I think I may have mentioned the inimitable Trago Mills before in these pages, though I can’t remember quite when or why. For anyone ‘local’, the place is a legend and for anyone who ever visits either Devon or Cornwall they are too I think! You regularly see coaches in the car park from places like Birmingham and Manchester.

We love and hate the place (a bit like London really) in almost equal measure. It’s run by someone who is clearly er, well, how can I put it (without the risk of being sued) somewhat eccentric and very irrational.

He’s got statues all around the gardens decrying the EU, the local council, the national Government and a whole lot more. He thinks the council are bonkers but if the rumours are right and he built the whole lot without any planning permission then I’d say they have good reason to be rather hostile to him. I’m not sure I’d fancy my chances if a fire broke out in there – it’s largely wooden, has terrible signage to exits and is like a complete rabbit warren. In fact, the other ‘branch’ in Newton Abbott had a big fire about a year ago, fortunately no-one was hurt.

As you negotiate your way around the store, there are signs saying things like ‘thieves will be prosecuted, we secured 8 convictions last month’ – everyone leaving the store has to show their receipt for the goods they’ve bought. Whatever happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty’ – there you are assumed guilty and have to prove innocence – strange for someone who claims to hold traditional English values so strongly. Sometimes you can queue longer to get out than to pay for stuff. You can’t take baskets out of the store and they don’t provide trolleys or carrier bags. It’s absolutely no frills.

They also have a thing about our country’s migration to metric units of measure
and there are also signs with ‘whether we’re legally obliged to sell things in metric units, we don’t care, you can buy by the pound here’ – those aren’t the exact words, but they’re near enough! Everything is priced both ways.

We’ve met a number of people who’ve worked there and are led to believe that his employment policies leave a lot to be desired too. Many people round here struggle to find work and for them it’s a case of ‘any port in a storm’. All I can say is I hope I never get that desperate.

All of this makes me seethe really. It just seems so puerile and pointless but I suppose it’s his business and his money so he can do as he likes with it. We live in a democracy so he’s as entitled to his point of view as anyone else.

On the other side of the coin is that the place sells some fantastic stuff. We buy our paintbrushes there for 15 pence each….then chuck them away after using them. We bought some pine board yesterday to build shelves on either side of our fireplace and the whole lot (four boards) cost less than two equivalent boards in Homebase. They sell everything from fire grates to hair gel and mostly at hugely discounted prices. OK – some of it is complete tat but that’s equally true in Homebase or B&Q.

I had to do a dash back there today because we forgot some bits yesterday and, after a night of torrential rain, thunder and lightening, the river along the front of the store was swollen and raging. So, I whipped out my camera and here is the result. I like the brown stuff that gets whipped up from the bottom when the water is running so fast – it reminds me of Ian Clowes’ shot of the sea that he’s got 1,000 hits on that DM and I were looking at yesterday. His shot too has brown water – sand and rocks all whipped up into the sea. His is much more spectacular than this though.

Last year we were trying to lift our spirits after defeat and the year before, I was bucking against a photography ban!