Everyone has their ‘thing’, their superpower which
pushes them ahead of the curve or singles them out. I know people that could look stylish dressed
only in a bin bag, someone who can turn pure exhaustion into patience, and
another friend who is so extraverted and outgoing I get fatigued just watching
her mingle.
My superpower is winning raffles. I just need to look at a ticket to win baby
gymnastics classes or very expensive bottles of wine. I mean I could go and enter raffles for cars,
millions of pounds or holidays, but I just don’t want to hog all this
glory. I’ve been given a gift, and as
I’m pretty sure it says in Spiderman, I need to use it responsibly.
 |
| all aboard |
When Mark got tickets for the annual NCI cruise I
practically felt my spider senses tingling as I knew it was going to be a good
night. Exmouth has a gorgeous sea front;
I love all things nautical; we were surrounded by lovely people and I could
smell what they were cooking from half way along the beach.
Not only did we have a fantastic time chasing the
good weather and following the south Devon coast but after filling up our
plates with barbecued seafood we emptied our wallets for a good cause and duly
bought our raffle tickets. When they
read our numbers it felt like fate and Mark and I ended up walking away with a
bottle of bourbon and a day ticket to the Devoncourt Spa.
This past Monday we decided to put it to good use
(the day trip, the bourbon is long gone) and headed down to Exmouth to get our
swim on. This place is pretty
fantastic. Great views over the bay, use
of the putting green, croquet lawn, outdoor and indoor swimming pools, Jacuzzi,
steam room and sauna…I could go on but you probably already think I’m being
paid. I'm not, but I do gush.
When we arrived we headed straight out to the
outdoor pool. Mark and I love swimming,
and even though we booked a hotel for our anniversary because of its
Jacuzzi/steam room facilities last October we never got to use it because a Hen
Party totally took over, which means the last time we were in any pool was
Singapore. How can it be over a year
since doing something we adore? We
immediately decided this needed rectified and started to speak about joining
up.
From the heated outdoor pool we made it into the
toasty warm indoor pool before I declared that my skin needed the steam
room. I'm more than happy to sit in
there for ages (remember those 10k weekly walks in Singapore in the jungle or
along the Southern ridges anyone?) but let Mark drag me in to the sauna which I
managed about 2 minutes of before I declared I needed a foot massage
instead. By Monday’s standards this was
great, but after the Jacuzzi I was sure we needed some sort of accolade for this
fantastic day.
By this time we were getting close to meeting my
Hungry Monster and with the bar closed we decided to keep the festivities short
so we could head off and grab a very late lunch somewhere. Exmouth was jam packed so we took a leisurely
drive to Topsham where we could eat at somewhere we’d been meaning to go into
for ages. The Globe looks like the sort
of pub Dickens would describe in a Christmas scene (a bejewelled merry one, not
one from The Chimes). The food was
delicious, the atmosphere friendly and service impeccable.
After a little walk around we headed home for a
late afternoon nap rounding off a very good day indeed. Britain’s doing great in the Olympics, we’ve
broken records in cycling, swimming, and pentathlon, and my raffle winning
streak remains unblemished. Let’s just
say we’re all pretty fantastic in our own fields.
