Anticipation.

Apologies for the rant yesterday but we were (and still are) upset by the way things turned out. When I tried to analyse why I felt so cross I realised that it was down to anticipation. We had so enjoyed the previous festivals that for 2 years we had been waiting with pleasant anticipation. Then when I checked the dates and found out it was coming up soon that was a time of excitement. There was the set back of finding out that it would cost so much but it gave us something to look forward to at the end of a rather washed out half-term holiday .......... It is quite probable that the new restricitons were imposed by the same group of police officials who when consulting with the organisers of the Green Man Festival, our local street festival, amongst other riduculous stipulations said ' But you don't even have any exit signs, where will people go if they have to clear the area?' Stunned silence from the Festival commitee members who had to point out that it was a street with roads leading off it and people could just .... leave.

But anticipation is a double edged sword, for every degree of pleasure at the thought of things to come there is the possibility of the same amount of disappointment when things don't happen or fail to meet expectations. Holidays are the classic case, months of saving, planning and anticipation can be brought to ruin by airport delays, substandard accommodation, noisy neighbours, tummy bugs etc. (This hasn't happened to us because we didn't take family holidays abroad or even anywhere after we moved here.) There is also the danger of anticipating 'surprises'. Now apologies to any chaps who this doesn't apply to but talking to my friends in general men have little concept of how to celebrate a special occasion. They seem to think that simply remembering the event with a card, maybe some flowers or even ... some chocolates is sufficient way to celebrate a special day - like your 50th birthday! (Not having to do any housework but having it all left for the next day does not count.) I have found that although it takes away some of the pleasure it is best to be very specific eg yes I do expect a birthday cake.

Anticipation is a good way to increase pleasure in an event, think of a child's excitement or an adult's happy planning but how do we cope with disappointment? It takes a strong character to simply shrug one's shoulders and be able to look on the bright side. Me, I have to have a good grumble before I can get back on track but I'm happy to say that I'm not cross any more .... much. And then to top it all I discover that the local 'Stars In Their Eyes' was on tonight. Usually it is a bit later in the year and although tickets are like gold dust Peter has connections so we always get them. Bummer. On the plus side the weather today was dry, windy and frequently sunny. After Peter dropped Linas into town (taxi service starts up again), we took ourselves for a walk at Mortehoe. We dropped down into the little Kinevor valley where it was sheltered and warm in the sun.
Although the bluebells were over there were wild flowers all around, buttercups, violets, wild roses and many more.


We walked alongside the babbling stream, through the sunny meadow and out to Bennet's Mouth. We stopped at the little beach to watch the waves crashing against the grey rocks while we had some coffee and cake. Then it was up the steep cliff paths to walk in the bracing breeze towards the lighthouse at Bull Point.

Looking across to Lundy the sea was a myriad shades of blue. We opted for the longer walk round to Morte Point as I had been feeling quite cooped up by the week's bad weather and needed to stretch my legs.
Back home I had some more time to read and weed. When Linas came back from town he cut all the lawns which is a help.