Day 40 return to Plymouth…

Today was a day in which I knew nostalgia would kick in. I was born here, grew up here until I was 9. Came back here when I was 18 to study and work in an accountancy firm.

It’s changed a bit…but not for the better I reckon, the city centre, rebuilt after the war, is now showing its age. The buildings have a bit of a run down appearance, like nobody cares. The Travelodge where I’m staying is in dire need of refurbishment, and it was only built in 2004. Although the rooms are large, so at last I can do a complete unpack and survey all my worldly possessions for these 10 weeks, there are gouges in the walls, it desperately needs internal painting, and it actually looks cheap, although at 71 pounds per night, it isn’t cheap. Mind you there was nothing else central, and it is peak season.

despite it being a summer weekend, most of the shops were closed because it’s Sunday, and the city centre was pretty dead, far removed from Paris or Portsmouth or Liverpool. I walked down to the barbican, from whence the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in the Mayflower in 1621. From the inscription on the plaque I think they were mighty glad to get there. And the rest, as they say, is history. I walked further around the Hoe, and spotted another plaque indicating a former prison site, Millbay, where Americans were imprisoned during the American War of Independence. It was apparently, only a holding prison before they were sent to the infamous Dartmoor Prison, joining the French prisoners there captured during the Napoleonic Wars.

Dinner was fush and chups. And very nice they were, and whilst I was waiting for them, I got chatting to a Fijian guy who was in the British Army and now lives right on the Barbican. Small world.

Tomorrow Im off to Bodmin, to go have lunch and a scrabble game with one of my FB friends, Jane. So it’s goodnight from me…..

Library Lil

August 18, 2013

Day 40 already! Travelodges aren’t always the nicest places to stay in, and I prefer a nice country inn if possible. Ah, Bodmin! Wild and romantic – at least, when I last saw it. I look forward to hearing what you think of it.

MageB

Just lovely to read of your adventures. 🙂 Yes OD is dying for me. I can’t access my blog, and many can access it only through the front page. I’ve posted the new addresses on my latest entry.

*roseoftexas

Hmmm, seems you’ve stayed at Traveloge before! LoL!

Zenith

Fish n chips in the Plymouth area is on my bucket list.. 40 days has gone fast!

angelsong

August 19, 2013

Have added the pic of you fishing the ball out of the canal in my recent entry. Don’t know how I managed to miss that! Enjoy the scrabble game. 🙂

Lady of the Bann

Been in some crummy travelodges too but also some really good ones. Fish and chips sounds yummy.

Ladyhawk

sad that Travel lodge USE to be concidered top of the line more a mid way between ‘cheap’ and ‘high class’ smh the few I have stayed at in the past 5yrs or so are like what you experienced it’s like they no longer care just gimme your money… glad your enjoying your trip, have fun tomorrow[today] with your friend and scrabble. 🙂

jamez

August 20, 2013

I wasnt overly impressed with Portsmouth city centre when I got there, built cheap with little chance of aging well. Southsea has a faded grandeur, the place of H G Wells unhappy apprenticeship; and unlike Portsmouth it had less attention from Luftwaffe! My home town Shrewsbury has changed, nether better nor worse just change. Now enjoy your self ..

crystal butterfly

velvet.

August 22, 2013

I’m just catching up with your posts. very interesting that you got to see the launching spot of the Mayflower. my family has an ancestor who came on the second boat- John Adams, who came over on the ship Fortune. (I am related to the 2 presidents of that name). I just looked up the information, thank goodness for the internets! so neat to find it. though I’ve no idea where they launched from. that will take more research.

LightButHearty

August 26, 2013

Well, well. Something we have in common. Both of us have worked in accounting. When we got to the coast this summer I ate fish and chips. Delicious.