Some lovely gardens outside Cottage Homes in Lamaton Park. It’s a shame that the trustees of the homes thought it necessary to have all the splendid tall chimneys removed – totally spoils the look of the place.

It’s nice to see the George Arcade being spruced up by its new owners. It makes a big difference to the rather tatty appearance it had previously. It’s also fantastic to see the new businesses that are opening up along the arcade.

Perhaps this will spur SMTC into doing something to make the alleyway by the side of the pannier market a more attractive route to the town centre?

Sir Nick Harvey, our local Lib Dem MP, was in South Molton today walking around the pannier market. I find it disturbing that a political party is using the South Molton by-election for wider party political motives i.e. with an eye on next year’s general election. I’ll say it again – party politics should have absolutely no place at the local level. That’s not just my view, it’s a view I’ve heard widely expressed whilst walking around South Molton.

Something that’s really made an impression on me whilst walking around the west and south-west of the town is how much the church dominates South Molton. When you’re in the town centre it can hardly be seen. Unfortunately, when looking in the opposite direction, what dominates is the chipboard factory and the ghastly array of PV panels. Although I’m in favour of PV panels on roofs, I’m not in favour of acres of the things in fields. It’s a shame that every large building isn’t made to have a roof constructed of PV panels.

I’m afraid I’ve been very lax in posting things on this part of the site. Partly because I’ve been very busy walking round South Molton delivering my flyers, and partly because the camera on my phone is only working intermittently – it must know that a new model of the phone has just been introduced!

Apologies to the person living in Howards Close who must be wondering why a copy of an annotated map of that part of South Molton ended up on their hall carpet. I’m afraid my concentration was flagging and I inadvertently pushed it through the letterbox – hopefully with a flyer as well!

BT still haven’t removed the redundant telephone box at the end of Kingsway. The telephone isn’t connected, the door is smashed and the windows are broken. The town council were told about this in March and the intention was that they should speak to BT about this.

A lot of the houses in Aclands appear to be growing strange tufts of hair! I suspect that the explanation is very mundane and that North Devon Homes are actually sensibly installing some weird and wonderful cavity wall insulation. UPDATE: They’re replacing the old fibre insulation, which let damp in, with beads that are made of an expanded polystyrene which is then combined with micro-particles of graphite.

It’s bizarre that Devon County Council don’t have enough money to unblock drains, properly maintain the roads, cut back verges etc. and yet they can find the time and money to get rid of disabled parking bays. I saw this sign in Cooks Cross this afternoon.

I saw a really heart warming sight today. A father with his two children and the go-carts that he’d made for them. Two really fantastic pieces of engineering. Both were made of plywood and had brakes and a steering mechanism worked by a wheel and rope. Apparently the most difficult things to source were the wheels. There was a four wheel ‘cart’ using wheels from an old lawnmower and a three wheel cart using wheels from an old mobility scooter (only three wheels because he couldn’t find four!). Very inventive and clever. It’s a shame that I was so fascinated by the ‘carts’ that I forgot to take any pictures.