:56,120 minute and we'll come back down the back lane and it's generally 145 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,160 a loop. Of course I'm walking well, I do 146 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:00,640 want to get home at the end of it. 147 00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:05,480 But it's one of the lovely things about where I live is 148 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,920 that there's a lot of wonderful places you can walk a dog. 149 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,240 You know, you haven't got to go too far from your from your home 150 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,240 and you can generally do circuits. 151 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:25,000 So we have a joke amongst the dog walkers you meet and you 152 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,720 say, ah, you're on a clockwise circuit today. 153 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:31,040 And then of course, sometimes they'll go and do an anti 154 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,680 clockwise because that turns to make things more interesting. 155 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:42,600 But I thought for Poppy this afternoon, we'd come out head 156 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:47,320 out in a, a different direction to the one I took took you guys 157 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:52,400 on before. I also yeah, Pops probably, 158 00:11:52,400 --> 00:12:00,000 probably I'm also trying out a a new device here, which I hope is 159 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:07,200 going to work OK, because before my little microphone, I had a 160 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:14,520 soft pad over it, foam pad, which does cut out a bit of the 161 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,720 wind noise. But because it's very windy 162 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:25,560 today, I've got a a little furry cover over it on windscreen, as 163 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:30,080 they say. But this is just a it's like a 164 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:35,560 little ball of soft fur, which is hello stuck at the top of my 165 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:42,440 jacket compacts. And it looks like a small 166 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:47,320 creature, to be honest. So we'll we'll see whether we 167 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:57,120 get any comments. I hope you can hear those birds. 168 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:04,400 I'm not sure what they are. There we are. 169 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:09,400 There's a challenge to my my audience, one of the one of the 170 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:16,320 birds making that sort of repeated chirpy noise. 171 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,200 Little bit of an interesting garden. 172 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:28,680 I've watched a bit of work go on with some garden sheds being 173 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:32,880 built. I've also got a house here 174 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:37,320 that's recently been up for sale and it's quite incredible. 175 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,360 I, I don't think it's very big. It's probably only got 3 rooms 176 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,320 in it. And I wouldn't like to say when 177 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:52,520 it was built if I guess probably the 1920s and I suspect an 178 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,360 elderly person's lived in it for quite a long time because this 179 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,480 is the first time I've seen it on the market. 180 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:15,240 I said last time there was a bit of heavy breathing because I did 181 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:20,040 have a pretty bad cold those days that time. 182 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:28,400 Today I'm OK, but it is a bit steep, a bit steep this bit. 183 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,240 So some different little birdies there. 184 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:42,640 It's really wonderful to hear them. 185 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:47,040 And I love it when when the weather's better and you come 186 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:51,680 out and it's like the birds are all chirping because they're, 187 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:55,120 you know, happy. The weather's dry and the sun's 188 00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:05,400 out. It's great now if you can hear 189 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:13,240 the sound, it's amazingly squidgy under foot. 190 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:21,080 It's a little bit of path, but when it's rained a lot, the rain 191 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:25,840 builds up here and you almost get a stream down the middle of 192 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:29,760 the path. Very strong smell of horses 193 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:36,040 here. I think I know which ones those 194 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:44,040 are because there's some little ponies which I think are kept 195 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:46,920 purely as pets because I don't even think they're big enough to 196 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:57,760 to ride on. So we just need to keep an eye 197 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:04,360 on Poppy because this is a, this is one of the sheep fields, but 198 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:06,480 I don't think there's any sheep in there today. 199 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:13,480 She's pretty good actually. She, she doesn't really show any 200 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:31,300 interest in farm animals. And we walked through a field 201 00:16:31,300 --> 00:16:33,780 with some cows the other day and one of them showed a bit of an 202 00:16:33,780 --> 00:16:39,260 interest in US and ended up coming quite close. 203 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,760 And that spooked Poppy a bit and all she did is woof. 204 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:49,560 And then eventually the cow went and joined, joined the others. 205 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,840 So we survived. But no, she doesn't really chase 206 00:16:53,840 --> 00:17:00,600 sheep, which is good. And we try and respect all the 207 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:06,040 the rules of walking in the countryside and shut the gates 208 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:19,640 and stick to the path. So this is a lovely little bit 209 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:25,040 here. I'm up on a yeah, I'm really up 210 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,520 at the top of a little tiny hill. 211 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:31,920 So it's a great big field. There's another big field on my 212 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:34,760 left over the hedge, but this one's the sheep field. 213 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:40,280 You've got a wood on the right again with the sort of old trees 214 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:42,680 that I've described a lot of these. 