Sunday or Monday??

I don't know if its Sunday or Monday today............... all I do know is that it's Bank Holiday which means the summer (she says laughing at that quaint old fashioned word!) is almost over. 



One of our best sellers - Mussels from the River Teign

Summer at the Victoria Inn (and I guess for many of those in a seasonal trade such as ours) is very much a double edged sword! We all look forward to the Summer after long, cold and often wet winters - we look forward to it for very different reasons.

We look forward to a successful trade to keep us afloat over the rest of the year - clearly we don't stop trading outside of the summer, but it's nowhere near the figures / numbers we do right now.  The first couple of weeks this summer were a little bit worrying as the weather was ropey, the sun refused to shine, we had the Olympics with people staying at home to watch it and it all looked pretty grim really.

Then the Olympics finished, the sun came out to play a little and suddenly summer at the Victoria Inn was in full swing, and thankfully has continued to be so! Hence, right now we are all a bit jaded to say the least!!

After next weekend, the children will have returned to school with happy memories of their holidays, our student staff will return to university richer but thinner, and we (SOH and I) will breath a sigh of relief that despite all the staffing issues we've faced this season, we've still managed to turn it into one of our best summers ever since we've been here.  

Living by the sea and knowing a lot of the lifeboat crew as we do I always get the shivers when the lifeboat goes out, but you absolutely have to watch this video of a rescue just round the coast from here and with 3 local people crewing the boat: Sam, Matt and Esther. You will realise the bravery of those involved with the lifeboat particularly in the last 30 seconds of the film clip!
 http://www.youtube.com/embed/PvWFN8aG2yU

Try to remember that when you go on holiday and you think you'll take out to sea in your RIB or on your water board have fun, but remember that the sea is an incredibly dangerous place - and that if you need rescuing, other people are putting their lives at risk.