I know it’s supposed to be work but this was quite a lot like play! We were taken on a treasure hunt by Rob – the bloke standing in the road waving his hands – to find evidence of Elizabethan buildings in Plymouth city centre. It’s naïve of me to report that despite knowing the stories of Drake and others, that I’d not really expected to see so much evidence of the Elizabethans in the city. Along the way we saw these two Elizabethan buildings on New Street (obviously the New Street was new in the 1500s, not now). I love the fact that the council have seen fit to put double yellow lines down both sides of the street. Just in case, you understand…

In addition, we saw a Tudor rose on a fireplace in mid-air where a building had been knocked down leaving its innards on display. Possibly bombed? We also saw the spot from which the Pilgrim Fathers left British shores to head off to America and where Cornish Miners set off to live in South America and Australia as economic migrants when the mines here closed and they went to foreign climes to work. There is so much wonderful history evident all around and Rob did his best to instil in his group of sprog teachers a sense of awe at the things we take for granted usually!

I’m pretty sure that most of the rest of my working life won’t be this enjoyable. This is history in action as this group of teacher hopefuls will only be together for a short time now before we go on our journey into the big, wide world.