215 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,320 I've got this heavy cover of Ivy. 216 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:50,960 I can see when I walk around that somebody seems to go go 217 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:55,840 round and chop through the the stem of the Ivy to give the the 218 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,840 tree a chance. But a lot of them are pretty 219 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,200 heavy with it. There's a lot of pretty old oak 220 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:06,280 trees in there as well. And I can say with confidence 221 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:11,240 they're English oaks. And I only recently learned the 222 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,960 difference between the English oak and the European oak. 223 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,880 But essentially the English oaks got a lot more wiggly branches 224 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,160 and and of course will be superior timber. 225 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:29,680 Well, maybe not. And yeah, you come down off the 226 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:37,160 the slight slope and then the field opens up. 227 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:42,240 So it's actually an L shape with the foot of the L off to my 228 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:46,360 right. And when the weather's clear, 229 00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:49,960 you end up with a lovely view back through. 230 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,240 I'm going to say another, another of the valleys, because 231 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,960 I realized talking to you the other day when I was talking 232 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:00,560 about a valley, it was almost as though there's sort of one big 233 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:05,600 valley, but you're walking in a valley that's got other valleys 234 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,560 contained within it. This is really what makes Devon 235 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:13,440 so special. You got this amazing rolling 236 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:19,840 countryside and yeah, I love it as a county. 237 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,400 I mean, I only ended up here because of the because of the 238 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,840 Navy, really. But I do love it. 239 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:31,280 You've got beautiful coastline and Cliff walks and you've got 240 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:36,720 some wonderful beaches. And of course, you've only got a 241 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:40,440 hop in the car for sort of 20 minutes and you can be up on 242 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:45,280 Dartmoor and you know, summer it can get busy. 243 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:48,320 But Even so, there's much of Dartmoor where if you walk off 244 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:53,960 for 20 minutes, half an hour and you will be on your own in some 245 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:59,520 absolutely spectacular scenery. So this is another place that I 246 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:06,200 I thought I might take you, but only if you're well behaved and 247 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,160 actually most of you were last time. 248 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,680 So I'll give you I'll give you gold stars for episode one. 249 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:21,040 And we're just coming up to the hedge here. 250 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:26,080 Everything is autumn is still autumn colours. 251 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:34,240 So the hedgerows are this Reddy orange colour with dark greens 252 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:36,400 because there's quite a lot of holly around here. 253 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:41,240 And this bit of the field is interesting because there's, 254 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:45,680 there's obviously a, a stream comes to the surface and the, 255 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:50,720 the grass, which is all pretty thick and lush, but it's also 256 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:56,440 got the tall spiky grass. It's the stuff when you look at 257 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:00,960 an Ordnance Survey map and it says bog or marsh, it's always 258 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:05,760 got a drawing of these little spiky grasses that have got 259 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:10,560 round sort of like a tube. The leaf comes up, leaf comes up 260 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:15,120 like a a tube and they're quite thick in this bit. 261 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,720 And it's also very, very muddy here. 262 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:25,800 Poppy, poppy, poppy, poppy, stay, stay. 263 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:31,240 So this is a style, wooden style which obviously the farmers put 264 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,560 in to keep the sheep in. But the moment you've gone 265 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:39,080 through the style, there's a fantastic stone style which 266 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:44,440 these big steps which go up over the bank, which forms the sort 267 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:50,160 of basis of the of the wall of the field. 268 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,400 If you like really massive stone. 269 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:59,720 So some big lads put those in place and they've also, you 270 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,720 know, got wonderful Moss growing on them. 271 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:12,760 So there we are. Didn't did you hear that? 272 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:17,280 I'm not sure whether I'm, I've talked over it, which is a pity. 273 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,000 But we've definitely got some pheasants around here somewhere. 274 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:30,280 They're pretty distinctive with their their sort of clucking 275 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:33,440 noises and they're always very pretty. 