A 'staggering' week in politics and mating seagulls

Mike Dibble Picture: contributed (Image: Picture: contributed)

What a time it has been on the local political scene with the staggering news story about a local MP who eventually resigned after admitting watching pornography on his phone in the House of Commons.

Apparently a search for tractors let him down badly. You couldn’t make it up.

On the nature front you may have noticed that the gulls are getting boisterous with the start of the mating season taking place.

As I was walking down the High Street the other day a small boy, walking in front of me, asked his father why two seagulls were fighting on the roof of Lloyds Bank.

His father explained they were actually doing the opposite of fighting! The birds and bees well explained.

On the property front there are still no house prices listed for sales that have completed so far in 2022 on the Land Registry website. As we are now in May this is unusual.

I suspect a shortage of employees registering the data is the likely reason just as it is with the processing of passports at the moment. I am hearing stories of eye watering prices being achieved so it will be interesting to see if this is true.

I had a good chat with a parking warden in Sidmouth the other day and I was amazed when he told me about the large area the officers now cover including towns in North Devon.

Apparently they go to the towns where they get the most complaints. It was good to hear that Sidmouth is currently a fair way down that list!

I was delighted to witness the game that sealed promotion for Exeter City when they came back from a goal down to beat Barrow 2-1.

The final whistle saw a mass pitch invasion and a number of players were carried shoulder high by the fans.

Huge congratulations to everyone connected with the club on this fantastic achievement. Clubs such as Derby, Plymouth and Ipswich will be visiting Exeter next season.

Depending on the results of the play offs we’ll also be seeing either Sunderland or Sheffield Wednesday or possibly both of them. All very exciting. Well at least for football fans.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Exeter City will hopefully be crowned as champions of League Two.

They are playing Port Vale at home and they must simply equal or better Forest Green’s result to achieve this.

The match is a sell out with Port Vale selling their allocation as they aim to secure a place in the play offs.

Last Sunday Exeter manager Matt Taylor continued his fine batting record at The Fortfield scoring 51 retired out against Sidmouth 2nd XI.

The match started in light rain and was concluded in similar conditions with Sidmouth captain Anthony Griffiths guiding his team home with an unbeaten 91.

The dry April made playing conditions very tricky at Sidmouth Golf Club.

The situation was exacerbated by the lack of hand watering from the borehole water supply as a part needed to be replaced.

Thankfully the part arrived last Friday and watering commenced early on Saturday morning. This April follows a pattern of dry Aprils in recent years.

Whilst the weather has been wet in Southern Europe the south of England has seen very little rain.

Cricket games for Sidmouth this Saturday see the 1st XI away at Sandford, the 2nd XI at home to Braunton and the 3rd XI away at Braunton.

At Sidmouth there will be a short bench naming celebration in memory of former umpire Richard Yarwood.

Finally I am told by Tom Griffiths that there is some exciting news for East Devon car enthusiasts on the horizon.

His Bedford Lawn car park is due to play host for around 20 Bugattis next Saturday the 14th May.

They are expected to arrive around midday and will no doubt get lots of admiring glances as they make their way to the seafront.