Dave's Blog

                                         Making The Tea!                                                     (an exercise in Strategy) Hi It's DAve Apologies for my recent absence but family matters took over and I did not have the opportunity to write a blog post last week. Anyway I am now back again and here is this week's offering from the sometimes warped mind of Your's Truly! As a Personal Development Coach I am often asked about Goal Setting so here is my approach to that very subject:- All too often we set goals but very rarely do we create a plan of how we aim to achieve that goal. Having given the matter some thought I have defined a process and that involves "Starting At The End!" Yes, I know that seems mad, but how can you get to where you are g...

Hi and welcome to my Personal Blog. Let us begin with an apology for the missing couple of day's posts, but these days were taken up with hospital visits and also our Wedding Anniversary (Sept.28th) 47 years ago I married Alison, the love of my life!   We were married by Rev'd John Flory in the Parish Church of St.Chad, Patchway, Bristol and then we had the reception at Stanshawes Court Hotel, Yate, Bristol. It was a brilliant day celebrating with family and good friends and then it was followed by a Honeymoon in Paignton. Life then rambled on quite happily although there were a few ups and downs, there were  some fantastic moments plus a few horrendous ones, some comedy and some tragedy.  We have been blessed with 2 brilliant daughters who make us so proud and a little boy who didn't actually make a successful transition from womb to world but he is still and always will be our son. Eventually after navigating the twists and turns of life's journey we ended up livin...

Hi and welcome to this personal blog page of a self confessed hippie child of the 60's.  I was no stranger to the sounds of the "Underground" (and not the ones referred to in that famous pop song by Girls Aloud - a song that I did actually like) music scene. However, this photograph is the nearest thing I got to the cult movie  "Easy Rider" as I personally cannot be doing with motor bikes.  Unfortunately, I cannot credit the photographer because I have no idea who it was - but if it was you and you can tell me exactly when and where it was taken I will happily add a credit to your image. So moving on, the reason for this post being called "Waterlogged" and the attending image is the fact that some days I feel like that and the weekend just gone contained one of them. We had a lovely day on Saturday - went shopping (maybe spent a little more than we should have done), then we went for a lovely meal in Exeter (thank you Tina) and then took a steady and e...

Hi and welcome to today’s blog page. We are back home after a couple of nights in the caravan.  It has been a lovely weekend but sadly 2 nights are not really long enough.   ©️2021 wytchwynd photography Yesterday after a slow start in the morning we had to do battle with a problematic water system before heading off to Exeter for the afternoon.  That proved to be a tad expensive as I happened to say that I liked a wicker-style patio set that was on Special Offer in The Range.  Oh boy!   Guess who left the shop £140 poorer? On the plus side we had a lovely meal at Toby Carvery, Rydon Lane, Exeter (not a sponsored mention - but always happy to discuss) that was, as always, great value for money in an establishment that is clean, friendly and welcoming. After the meal we took a steady drive back to the caravan. This morning was a little fraught because I was feeling a wee bit tetchy over this on-going water issue but hopefully I will get something resolved this wee...

Hi and welcome to today's blog post called "Getting Back To Normal" After the midsummer madness that takes over North Devon dies down, life returns to its' calmer, relaxed, chilled out state of being.  The beaches become much less populated, the litter mountains disappear, the roads return to being roads instead of pedestrian walkways interspersed with the inconvenient things called cars....... and generally life becomes much better! ©2021 wytchwynd photography Now please don't get me wrong   because I really do appreciate the fact that visitors bring a lot of revenue into the North Devon cash registers - holiday camps, shops, bars, transportation etc.  And this year, more than ever, their return has brought that much welcomed revenue in spades!   But that said, there is always a flip side....... .... this year it has been more noticeable than ever (because of the restrictions placed on travel to foreign parts) - that these increased visitor numbers bring with the...

Hi and thank you for joining me on't blog today.  One which I am sorry to say is about venting off steam following recent events and a potentially ruined weekend away. Recently I had my caravan serviced and when I collected it I was told that they had discovered a small water leak - despite this "leak" not having manifest itself at any time prior to this service.  I was also told that they had managed to sort it out and that everything should be fine going forwards. Having parted with over £350 for said service, we took the caravan back to site and were really looking forwards to a nice, relaxing weekend with our friends. We arrived on site during Friday afternoon and went through all the set up processes and then with that done, we decided to make a drink.   I connected the water and when I went back out to get some more things from the car, the person next door told me that he had tightened the connection fitting because it was leaking. I thanked him and went back ...

Hi it is Dave and thank you for joining me on today's blog post The full title of this post is  "Unhappy people want what they want to make them happy!  Happy people want what they want Just For The Hell Of It!" ©wytchwynd photograpy How often have you come across a fellow like the one above?  He is most definitely one of the first group of people.   A number of years ago I worked with someone just like that - every day we worked together he would look in the mirror and say "I don't look well do I Dave?" I often passed a comment about him being "miserable" and he would always say "leave me alone, I'm happy!" On the other hand............. seeing this guy always makes me happy!   I met up with him during a special celebration of Aardman Animations in Bristol.  He was only too happy to oblige with a photograph. ©wytchwynd photography So thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Have a great day, be safe, be careful and rememb...

Hi and welcome to today’s post on my personal blog I have to say that life is good but it could be so much better - for example :- Alison could be the owner of a new hip!  OR We might not have been told that someone close has been confirmed as having cancer (albeit in the very early stages) OR I might not have had a blazing row yesterday with my brother - all because he chose to send me a snotty “woe is me” text. However, I work on the belief that the glass is half full not half empty. Alison today is a day nearer her hip replacement than she was yesterday! The relative has been told that she is in the very early (highly operable) stage and it is only in one spot! So what of my brother - well because he chose to send that text I got to release a lot of the tension and stress that had built up and that equals RESULT!!!! Thank you for reading - catch you again soon. TTFN DAve x