"Are we really Radio 1 people?" I remarked as Tom drove through town, "I don't see us as young and hip." I fiddled with the buttons trying to tune into a station with some decent music. BBC Radio 2 were talking. It wasn't the time of day for 3 or 4; and Heart, I have a love hate relationship with Heart. I mean they have good songs, but it's like they've forgotten that other songs exist and they're all trying too hard to be relatable. Good music was nowhere to be found, "Radio 1 it is." I sighed, as if choosing a radio station had just cost me hours of happiness.
To my surprise, there were some songs I did like and this made my brain content that I'd made the right choice; it also helped distract from any anxiety I was feeling.
We'd spent the previous night scouring through AirB&B looking for places to explore nearby, yet nothing really appealed and Tom didn't want to stay in a Shepherds Hut in the middle of nowhere. "It'd be okay in the summer maybe, but you'll get there and feel scared." He said, and I realized he was right, no matter how idyllic it looked, I'd have the nagging paranoia that something bad would happen. Past midnight we gave up and agreed we'd decide something in the morning.
Now reading the title of this excerpt, it may not be as exotic as you'd imagine, we weren't exactly foraging through the jungles of Africa but it was an adventure nonetheless. We blurted out ideas until Tom said "Okehampton." I was unsure. Then he said that they must have charity shops and I was more sure. And so the adventure was born.
The drive itself was lovely, it's very scenic and it's amusing what you see, a pink elephant for instance or Tom said he saw a sheep wearing plastic... maybe it was making a fashion statement or pollution has got baaa ..d. Just to warn you, my jokes are pretty awful.
Arriving at midday, we were greeted by some old guy waving a roll of twenties at us, genuinely a scary thing to behold when you're new to a place. He walked into the road and apparently told Tom he was stopping cars so that we could get out of our car safely... there were no cars, so Tom told him to be safe and stay off the road. Was this man okay? Did he mug someone? Is he going to be mugged? I mean he was an easy target for muggers and there were a few teen gangs skulking about.
Anyway, safely out of our car without being hit by other cars we headed towards The White Hart (Wetherspoons) to meet some of Tom's friends. My anxiety level was pretty high and where we were sat was quite stuffy, however Tom's friends were very lovely and eventually I felt at ease. Strangely, it felt like we'd been there for hours, not in a bad way but in some kind of limbo where we talked and ate and then all of a sudden it went really fast. It was nice meeting new people and turning 'Tom's Friends' into 'Our Friends'.
After we'd said goodbye and parted ways, Tom and I explored the town area, which included charity shopping and taking tourist like selfies along the way. As we reached the end of town I noticed a sign that read 'JW.ORG', and got excited. Tom suggested we go take a look at the Kingdom Hall located there. We didn't expect to find anyone stood there, yet as we neared we saw a lady locking up the gate, she immediately recognized us. "You're Tom aren't you?" She said, we were at a loss of how she knew us, Tom even suggested she might be psychic. Her explanation made more sense, we had a mutual friend in a lady named Jackie, if you don't know Jackie, she's a spritely 80 year old who is also my best friend and she's just lovely. This lady, Sue, told us she'd even seen our wedding pictures, and after taking yet another selfie we left her thinking about how small the world really is.
A few antique shops, a scone and two cookies later, we started to head back to the car, stopping in a park just before we got there. It was time to head home.
But not before finding a layby where Tom could do a wild wee. That felt like it lasted forever, and after he'd done I yelled "Go, go, go!" As if whizzing on the side of the road was a major felony.
And so the adventure was coming to an end.
All that was left was to endure the mind destroying raves of Radio 1.
