... to Totnes

Polperro, wednesday morning, and outside it is raining ... steady, heavy, rain ...

inside the B&B, the breakfast is fine and delicious ... the hostess turns out to be Sybil to the "Basil" who we met last night when we booked in ... Benedict asked for a receipt, but when "Basil" couldnt find any, he cursed his wife for forgetting to print some out saying he would have to beat her later ...

however, meeting Sybil first when she comes out to supervise me parking the car, then this morning at breakfast it becomes clear what an empty threat this was ... she clearly rules the b&b with a rod of iron, exclaiming loudly "he cant even get that right" when she discovers "Basil" has written Benedict's name down incorrectly ...

Benedict, clearly unnerved at being caught in the cross-fire beat a hasty retreat and only discovers the hotel keys in his pocket when we get to Plymouth ...

we improvise a photographic session outside the hotel and set off for Plymouth where Benedict has arranged to meet up with Mike Phillips ... on the way Benedict is sent spiraling into a deep dark hole when the Inland Revenue ring him, only for the call to get cut off by O2's fantastic network coverage and then to find the IR have left the wrong number on his answermachine so he cant get back to talk to them ...

the chat with Mike helps calm Benedict down ... we meet in the state of the art building that Plymouth University has in the City Centre ... the lift has a random button - press it and it selects floor at random and goes straight there ... something, I tell Benedict later, that I bet gets used mainly when people are on their way up and not when they are going home ...

Mike is on a tight schedule of project reviews so we leave him and we mooch around down-town Plymouth - I actually like Abercrombie's Plan and many of the buildings which date from the early 50's are very fine ... unlike the 70's Civic Centre which is as bad as bad can be ...

on The Hoe, there is a rather sad, windswept gathering of garden-centre-type stalls - plants, wooden furniture, terrible wooden animals, decking, and a tiny sink piped up to a huge solar heating panel - and maudlin, bored stallholders ...

all are viewed haughtily by the Pirate Drake - we may think he is a national hero, but really he was a successful pirate who engaged in 16th century terrorist acts against the Spanish ... anyway there he stands all haughty and aloof, quite wet and appropriately manured by the seagulls ... we leave ... Totnes awaits

we arrive at the house of Benedict's friend Jack - and Heidi, Sheena and Theo - and step straight into the maelstrom of family life - i had forgotten the intensity that a 6 year old and a 2 year old bring to life ... exhausting ... I find that Theo and I have quite a lot in common and he soon masters my mobile phone ... after a lovely meal (a very low point score for you weightwatchers and brides-to-be out there) Benedict Jack and I do the manly thing and go to the pub ...

Jack enlarges upon Theo's story which Heidi had started earlier ... born at 23 weeks, survives against all the odds - he is a boy, very premature boys usually dont survive - he could be brain damaged, his lungs are damaged - a time of intense stress for the family ... Theo is famous and the centre of intense medical study, but he is also a typical two-year old - charming, frustrating, interested and interesting, boisterous and noisy - a fine lad

we sleep in the front room, eventually falling into our improvised but very comfortable beds at 1am ...