276 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,240 As I mentioned last time, the estate, well, there's a couple 277 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:43,680 of estates which breed them. So normally the pheasant 278 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:50,760 population is pretty high until the shooting season, which is a 279 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:55,080 sad thing really, but that's life, isn't it? 280 00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:04,040 If you can hear this. So this is quite fun. 281 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,880 So you've got the edge of the road, there's a lot of mud and 282 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:12,240 leaves and stuff, and then you've got a low Stonewall, 283 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:16,320 about 18 inches, which is completely grown over with all 284 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,920 sorts of plants, grasses and plants and Ivy and various other 285 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,480 things. And then the other side of that, 286 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:27,920 it drops down about four feet and there's quite a vigorous 287 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:32,880 little. There we are, we can hear it, a 288 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:37,760 little stream flowing down. It's almost like a culvert isn't 289 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:38,920 it? I suppose you might call it. 290 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:42,800 And that's going down the side of the road. 291 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,480 It is quite a fun thing. You occasionally see see 292 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,800 youngsters who have been lowered down in their with their welly 293 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:57,040 boots having a, a splash along it as their parents walk on the 294 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:01,080 road. It's good to see the little 295 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:04,800 things still keeping, keeping people happy. 296 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:17,000 And we have some colour here. 297 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:20,720 Well, we've got several types of colour actually. 298 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:25,720 And we've got some, Oh my goodness, what do you call them 299 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:27,240 out? Some little, oh little. 300 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,560 We've got some snow drops there, not too many of them. 301 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:37,280 And what caught my eye was these daffodils which somebody's 302 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,680 planted or they've planted themselves on top of this quite 303 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:45,880 high bank and they're all here looking really lovely. 304 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,640 Daffodils I've always liked as a flower. 305 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:52,440 And I like them traditional. I don't like them when they've 306 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,760 they've been bred. So they got, you know, really 307 00:24:55,760 --> 00:25:02,480 sort of fuzzy petals. Those are really beautiful and 308 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:06,520 and they're always great in a big, big clump because you then 309 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,280 get this really big splash of colour. 310 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,960 There's the Primrose, that was the name that had gone out of my 311 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,320 head. So the other thing about Devon 312 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:26,440 is that in the banks, primroses just grow in profusion and it's 313 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:28,760 always the case. You can be driving along and 314 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,880 you'll suddenly see a big splash of colour from the primroses, 315 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:52,000 which is nice. So there we are. 316 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:54,600 There's a bit more of that stream really coming down. 317 00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:58,680 The water looks, you know, very clear. 318 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:06,600 It goes over kind of sort of rocky bed to the to the stream 319 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:08,760 itself. So the the water looks really 320 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:33,180 clear. What can you see, Poppy? 321 00:26:36,500 --> 00:26:40,660 She suddenly got very inquisitive at something or 322 00:26:40,660 --> 00:26:46,620 other. We got a couple of big fields 323 00:26:46,620 --> 00:26:49,540 here. I'm not sure what's growing in 324 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,560 is growing. I think it could be cabbage or 325 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:59,360 kale, something like that. But ginormous fields. 326 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,360 And of course, that's something you notice in the country 327 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:08,880 district that even over my lifetime, the tractors have got 328 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:13,560 bigger and bigger and bigger to the extent that there's a lot of 329 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:18,160 sections of Rd. that if the tractor comes through, you just 330 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:24,400 don't have a chance. And I think you have to be 331 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,840 reasonably good at going in reverse in Devon because most of 332 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:30,320 the lanes, you're going to have to do it at some stage or other. 333 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:40,640 And I can see some really spectacular blossom coming up, 334 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:44,200 but I'm not sure it's just around the corner, what tree 335 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:48,720 that is. I've got another lovely field on 336 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:52,840 my right here which sometimes we go into and walk round. 337 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:56,920 And this is another one which I think you'd absolutely call a 338 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:02,880 Meadow. So the young lambs and the sheep 339 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,080 are brought in here for fattening up. 340 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,880 And yeah, it's just a beautiful place because it's quite 341 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:17,400 sheltered and I think the little sheep at least come and have 342 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:22,200 somewhere that's where there's a lot of food for them. 343 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,320 And it's pretty nice place to be. 344 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,480 It's got the river on one side and the big stream on the other. 345 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:35,640 And if you walk through, it'll take you to a path where you can 346 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:45,640 go back into the woods again. Hello. 347 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:48,000 Come on. Probably. 348 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:57,720 So another dog Walker out there. It's a man I meet from time to 349 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,320 time. I haven't, I haven't spoken to 350 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,160 him properly. So I'm afraid I don't know what 351 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:08,560 his name is. It's a joke of the dog walkers 352 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,160 that there's a lot of people. You don't know their name, you 353 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:15,640 don't know their name. But you know the name of the dog 354 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,240 and you know the type of dog they've got, so the person is 355 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,280 always described by the dog they have. 356 00:29:32,460 --> 00:29:35,740 And we've got a big flooded Rd. Well, it's not very deep, but 357 00:29:35,740 --> 00:29:37,820 it's quite wise. You can hear this road is 358 00:29:37,820 --> 00:29:45,860 completely flooded and you get a lot of mud collects in this bit. 359 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:52,120 Actually, I think I might have said welly boots, but I haven't 360 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,200 got welly boots. I've got straight probably, 361 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:58,480 probably come, come here, got straightforward walking boots. 