Forgive the rudeness

Welcome ot the forum Jack

Quag said:

You mean purgatory?

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Close. It's a BIG retirement area.

Infinite Chaos said:

My father's family settled in the Barnstaple area, they were originally linked to the navy in the 17th and 18th Century - the last few males before my father went high up in the navy and owned several large homes in the North Devon area. Neither my dad nor I were much for the sea. My father wasn't a willing or very able recruit to the military for WW2 and I was more than willing to join the army.

Short potted history. :mrgreen:

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It really is a small world, particularly given how small Barnstaple is. I moved here in 1995 to complete my final year of legal training with a firm and solemnly pledged that I would then move back to a City- I am very much a City boy at heart. 21 years later, married with 3 children and running a local business, I never did find my return ticket. It is fair to say I have a complex relation with the Town: I've never felt entirely comfortable in its rural isolation, but get very defensive when outsiders criticise it.

It's also not really the place to be a left winger, although amazingly there is a local Communist Party- They got 130 votes at the last election. It was traditionally old school liberal country and made famous by the Jeremy Thorpe scandal. We now have a Tory MP and, of course, a strong UKIP contingent.

Jack of Devon said:

~ It was traditionally old school liberal country and made famous by the Jeremy Thorpe scandal ~

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My dad was an ardent Liberal Party member, he took the whole Jeremy Thorpe thing badly as I recall. (We had just moved back to the UK when the story was breaking)

Welcome! I too am a Socialist! A Libertarian-Socialist, that is. We have mutual respect for Bernie, Corbyn, and abolishing the Monarchy it would seem! I think we'll get along great! Welcome again to DP, comrade!