#anExetervisit

 A week or two back I made the regular trip down to Exeter to see my family members who live down there. Those who read my blogs know I am originally from Exeter and despite living away for over 40 years retain strong links and a strong affinity. I am a Devonian - ha!

All I want to do here is make a record - essentially for my own purposes.

When I go down to Exeter I almost always do the school run. This entails walking the mile or so with my two little granddaughters. They chatter away. I love asking them questions. I get a lot of oh grandad but they like it really. It is so special to watch them develop. How can anyone be horrible to children?

My son in law took this one - walking to school on a cold and frosty morning. Simple pleasures.

My daughter has moved into a new area of  nursing having been a ward sister for many years. She has trained as a pain specialist and absolutely loves what she does and is so motivated by it. Pain is such a complex thing. A while ago Vicky sent me an account of a builder who went to hospital in an ambulance in acute pain and distress. A work accident. A fired nail had gone right through his boot toe cap - into his foot and out through the sole. When the boot was eventually removed there was no injury - the nail had missed the toes and gone between them.

On one of the days I did a cycle ride with a friend along some of the Exeter Canal / River Exe as far as Cockwood. It was a lovely cold clear bright still day. I have written before about the Exeter Canal. Here is the blog link David Shoulder - Isle of Wight: #Exeter Canal and where you live. (davidshoulder60onwards.blogspot.com)

The Double Locks pub.

Over a beer we talked about many things - life - ha!. I referred to Darwinism and Maslow and how important they have been to me and my understanding of the world. I was asked "what about Freud ? It was a very good question in the context of what we were talking about -  but I didn't have an answer other than to say I do not know much about Freud! Much ! I know people sometimes refer to a Freudian slip which I understand is revealing something in our subconscious - inadvertently. I also know Freud is the father of psycho-analysis. Anyway my interest was tweaked. A couple of days later I had to go to Exeter centre and took the opportunity of visiting Waterstones. You can get a lot of reading for a tenner! I have started on the preface. There are chapter titles such as "Psychoanalysis and libido theory", "fetishism", "the Psychology of the Grammar School Boy" and "on the introduction of narcissism". The editor states in his introduction that it is inevitable when using the book that a level of personal psychoanalysis is bound to result - ha! 

The basic tenets of psychoanalysis include

1. A person's development is determined by often forgotten events in early childhood, rather than by inherited traits alone.
2. Human behaviour and cognition are largely determined by instinctual drives that are rooted in the unconscious.
3. Attempts to bring such drives into awareness triggers resistance in the form of defense mechanisms, particularly repression.
4. Conflicts between conscious and unconscious material can result in mental disturbances, such as neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety, and depression.
5. Unconscious material can be found in dreams and unintentional acts, including mannerisms and slips of the tongue.
6. Liberation from the effects of the unconscious is achieved by bringing this material into the conscious mind through therapeutic intervention.
7. The "centerpiece of the psychoanalytic process" is the transference, whereby patients relive their infantile conflicts by projecting onto the analyst feelings of love, dependence and anger.

If I get through it I will report back!

Some light reading

On the third day I had arranged a Dartmoor cycle with my two brothers. Alas Mike was unwell so we cycled near Rob's home. By coincidence this took us to another canal - The Grand Western Canal. Again it was a cracking day - cold still and bright. It was easy cycling along the tow path. I love canals in winter. Canals are generally very quiet and the winter trees show off their skeletons. I copied this from Wikipedia :

The Grand Western Canal ran between Taunton in Somerset and Tiverton in Devon in the United Kingdom. The canal had its origins in various plans, going back to 1796, to link the Bristol Channel and the English Channel by a canal, bypassing Lands End. An additional purpose of the canal was the supply of limestone and coal to lime kilns along with the removal of the resulting quicklime, which was used as a fertiliser and for building houses. This intended canal-link was never completed as planned, as the coming of the railways removed the need for its existence.^[1]

Construction was in two phases. A level section, from Tiverton to Lowdwells on the Devon/Somerset border, opened in 1814, and was capable of carrying broad-beam barges, carrying up to 40 tons. The Somerset section, suitable for tub boats (which were about 20 feet (6 m) long and capable of carrying eight tons) opened in 1839. It included an inclined plane and seven boat lifts, the earliest lifts to see commercial service in the UK. The lifts predated the Anderton Boat Lift by nearly 40 years.

The 11 miles of Devon section remains open, despite various threats to its future, and is now a designated country park and local nature reserve, and allows navigation. The Somerset section was closed in 1867, and is gradually disappearing from the landscape, although sections are now used as a footpath. It maintains a historical interest and has been subject to some archaeological excavations.

Rob and I cycled on the Devon section - in and around Tiverton. Canals have a fascinating history - most historically went into decline because of changes in need. Many canals have been lost but some have been saved. Not all the Grand Western has - but a good run is now secure. It is a tremendously valuable leisure area (now designated a Country Park) and obviously beneficial to wild life.Wouldn't it be nice to wander along the canal network in a narrowboat. One to do when I am an old man - ha!

Grand Western Canal scenes