362 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:06,480 And it's the only disadvantage is that if the water's deeper 363 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:10,200 than the, you know, the ankle of the boot, you're in trouble. 364 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:19,160 But we seem to have survived. So puppy's gone back on the lead 365 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:25,520 because although this is a little country Rd. here, there's 366 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:30,920 quite a few cars come along. You could also say a lot of them 367 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,640 go too fast. But that's, that's the way it is 368 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:41,440 at the moment. So narrow stone bridge, little 369 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:45,520 stone walls either side. And it's got a, a sort of 370 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:49,280 buttress bit where you can, you can actually stand and have a 371 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,960 look out at the river, which is very nice. 372 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,520 But we'll get away from that because there's another, there's 373 00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:02,600 another car coming. And I'm coming into a little car 374 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:14,600 park area where there's a couple of cars and I suspect there'll 375 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:19,560 be cars from people who are training, you know, professional 376 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:23,200 gun dogs, sorry, professionally training gun dog. 377 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,120 And that's quite interesting to watch, depending on what they're 378 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,040 doing. But I suspect they'll be in the 379 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,680 woods. They've normally got a little, 380 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:39,760 it's almost like a little squidgy sandbag which they 381 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:45,120 either throw for the dogs to retrieve or they hide the that 382 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,640 little package in the in amongst the undergrowth of the trees and 383 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:50,440 the dogs have to go in and find it. 384 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:57,240 So I presume that's training them for recovering birds that 385 00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:02,000 have been shot or going in to flush them out. 386 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,960 And I know there'll be a few people sad at this, but really 387 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,880 I'm describing a bit bit of Country Life that's been going 388 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:30,040 on for a long time. So we've got lots of catkins 389 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:33,280 here, although they're looking, some of these look as though 390 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:37,080 they're already going over a bit because they're a bit, they're a 391 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,400 bit brown and forlorn in the damp. 392 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,040 And we've also got some brambles beginning to spring up. 393 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:49,400 They will be covered in blackberries in due course and 394 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:51,480 people will be down here picking them. 395 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:57,680 And then there's a lot of trees these days that are all covered 396 00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:01,560 in liking and they don't look particularly happy. 397 00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,920 I've never found anybody really to ask whether that's normal. 398 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,120 And we've got a lot of trees that are suffering with 399 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:15,840 something. There's been a lot of ash trees 400 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:21,080 cut down because of the ash disease, which ash die back, 401 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,640 which certainly Devon got hit with a lot. 402 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:31,800 And that's a shame because of course the land owners were keen 403 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:34,280 to get those trees out because they're good timber so they 404 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:39,800 could sell them on for firewood. But it does mean, you know, 405 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:44,640 there's a, there's more of a sort of an attack on trees. 406 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:51,680 When I was a boy and I lived in Gloucestershire, we had Dutch 407 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:57,520 Elm, Dutch Elm disease. And so I, I can remember the 408 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:02,080 trees starting to die with that. They were, I believe the figure 409 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:08,239 for Gloucestershire was that they lost 600,000 Elm trees and 410 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:13,960 a lot of other counties in the country were affected by it, so 411 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,480 that was a bit of a shame. I think. 412 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:20,960 A question I asked myself is, is that sort of stuff normal? 413 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:26,360 Did it always go on or is this some form of transfer of disease 414 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:30,760 for trees which comes about because of the products we ship 415 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:36,800 between countries? I lived in Holland for a couple 416 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:39,600 of years and have to say I enjoyed my time there. 417 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,280 I don't think they're bad people so I don't really think they 418 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:48,639 would have sent over some special tree disease package, 419 00:34:49,880 --> 00:35:01,840 but you never know so well you can hear it now. 420 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:06,440 We've sort of done a loop round and we're back by the main river 421 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,640 again. So it's quite noisy here because 422 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:14,640 the flow is coming down over a couple of big boulders and this 423 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:17,880 is on the other side of the river. 