Dedicated to a dominatrix bitch, who is now keeping Toby in check…..

If there is one place in the world as special to me as home, it’s here on Crantock beach. I fell in love with it ooohhh I don’t know, fifteen years or more ago and still can think of nowhere I’d rather go….as far as I’m concerned, you can keep your foreign holidays and I’ll keep this.

I always think it somewhat strange that it’s not more crowded, given that it’s miles of fabulous, sheltered sand and fantastic sea but then I suppose if it was more crowded it wouldn’t be my favourite place.

We have spent this Christmas day, New Year’s day and now Valentine’s day here, with the dogs and romping barefoot (well me anyway, DM’s too sensible to go barefoot in February) in the surf.

So far, our grand plan hasn’t been working out as we’d hoped but we know it’s teething problems and we’ll make it work once we get to grip with the challenges of our second move in six months, my new working arrangements and our new life. I hope that today we’ve taken a step to make life a bit easier and of course I was able to go to the beach and deal with official stuff because I’m not at work today.

To say Christmas was a low-key affair would be an understatement. We agreed on a single pressie each, no tree or other decorations and no fuss, partly because of our straitened financial situation and partly because of a lack of space for clutter. Although we had an amazing day that I would rank in my best days ever, we did decide later that we’d better make a bit more effort on ‘high-days and holidays’ in future so DM wasn’t in the least surprised when I said I expected a ‘grand gesture’ for Valentine’s day.

I got two grand gestures, including a granite and moss ‘sculpture’ in our ‘secret garden’ so I was more than a little touched to also receive a single red rose, in a vase, from a florist grinning like a demented thing at me…. Given that we’d just got back from a very windy beach and I looked as though I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards, I think he thought ‘well, she’s no looker so this must be for something else entirely!!!’ I was actually moved to tears given that this is only the second occasion he’s ever bought me flowers – perhaps he’s as much of a spoony old thing as me after all.

What did he (DM that is, not the grinning florist) get in return…..three wishes from the Valentine Fairy!

Anyway, if we can have a few more days like this please and a few less (sorry Dad, I know you can only have less of a homogenous substance but a few fewer just doesn’t work for me) like the ones we’ve been having of late then David and I will both be eternally grateful.

Last year, my little sister wished she'd been a fly on the wall for my pic....