This is my last post on this blog because I've now moved to devonandcornwallviewpoint.blogspot.com. Thanks to anyone who has looked in on this blog.

Workers at a factory at the Restormel Estate in Lostwithiel have received the worst possible Christmas message: the business of Darley Therapy Equipment Limited has gone bust. It is one of those small firms in Devon and Cornwall of which there are hundreds which help to maintain the viability of our small historic towns such as Lostwithiel. Maybe they only employed a dozen or so people but on an individual level the closure is just as bad as that of a factory with 1000 workers closing. To compound their problems they are owed money as well as losing their livelihood.

As one who has worked in a factory which similarly closed I can empathise with them and I wish them all the best.

I've just caught up with a story in the North Devon Gazette: apparently fund-raisers in Torrington have recently raised £1200 for the North Devon Hospice through selling cakes in The Square. To add spice to the occasion teams of men and women competed against each other to see who could bake the most cakes and raise the most money! One of the organisers was quoted as saying "With a bit of cheating, the men won by about £100!". So well done the men!

This event was part of a project to raise £10,000 in memory of the landlady of a local pub who sadly died of lung cancer. It once again shows how brilliant our small local communities are when asked to dip into their pockets for a noble cause and to enjoy some fun in the process.

Two days ago the bipartisan Iraq Study Group brought out a hard hitting report about the mess that Iraq is in and included 79 recommendations to the crisis. Its opening words "The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating" set the tone of what was to follow. Yesterday chief cheerleader Tony Blair joined George Bush in a news conference; gone were the usual swaggers, instead they looked ill at ease and I was pleased to see the camera come in close when they were subjected to some uncomfortable questioning from the BBC's Nick Robinson. This has been well reported in Nick's own blog (there's a surprise!) and in the "Blairwatch" blog. Plenty of comments on these two blogs with the great majority praising Robinson's efforts.

Unsurprisingly although broadly supportive of the ISG report - they couldn't do much else - they are presently stalling for time. One of the report's more controversial suggestions is to have some sort of dialogue with Syria and Iran. I wouldn't be surprised if the UK got involved with some quiet diplomacy with Syria at least. We shall see!

It was only 3 days ago that I wrote an entry about the weather and I thought that was a subject I might avoid for a week or two. Not a bit of it! There was a mini tornado in NW London this morning which barely lasted a minute but has done a good deal of damage. Luckily there were no fatalities but some people were injured. I don't know that this one was as extensive in affected area as the one in Birmingham but certainly from the pictures I've seen the damage was considerable. It seems that one or more houses will have to be demolished.

By contrast we have escaped the worst of the severe weather today although we have had some squally showers; the next two days promise to be somewhat calmer thank goodness.

I was able to do some research at the village archive which is proving a treasure trove of information.

There was an interesting property auction today at the Salcombe Yacht Club in Devon's South Hams. Up for bidding was a boatstore with slipway to Shadycombe Creek which in turn leads out to Salcombe Harbour. Said building is 80 feet by 13 feet with a corrugated iron roof. The creek is tidal and I doubt that you could get a boat in or out of the building for more than half the day. The guide price (bear in mind that this is Salcombe!) was £250,000.

So what was the eventual selling price? Evidently there were a number of bidders and the hammer dropped at £402,000! Nice commission for estate agents Charles Head & Son and I imagine a very contented vendor.

I notice that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) are making a big deal of the option we now have of buying car tax online or by phone. In my case I've obtained my new tax from the post office in the usual way. Although my main reason is to assist in maintaining the viability of my local post office there are financial incentives as well. To guarantee that you will be able to display a tax disc by the start of the month you have to go online or phone at least 5 days in advance, I can get my tax at the last moment from the PO. Payment on line or by phone is by credit card (for which privilege you have to pay an extra £2.50!) or by debit card. Phoning involves an 0870 number, normally these are expensive but, significantly, they dont say what the phone rate is. I accept of course that electronic transfer of money has to be cheaper than other means but is this best for the customer? The first paragraph on their leaflet is headed "What's the easiest way to renew my tax disc?". Once again they are intent on taking custom away from the post office!

The weather again made the headlines last Saturday night. Although it wasn't too bad for the switch on of the Christmas lights the wind later on was quite ferocious and for a short time the Tamar Bridge was closed to ALL traffic, not just high sided vehicles. The south coast seems to have suffered particularly badly from the storm, lots of powerlines down and plenty of damaged boats. Climate change or one of those aberrations in the weather to which our country has always been subject? Well, we have always had extreme weather events of course but what has changed is the regularity of these severe incidents. For instance the Boscastle/Crackington Haven flood, the Birmingham tornado. the Carlisle floods not to mention more frequent and intense thunderstorms. This small selection of events very much fits in with climate change. Bear in mind that the effect of climate change will get worse over the next decade so expect insurance premiums to go up in the future!

We should spare a thought for the Philippines recently buffeted by the fourth typhoon in three months. There are over 1000 people dead or missing as a result of the mudslide on the side of a volcano and tens of thousands more displaced. Typhoons never seem to get quite the same publicity here as hurricanes.

Mentioning insurance premiums just now reminds me of one of Gordon Brown's cleverest taxes, insurance premium tax. As people take out more insurance and as premiums rise there is more income for Gordon. Very neat!

Normally i wouldn't be writing in support of second homes; when you are aware of some towns and villages around the coast of Devon and Cornwall having 50% plus second homes you have to say "this is just too much". Yes I can understand the well off wanting a second home in Devon or Cornwall but there are good reasons to limit their numbers which I'll blog about another time.