424 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,520 To me, this is one of the areas where the sheep come down to 425 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:24,360 drink. So it's a lot of it is worn into 426 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,800 the banks, worn down into a sort of gentle slope that they can 427 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:33,000 navigate and, and yeah, get a drink. 428 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,200 We've got a solitary daffodil here. 429 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:43,080 That's interesting, just one. And on the other side of the 430 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:48,040 river we got some more clumps. So I don't quite know how it 431 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,000 works with daffodils. So I know that once people plant 432 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,160 them, they seem to spread all over the place. 433 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,400 But the interesting thing is they're quite dispersed. 434 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:17,720 Hello, you're very smart dog. So we got a woolly coated white 435 00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:22,880 cream woolly coated dog with a very, very smart red raincoat. 436 00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:28,280 But we're being quite lucky at the moment because I think 437 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:34,240 actually the sort of Missy, Missy drivel, Missy drizzle is 438 00:36:34,240 --> 00:36:42,480 eased off. We've got a special bit here. 439 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,440 Just give that a clunk. There's a big bit of a couple of 440 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:52,400 big bits of tree. The tree came down in winter 441 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:57,600 gales many years ago and they chopped it in order to free up 442 00:36:57,600 --> 00:36:59,760 the path. But they, they, they then use 443 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:04,000 the, the biggest sections of the trunk to reinforce the 444 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:08,040 riverbank. And so these, one bit of the 445 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:12,640 tree here is embedded right into the side of the path. 446 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:18,360 The other one, I think the flood stream, because the river was 447 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,560 pretty high about a week ago, I think the flood stream has sort 448 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,480 of lifted it and partly dumped it back on the path again. 449 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:31,320 But that's all part of the cycle of the river. 450 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:40,840 It's probably time to comment on something. 451 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:45,960 And there's a little bench been put in here which is really nice 452 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:48,240 because you can sit on it and it's got a little bit of shelter 453 00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:50,760 behind it. And you're looking over into the 454 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:55,520 sheep field and down the river and part of the path and next to 455 00:37:55,520 --> 00:38:01,480 it is a very officious sign which says Environment Agency 456 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:06,360 Danger Weir. And it says this sign has been 457 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:09,840 provided for your safety by the Environment Agency. 458 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:16,760 And for further information please telephone 03708506506. 459 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:22,160 Well, interesting thing is that the dangerous Weir was created 460 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:28,160 by the Environment Agency because previously this was just 461 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:31,000 a section of a normal section of the river. 462 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,840 But many years ago, the Environment Agency got very 463 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:41,920 excited with volumetric flows of the water, not only on this 464 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:44,640 river, any other river they could get near. 465 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:49,760 And they decided they needed to measure the the flow of the 466 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:54,440 river here. So they effectively put in a 467 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:59,200 concrete section. It's about, I don't know, 40 468 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:02,480 foot long. So it's like a big culvert that 469 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:04,400 they forced the river to go into. 470 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:09,520 And they did that. So they had a known cross 471 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:14,120 section and they could then send a little probe out on a piece of 472 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,760 wire which would measure the speed of the flow. 473 00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:23,040 And so they built that. Then they built a little wood 474 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,560 cabin and then they decided the wood cabin needed a fence around 475 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:29,680 it. And then it needed a few signs 476 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:32,000 to say what it was and to keep off it. 477 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:37,840 And then they decided that to power the whole thing, it was it 478 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:43,800 was best to go green. And so it's now got its own 479 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,240 little windmill and solar panels. 480 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:53,280 So I'd just like to say the warning sign for the Weir should 481 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:57,160 be completely unnecessary because the only people who 482 00:39:57,160 --> 00:40:00,680 caused a problem in any danger is the Environment Agency. 483 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:05,600 And the other bit I'll add is that I've walked this path for a 484 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:12,160 very long time, but I've never, ever seen that probe in the 485 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,640 middle of the river. And I wonder whether that's the 486 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:19,680 case with a lot of other Environment Agency projects. 487 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:24,360 I am a bit cynical these days, but. 488 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:28,880 I'm just stick up for myself and say it's age-related and I've 489 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:33,720 never, I've never really been able to stand crap. 490 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:36,920 And I think that's what I'm looking at. 491 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:41,720 Yeah. Oh, here we go some. 492 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:44,840 We got some high quality catkins here. 493 00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:51,120 These are about, I don't know, 3 inches long, quarter inch wide, 494 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:55,280 and they're all on this little tree fluttering in the breeze. 