MQ#5 Topsham

Topsham is a little town on the outskirts of Exeter which is tres posh and full of old people, as they are the only ones who can afford to live there.  It is also very pretty, being based on the estuary of the river Exe and was once an important quay/port.  The streets are narrow and the houses quaint, and I usually end up peeping into windows and yearning to live there with the smell of outdoors and seaweed permeating the air.  Then I realise there is nowhere to park and realise I would be trapped in Topsham, at the mercy of public transport and I snap back into the real world....

So, MQ5.  This was housed in such a pretty building, right on the front in The Strand, with a garden across the road.  It was so picturesque.

There is, inevitably, maritime history. 

And one of these, which actually, I realised I had never seen before in real life.  They are bloody huge. 

I found this interesting:

It is the nightdress worn by Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind (I think on the morning after she was ravished by Clark Gable).  She was seemingly married to Leigh Holman (the 'Leigh' part of her name), who was from Topsham and remained on very good terms with both him and his sister after their divorce.  She kept up a friendship with the sister in particular (Dorothy Holman) and it is she who lived in the house which is now the museum. 

Oliver, of course, found this all unutterably dull, and found solace in the 'find the rubber spider trail' and cake.

He did find this fun and interesting though,

and it is this which he chose to write his little piece about.  Basically it demonstrates effectively how a load is moved by a system of pulleys and ropes, and that the more ropes and pulleys in a system - the easier the load is to move.  Simple physics, and simply smart.

After this little jaunt, we headed back into Exeter for Oliver's swimming lesson.  As I had my camera on me and spied him through the glass, I thought I'd take the oppo to take a sneaky pic.  Although I 'get' why you can't take pics at the public pool, it still pisses me off that I could never have a photo of my own kid learning to swim. 

Imagine then, if you will, my horror when the flash unexpectedly went off.  It was as if a bolt of lightning had come from above to strike me down for my wickedness.  I just looked down at the table and fiddled with my camera and pretended that it was nothing to do with me.  Ooh I am so naughty.  Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.  HA!  Wondered if I could get that one in.