Sophie & Ollie´s Travels

Hey everyone,

Hope everyone is good? It has been a little while since I last wrote but for the last 2 weeks we have been in Brixham, which is in Devon, which is in South-West England, in case you didn't know. We came to visit my grandma who I haven't seen for 7 or so years.

Getting down here was a mission we didn't enjoy. We had to catch a bus across London, in rush hour, with our backpacks, standing the whole way. We had to get off at Oxford Street to go to my bank to pick up my Eftpos card. Then we walked 15 minutes to Ol's bank to pick up his before we got on another bus to Paddington Station. We saw the Paddington Bears at Paddington Station along with the hordes of other people. On buying our very expensive tickets the guy did not tell us which train to get on, the Penzance train, or that we had to swap at Newton Abbot, it was only because mum warned me that we didn't end up stuck in Cornwall. The day ended well though when we swapped trains and I sat next to a woman who lived in Brixham and offered us a ride to my Grandma's. This saved us 2 bus trips with our backpacks so she was a very nice woman.

Anyway, since being down in Devon, we have bused around to Torquay, Paignton, Dartmouth, Totnes, and around Brixham in the rain, wind, cold, clouds, and a little bit of sunshine. We went to the zoo one miserable day in the rain wearing jeans, jumpers, scarfs and a raincoat and still froze. I felt sorry for all the kangeroos all huddled together in a shed feeling homesick.

I've also been dragging Ol around to my old houses, the beaches we went to, the outdoor pool I swam in, the primary school and intermediate I attended and boring him with a tour of the tourist seaside town of Brixham. Everything seems much closer and smaller than I remembered, as it should now I am no longer 10.

The English Rivera, as the area we are in is known, is a strange place full of very large-waisted holiday makers in size 14 cut off denim hot pants, elderly people, EF exchange language students and yobby English youths covered in tattoos with no teeth left wearing tracksuits and trainers. On my grandma's 10am bus everyone is over 70 and knows everyone else. No-one likes the miserable old lady who refuses to share her seat but everyone loves the 102 year old man who, once he has finished wrestling with his Zimmer frame, yells out 'good morning everyone' to the bus. One of the pastimes here seems to be queuing for the bus. There are great queue wars if you dare jump the queue or take too long getting on. Old ladies are forever rolling their eyes at the person in front of them in the queue. This is the main reasons everyone hates the language students. There are literally hundreds of them down here and the bus drivers yell at them, the old people whine about them and the yobs break their noses and steal their wallets. It has been in all the local papers.

We are leaving Devon on Saturday to travel back to Paddington Station but then straight on up to Ol’s Nan’s house in Northampton and I will let you know how we have been getting on soon.

From,
Sophie and Ollie.