495 00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:59,680 I don't know what it is with them, but I've always liked 496 00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:00,720 them. I've always found them 497 00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:04,680 interesting. And I can remember seeing them 498 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:07,560 when I was a very, very, very young child. 499 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:13,240 And yeah, the Catkin thing has stayed with me. 500 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,440 It's, it's funny what you remember. 501 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:32,240 So the thing I forgot to tell you was that the car park which 502 00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:35,160 I mentioned where the cars were for the dog trainers. 503 00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:42,720 One beautiful sunny morning many, many years ago, I, I was 504 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:45,320 walking the opposite way to the way I was walking now. 505 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:51,680 I was walking downriver towards that car park and you can't, you 506 00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:55,680 can't sort of see into the car park until you get to about the 507 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:58,720 last 20 yards because there's some trees and bushes. 508 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,680 But I coming down, it was a beautiful morning. 509 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:05,680 I think it was quite early, well, reasonably early. 510 00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:11,360 It was about 8:00 and I was just thoroughly enjoying the walk and 511 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:14,160 not really paying attention to anything. 512 00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:19,120 I was just enjoying walking and listening to the sounds and then 513 00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:26,960 the next minute I came round the corner into the car park and it 514 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:32,440 was like I'd gone through a time machine because there were all 515 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:38,320 these people in 18th century dress. 516 00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:45,440 The ladies were there in their tight waisted hips to the ground 517 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:50,600 hoot dresses in beautiful colours, Blues and greens and 518 00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:53,200 Reds. And there were men in their 519 00:42:53,800 --> 00:43:00,480 breeches and waist coats and I think one of them had a tricorn 520 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:05,560 hat on. And it was, it was marvellous 521 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:09,400 and incredible at the same time because you just didn't expect 522 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:13,680 to see that. And it literally was just like 523 00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:18,000 going back in time. And then I realised that amongst 524 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:23,800 them were other people in modern clothes. 525 00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:27,840 And when I got the opportunity to talk to a couple of the 526 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:34,320 people, they were there with a film crew and they wanted to to 527 00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:37,120 film a scene where these people were going to be on the little 528 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:38,920 stone bridge that I've been across. 529 00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:46,040 And if I was one of the girls who did most of the talking 530 00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:50,160 about what they were doing. But what I can't remember is if 531 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:52,240 she even gave me the name of the film. 532 00:43:53,680 --> 00:44:00,880 And I also know that I never did ever find out where that film 533 00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:03,800 clip was used. And I'd, I'd really love to 534 00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:11,000 because I'm sure if I saw saw those people in their brilliant 535 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:15,840 coloured costumes standing on the the little bridge it, it 536 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:20,000 will be a fantastic memory. So there we are. 537 00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:26,240 If you're somebody who enjoys film and theatre and that sort 538 00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:32,080 of stuff, it's very powerful how costumes and all of the 539 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:34,960 theatrical stuff can really make an impact on you. 540 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:45,720 Yeah, contrast those beautiful people because I've got my I've 541 00:44:45,720 --> 00:44:54,360 got my yellow high vis rain jacket on today and you might be 542 00:44:54,360 --> 00:45:00,960 wondering why. They're just brilliant because 543 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:03,640 you go and buy stuff from various places. 544 00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:06,400 I might have mentioned this before, but I'll mention it 545 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:09,400 again. And you can pay quite a lot for 546 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:13,400 supposedly waterproof jackets and stuff and they never seem to 547 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:16,840 last very long. So a friend said just go in the 548 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:23,000 local builders merchant and get yourself a yellow jacket because 549 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:28,160 they're half the price and they last twice as long and you know, 550 00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:31,880 they've got a a lining. So it's not just a rain proof 551 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:36,720 jacket. And I did this and best thing I 552 00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:40,880 ever did. So a number of advantages. 553 00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:47,480 One is if you work walking early morning or mainly in the evening 554 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:53,040 winter time, you can actually be seen by cars if you get near the 555 00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:56,760 road at all. But the other thing is if you 556 00:45:56,800 --> 00:46:02,600 wear it when you're driving your car, it's like you're in a a big 557 00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:07,080 bubble of sunshine, your own personal sunshine. 558 00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:10,920 And it doesn't matter how grey the day is, you get in the car 559 00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:15,360 with your yellow jacket and there you are, your own private, 560 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:22,400 private nuclear furnace. So that's two reasons. 561 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:27,960 But the other reason for enjoying a yellow jacket is you 562 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:33,680 get respect. People give you respect. 