Change is in the air, but some things stay the same

Crocuses and daffodils are popping up everywhere so surely spring is not far off. But what really confirms that for me is seeing the Hockings ice cream van near the Kingsley statue at the end of Bideford Quay. It's never too early in the year for a Hockings and never really too late in the year either. Having said that, on the day I spotted the Hockings van I was walking the dog and heading for Victoria Park so I didn't stop. Even so there were a few people who decided an ice cream was just what they needed despite the chilly east wind blowing across the Torridge.

There were also a good few people in the park, mums and dads with their kids on the play equipment, some lads kicking a ball around in front of a goal and a group comprising three girls/young women and a youth ie boy/man - not a little boy, but not a grown-up man. One of the females had a buggy complete with child of indeterminate sex. One of the young women had a bottle of cider, one of those big three-litre jobs, with about half gone. They were all - apart from the child in the buggy - passing round a joint. One of the women said she was determined to get "one last toke" out of it. I suppose that shows that while we may not like the idea of mum, or big sister, getting boozed up while taking junior to the park, at least Bideford's weed smokers are not spendthrifts and like to get value for their money.

So, yes, the rotation of the seasons continues. You don't see it happening, but you can't help notice that suddenly you're a lot further forward in the year than you realised. But in the meantime, Bideford's young people seem intent on blotting everything out. Oh dear, I am getting old or maybe I'm just increasingly conscious that time is not for wasting.

Welcome to North Devon. Is that snow on your boots?

The holiday season in North Devon is well and truly under way. Already the roads are more congested and the beaches are busier. This despite the frankly disappointing weather. I was at Westward Ho! walking the dog late this afternoon. The tide was well up so we walked along one side of the Pebbleridge and back over the golf course. Just as we got near the Northam Burrows visitors' centre we encountered a small group of what I think could have been Russians or maybe Poles. It was the area where my fellow dog owners disgrace themselves by failing to clear up after their pets. The truth is these people can drive close to this building, let their dog out, which then craps everywhere, before driving off again with dog shoved in the back of the car.

And so it was I met a little group of Eastern European tourists who were obviously having a nice time. One rather corpulent gent in a tight white T-shirt sat on a hummock while one of his female companions used her camera to capture the scene for posterity. It would be some while before I chose that spot as the most picturesque place in North Devon for holiday snaps. Yet despite this, the group were all happy, they were having a nice time. What did it matter what I, as a local, thought of their choice of location? Maybe whatever locality they were used to was an absolute dump, fully of rusty cars, dog excrement and buildings with concrete cancer.

That's the thing with tourism. It is frequently touted as the most important element in the North Devon economy, which is something I have trouble agreeing with. It ought to be cream on our cake, not the cake itself. Well, that's what I think. However, the fact remains that many people gain considerable enjoyment from coming to our beautiful coast and countryside, and who are we to deny them? In Victoria Park in Bideford is a bench with a memorial plaque dedicated to a couple from Reading and more recently of Bideford, who spent "many happy hours" in the park.

I always find it quite moving. Here was a couple for whom the simple pleasure of sitting in the park - who knows maybe with a Hockings ice cream - was enough. And so I welcome our Russian/Polish/Latvian/Lithuanian/who knows visitors. For, whether they know it or not, life is short and we should all take our pleasures where we can. The simple pleasures of the park may be all we have time for, so do not delay. Putting off today for what we might get tomorrow could simply be a recipe for achieving nothing at all. And that would be very sad.