Pointless rant corner

Not a bad little holiday as the weather was nice and the beer was flowing. On the first day while searching for somewhere to get some grub, we were lucky enough to come across Shores restaurant on the quayside in Brixham. Shores offered amazing food and service with two course meals for £12 and kids meals for £1.50, yet despite the credit crunching prices, the portions were huge and the food fabulous.

Our bill for a family of four including drinks came to just £35. Compare that with our visit to a formulaic Frankie and Benny's three days earlier where service was slow, we had no starters and instead of a pint of beer I got a tiny bottle, yet the tired, non-atmospheric surroundings and smaller food portions of F&B produced a bill only six pound cheaper than Shores.

We sat at a corner table in Shores and noticed the walls were adorned with paintings for sale by a local artist called Neal Anthony Carter. Behind us was a painting which captured our imagination so much, we happily stumped up the fifty quid asking price.

Daughter #1 wasn't too impressed and preferred the quayside painting adorning the adjacent wall. The waitress also looked somewhat bemused at our choice and admitted it wasn't to her tastes. While I freely admit to knowing nothing about art, I know what I like - and what will look good hanging on an otherwise blank white living room wall.



Mind you, if there are any genuine art critics out there sneering at my "child's scrawl" painting, I would like to point out that we toured the Tate Modern in London last October and I can safely say that if the bollocks on display there is what you consider to be art then I'm glad your tastes don't reflect my own. It doesn't matter how you dress it up, a pile of bricks, a load of multicolour bunk beds or a white plastic circle stuck to a white wall is what it is.... unimaginative bullshit.

Anyway, it's interesting to see what people make of our painting which is apparently titled ‘Coral Deep' and inspired by the Devon landscape . Daughter #2 thinks the blob in the lower right corner looks like me because she sees a face and it's spiky like mine with my designer chin whiskers (as I like to think of them) - or a lazy man's weird beard as the phenomenon is more commonly known. Sheryn the belly dancer sees a fish while Steve the drunk sees a helicopter crash scene (he went into some depth to explain it).

A few snaps from our Devon sojourn....