563 00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:40,920 And I'll give you an example. I went to see some family the 564 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:50,160 other weekend and they were taking their youngsters to do a 565 00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:52,040 bit of football training on a field. 566 00:46:53,240 --> 00:46:56,200 Actually, it was a girls team. It was a girls team. 567 00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:03,440 And when we got there, there was a few parents. 568 00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:08,160 One man who I initially thought, you know, was, was the sort of 569 00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:15,440 instructor because as we arrived, the guy looked at me 570 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:18,760 and he said, are you the guy running the place? 571 00:47:20,720 --> 00:47:27,520 Because some of it isn't open. And I said, no, I'm not the guy 572 00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:29,360 running the place. I'm just the guy wearing the 573 00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:33,000 yellow jacket. Well, in the end, there was a 574 00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:40,680 bit of discussion between these parents and they said, well, 575 00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:45,640 actually the place isn't open at all because the little coffee 576 00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:47,040 place isn't open and this and that. 577 00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:51,000 And should we be here? And I'm pleased that one of the 578 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:54,680 parents said, well, look, why don't we just carry on and run 579 00:47:54,680 --> 00:47:56,880 it? If somebody comes, we'll stop. 580 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:05,360 And so they ran the training session, but I'm pretty sure, 581 00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:10,160 but when they said to me, was it OK if they stayed? 582 00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:15,440 If I'd have said no, they would have absolutely not run the 583 00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:17,640 session. And why? 584 00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:20,080 Why would they have followed that? 585 00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:22,560 Simply because I was wearing a yellow jacket. 586 00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:27,520 Of course, if you really want to spook people out, you wear the 587 00:48:27,520 --> 00:48:33,880 yellow jacket and you need a clipboard and preferably some 588 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:38,600 sort of walkie-talkie. And then I think you can do a 589 00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:44,840 lot of things, including maybe some things which, yeah, could 590 00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:47,560 cause the establishment a few problems. 591 00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:58,560 So I'm here just approaching the church tower. 592 00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:01,520 Poppy's had a really good, good walk. 593 00:49:01,520 --> 00:49:05,720 She's actually been well ahead of me for most of it. 594 00:49:05,720 --> 00:49:13,560 So she's doing all right here. Poppy, dog pops, what are you 595 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:27,610 doing? So I've just, so I've just come 596 00:49:27,610 --> 00:49:31,770 away from the path a bit because it's one of the ladies I spoke 597 00:49:31,770 --> 00:49:38,170 to earlier just coming past. I'm not being antisocial. 598 00:49:38,170 --> 00:49:42,360 It's just that there's only so much talking to yourself you can 599 00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:45,720 do without people really having concerns about you. 600 00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:52,120 I'm reflecting a bit actually on what that Lady said to me, you 601 00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:55,120 know what, what was I doing? And I said to her, well, it's 602 00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:59,840 just about walking the dog and, and keeping it like that. 603 00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:06,440 And I wonder whether that's what I should do Should I keep 604 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:08,960 walking the dog to be something very chilled? 605 00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:13,120 Because really, when I'm doing this, I've got all sorts of 606 00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:15,480 stuff going around my head. And I'm wondering whether I 607 00:50:15,880 --> 00:50:19,240 share that with you, because obviously a lot of it will get 608 00:50:19,240 --> 00:50:23,960 on to the topic of the day. So there we go. 609 00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:28,400 Now I know this lady, so I wonder whether she'll speak to 610 00:50:28,400 --> 00:50:29,960 me. Hello. 611 00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:33,840 I'm recording a little bit of audio here without telling me 612 00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:36,080 who you are. Would you chat to me just as you 613 00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:38,920 come up here? It's a little thing which I 614 00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:42,960 started called walking the dog. So I'm out walking, I'm talking, 615 00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:46,240 I'm describing things, I'm meeting people and I've got a 616 00:50:46,240 --> 00:50:51,920 very good response to it. So this is my second episode and 617 00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:54,840 I'm going to say I think I know you well enough to say go on. 618 00:50:56,280 --> 00:51:00,400 So who's your dog then? And what what sort of dog's no 619 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:02,040 key he? Is. 620 00:51:02,640 --> 00:51:03,160 A collie. Collie. 621 00:51:03,440 --> 00:51:09,040 Yeah, OK, that's that's good. So you're out for the afternoon. 622 00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:11,280 Wander around, it takes. A lot of walking. 623 00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:14,200 And do you do all the walks? Yes. 624 00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:16,520 Yeah. OK. 625 00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:20,600 I've been talking to people about the circuits and the fact 626 00:51:20,600 --> 00:51:23,080 that all the dog walkers here, we never we don't mention the 627 00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:25,000 place. All the all the clock walkers 628 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:27,400 here either go clockwise or anti clockwise. 629 00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:31,160 I don't know what day it is, depending on what day it is. 630 00:51:31,160 --> 00:51:33,200 Yeah. What you do, Yeah. 631 00:51:34,440 --> 00:51:36,400 So what do you think of this little village then? 632 00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:38,200 Because you've lived here for quite a while. 633 00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:39,000 Oh. Yeah, I like it. 634 00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:41,320 I. Love me, it's nice and. 635 00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:43,200 Quiet and out of the way isn't. It. 636 00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:45,760 Yeah, I think so. You can get places, but it's out 637 00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:48,280 of the way. Yeah, your dog's heading towards 638 00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:49,240 Australia. Yeah, he gets. 639 00:51:50,480 --> 00:51:56,760 Bored. He gets bored. 