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OLD NAKED PHOTO ALBUM PAGE: WILD-WILD-WEST-COUNTRY...
Please enjoy these pictures taken in Devon and Cornwall, which I call, for reasons of comedy, the Wild-Wild-West-Country (a.k.a. The End Of The Land Show) responsibly.
This is Parliament Street in Exeter on a rather dark day in October 2002. But all is not as it seems. Parliament street is actually the alley between the Nickleby's and T-Mobile shops. It's alleged to be the world's narrowest street, at just 25" wide at its tightest point. It was only one of many interesting things I saw or that happened on this weird weekend. I also: Visited Lands End on a whim, was rescued by the fastest RAC man in history, met a woman wearing a backless PVC dress, slept under a pile of balloons on the back seat of my Renault 5, became The Amazing Self-Captioning Man and had to explain myself to the police. More of all this below!
• The street, but is all as it seems?
• The alley with meaningful sign.
• I explore the confines!
• Close up of the road sign, some years later.
I visited Plymouth, Exeter and Torquay in September 2005. They're all nice places.
• I saw this sign in Plymouth. I liked it.
• This shop in Exeter made me giggle like a schoolgirl.
• Torquay at night, with figures in the light.
The End of the Land Show.
After sleeping for a mere one and a half hours and having to explain to the police what I was doing in the west country (they thought I was a drunk driver after I pulled off the road to check my atlas at 4.30am) I eventually reached Land's End before dawn and thus became the last person on the English Mainland to see the sun come up. It was so windy I could hardly fight my way out of my car and had to prop my camera tripod against a fence to stop it from blowing over. You'll notice I'm not smiling in one picture above. It's because I was frozen solid and mentally beating myself up for not bringing a coat on this grand/stupid adventure. I'd only just warmed up from kipping on the back seat of my little car.
In contrast, you can admire a nice-warm-wooly-jumper-wearing-me at John o'Groats in July 2003 on my Holiday North of the Border page.
• At the First and Last House before dawn.
• 874 miles (and about 9 months) to John o'Groats.
• The Land's End Lighthouse.
Paul: The Amazing Self-Captioning Man/Boy.
As you can see above, when I was a kid I went to the little Cornish village of Paul, and since it wasn't far off of my route on the way home, I went again. I had my picture taken next to the Paul sign on that occasion too, while wearing an orange t-shirt with a green alien thing giving an offensive gesture on it. Since it was 1981, I was about nine or ten. Ah, childhood memories... Anyway, you've got the choice of old and new still shots, a comedy video and some wet video from Paul's neighbouring village Mousehole to pick from above.
From here, I returned home via Plymouth, Exeter, Bristol, Swindon and Oxford. I'd covered 684 miles in 28 hours at an average speed of almost 25 miles per hour, single handed. I was in bed by 10pm and asleep in about an eighth of a second. If you want to know about the woman and the backless PVC dress, you'll just have to ask me.
• Paul at 30, by a sign saying Paul 30.
• Paul (as a 9 year old child, with a rude T-shirt) at Paul.
Paul.mpg: A video with 'directors comentary' of my visit to Paul in 2002.
Mousehole.mpg: A short video of my car getting a wash in Mousehole.