However here is a little story that shows it's not all bad regarding second homes... I should explain that our village is well away from the coast of Cornwall (as much as anywhere in Cornwall can be far from the coast) and that the number of second homes here is minimal. Just over a week ago we had some flooding in the village following an evening of torrential rain. Fortunately our little terrace of cottages escaped unscathed. A few days after the event I was in the main street and crossed the road to speak to a lady aquaintance who I knew lived in a slightly vulnerable location "out in the sticks". Pleased to say that Jane was ok although some of her neighbours had suffered water ingress. However Jane informed me that another woman,not one of her neighbours but a lady from another part of our village, had some feet of floodwater and was looking for temporary accommodation whilst her home dried out and the electrics could be sorted, perhaps 2 or 3 months.
She has a couple of children of school age and naturally didn't want their education disrupted so Jane asked me if I knew of anywhere locally for this family.

Three houses along from me there is a second home owned by a couple from the south east who occasionally visit but also let the cottage out as self catering holiday accommodation. I was able to email him to explain the family's predicament asking if they could help which they could, and then it was just a matter of a phone call or two to get the wheels rolling. As luck would have it the couple from the SE were coming down to their holiday home this weekend anyway so that the two parties were able to meet each other. So, in this instance, a second home came to the rescue!

There are, for me, many issues which I see in black and white but there are many more where you have to be somewhat pragmatic. Perhaps the thorny issue of second homes in Devon and Cornwall is one of the latter!

Just come back from the switch on of the Christmas lights in the village. Here the Christmas light switch on isn't just a matter of flicking a switch, we have some three hours of street entertainment to enjoy! The Scottish pipe band from Plymouth entertained us again this year as indeed did a steel band, again from Plymouth, who hadn't been here before. At last year's Christmas light switch on a morris dancing group supplied a contrast to the Scot's pipes and drums; this year we again had morris men (and ladies) but from our local Cornish Wreckers group whereas last year I think it was the Dartmoor Border morris. I'm glad that Steve and Mary at the post office came up trumps again with their mulled wine!

I'm pleased to say that we didn't have much rain although a healthy dollop has been forecast for later tonight with severe gales as well. Lively music in December is just the tonic. We found it fascinating to watch the steel band - I would like to see more of them, it's absolutely brilliant to see young people making music. The event brought the community together for the evening, just as things should be.

Pleased to hear that BRAKE, the road safety charity, are having another go at drivers using their mobiles whilst on the move. As they rightly point out it is the conversation that is the main problem so that hands free kits are not that much safer than hand held phones. It is interesting to note that the firm "Permabond" gave their staff the opportunity to negotiate some hazards they set up on a disused airfield. Whilst using a phone the drivers were knocking down cones on a slalom test and hitting roundabouts. Permabond made the sensible decision to ban phone use whilst driving.

Opponents of this viewpoint, like Jeremy Clarkson of "Top Gear" fame or infamy, say it is no different to talking to a passenger in the vehicle. What absolute rubbish he talks sometimes!
It is inevitable that your mind can wander even if only slightly whilst on the phone. But when driving I can stop a conversation with my passenger immediately if required and it sometimes is but with a phone it is so easy for your mind to be transported to another place and the person at the other end has no idea of the hazards you are facing at that particular moment.

I don't mind Top Gear being politically incorrect but we are talking about peoples lives being at stake here. Richard Hammond risking his neck on some stunt doesn't disturb me too much; my real concern is the Clarkson attitude to responsible driving on the programme. Driving might be a game to you Jeremy and you might attract big audiences but to most of us it is something that requires a serious and mature approach. And I am not a fuddy duddy.

Whilst on the subject of JC why did he get an honarary degree in recognition for his "passion for engineering"? I've seen people who have made wonderful small scale working replicas of traction engines for example. Would any of them be awarded an honorary degree? I don't think so! This honarary degree thing has become an absolute farce.

In view of Hammond's accident it will be interesting to see if the Beeb bring back Top Gear. I am pleased that Richard's recovery appears to be going well.

I for one wish Gordon and Sarah Brown all the best regarding the illness of their younger son Fraser. The news that the lad has cystic fibrosis makes me realise just how lucky I've been never to have had this sort of debilitating illness - the publicity has made me more aware of what cf is about though.

But what bothers me is the media's attitude to what is essentially a private and personal matter. I understand that it was the lead story on the BBC 10 o'clock news yesterday evening. Was it really THE most important news of the day? I can't really believe that! It could be argued that to know a little bit more about the life of possibly our next Prime Minister is no bad thing but this is way over the top. I would have placed this story about half way through that news programme. But we are now so obsessed with the private lives of celebrities be they politicians, football players, third rate pop stars, whoever. Rant over for today.

One of the tabloids has recently done a piece on what they consider to be the worst Christmas lights in the country. This description has been applied to Cullompton, a Devon town on the west side of the M5 as it heads south towards Exeter. And you might agree with them if you look at a photo showing one string of lights across Fore Street in the centre of town. Much of one side of the street is in the ownership of one person who does not want lights attached to his properties thank you; this might be partly due to some of the buildings being listed.

So there aren't any other festive lights in Cullompton then? Well there are - hundreds of them! This is typical of the popular press I have to say and why I don't hold them in high esteem. Selective journalism is a curse in this country.

Hi and welcome to my blog!
I shall be writing on all sorts of things, anything that takes my fancy really. So it might be Tony Blair, George Bush, climate change, the Tories, government waste, Devon and Cornwall (yes I am biased about my local area), anything topical, the countryside, whatever. So look out for my next post and feel free to comment (politely!). My post times will look a bit odd because I am in the UK not the US - it is coming up to midday here!