640 00:51:56,760 --> 00:52:02,440 So yeah, no, I like. It So were you born here then 641 00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:11,480 all right OK OK can I can I be cheeky and ask when that was 642 00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:15,400 then 49 so. 40 years. Ago, yeah, right. 643 00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:17,720 So it's the same, same time as us actually. 644 00:52:18,080 --> 00:52:22,680 So I grew up, came down here, I was here till 16 and moved into 645 00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:25,080 town. I moved around and then I came 646 00:52:25,080 --> 00:52:29,280 back here when my daughter was 5 and she's now 25. 647 00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:32,920 Right, Yeah, it's pretty amazing that we've been having a big 648 00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:36,000 huck out of all the stuff in the roof at home. 649 00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:41,360 And it starts, you know, with toddler stuff, toys and Duplo 650 00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:45,160 and prams and everything else. And it was so bad. 651 00:52:45,160 --> 00:52:48,880 I I said to my wife, the only way we can deal with it is just 652 00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:50,880 start and bring a bit down at a time. 653 00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:56,440 So lots of books have gone off to the charity shops and and 654 00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:00,880 probably 60% the way through, but I got a lot of papers and 655 00:53:00,880 --> 00:53:04,120 junk and stuff out there. Well, this is true. 656 00:53:04,120 --> 00:53:05,320 Yeah. Well, we kept a lot of it 657 00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:08,400 because we thought the children might, might want stuff. 658 00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:11,000 But they said don't want any of that joke junk in our house. 659 00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:15,240 Yeah, my, I asked my daughter. She said no, I don't want any of 660 00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:17,760 it. Yeah, I got given. 661 00:53:18,520 --> 00:53:21,440 Stuff from when I was in school, about 10 years. 662 00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:26,840 Ago, yeah, certificates and scrapbooks and yeah, yeah, 663 00:53:28,040 --> 00:53:30,040 that's good. Anyway, thank you for that. 664 00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:32,920 All right, we'll see you. Bye. 665 00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:40,640 Bye. Well, there, there we are. 666 00:53:41,600 --> 00:53:45,800 You see, this is what makes it difficult, because if we end up 667 00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:49,760 putting a little bit of political stuff into a walk with 668 00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:55,160 Poppy the dog, we could we could upset some of the people who've 669 00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:58,720 agreed to talk. Oh, my goodness. 670 00:53:58,720 --> 00:54:00,880 Life is difficult, isn't it these days? 671 00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:06,920 So can I throw that back at you? You've come along with me today. 672 00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:11,440 If you come for a second one, there must be a reason. 673 00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:14,120 So I'm going to ask, what do you think? 674 00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:22,600 Should I keep walking the dog as a as a relaxing thing where we 675 00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:27,360 mainly concentrate on what we're seeing on our walks and how 676 00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:29,880 we're just how we're feeling in a nice sort of way? 677 00:54:31,720 --> 00:54:36,520 Or am I allowed to bring in some of the other stuff that gets 678 00:54:36,520 --> 00:54:38,760 into my head about what's happening around us? 679 00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:45,040 Perhaps you'd be kind enough to put that in a, a comment under 680 00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:50,440 the I nearly said video. Well, I am going to put this out 681 00:54:50,440 --> 00:54:53,760 as a video again. But of course, what it really is 682 00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:57,920 a podcast. But the thing about YouTube is 683 00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:02,000 you can use the premier system, which is good. 684 00:55:03,640 --> 00:55:10,040 So have a think about it and tell me, tell me what you think 685 00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:16,440 should happen and I'll make a decision. 686 00:55:19,360 --> 00:55:24,160 I do enjoy chatting with the people and I've been surprised 687 00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:28,040 actually at how relaxed most of them have been when I just say 688 00:55:28,120 --> 00:55:33,200 I'm recording that Lady, that Lady was a little bit nervous, 689 00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:44,360 you know, Pops, but she, she did it in the end. 690 00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:49,800 So there we are secrets out. She's been in the village for 40 691 00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:50,640 years. So have I. 692 00:55:51,920 --> 00:56:00,800 And yet when we came here initially, when we came here 693 00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:03,440 initially, we thought probably we'd only be here for a couple 694 00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:10,640 of years because for Navy families, very often you, you 695 00:56:10,640 --> 00:56:14,680 move different locations depending on, you know, where 696 00:56:14,680 --> 00:56:21,680 you're based with the military. But we made the decision to stay 697 00:56:21,680 --> 00:56:26,080 in Plymouth because it gave our wife and the children some 698 00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:32,800 stability. And so time went on and then all 699 00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:38,240 of a sudden you've got younger people in the village stop you 700 00:56:38,240 --> 00:56:41,400 and they say, what did it used to be like? 701 00:56:42,640 --> 00:56:45,680 And this really makes me smile because this is the question I 702 00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:51,320 used to ask my neighbours. They in those early days, of 703 00:56:51,320 --> 00:56:56,680 course, were much, much older than than I was. 704 00:56:56,680 --> 00:57:00,480 But now I've got the youngsters in the village coming up and 705 00:57:00,520 --> 00:57:06,160 asking me the same things, the passage of time. 706 00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:14,160 I've just come through a little back bit here which I haven't 707 00:57:14,160 --> 00:57:17,400 talked about. I'll tell you about that in due 708 00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:22,800 course. It's raining now, so I'm going 709 00:57:22,800 --> 00:57:25,040 to be quite happy to get in and have a cup of tea. 710 00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:31,000 Yeah. Interesting little day. 711 00:57:36,320 --> 00:57:44,920 Interesting day. OK, well, it's been good to see 712 00:57:44,920 --> 00:57:53,360 you again. I hope you're relaxed and let me 713 00:57:53,360 --> 00:57:59,160 know about episode 2 and what you should think I should do. 714 00:58:00,640 --> 00:58:07,920 And if you're a video person, chill out and listen to a bit of 715 00:58:08,120 --> 00:58:10,720 audio. Well done dog. 716 00:58:10,720 --> 00:58:12,480 Most of that's probably gone on the wall. 717 00:58:13,600 --> 00:58:15,800 OK, I'll say bye bye.