A trip to Tinside

I can't believe I've lived in Devon all this time and never visited Tinside Lido in Plymouth. It is spectacular in its Deco elegance and its sheer scale. On a rocky outcrop projecting into the Sound, it feels like being on an ocean liner. It's a glorious place to swim and a wonderful place to spend the afternoon. With its sunbathing terraces, there is something for everyone. And this year, entry is free. (it's probably the first and last year it will be free). All along the foreshore near the Lido are the remains of concrete steps and smaller tidal pools; the fact that most of them have gone to rack and ruin, and some have been blocked off by the council, is very sad.

A night out in Plymouth

We headed to the grand and beautiful Royal William Yard, formerly a victualling yard for the Navy, to see "The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow", some performance art curated by Marina Abramovic. If a woman standing among a hundred pairs of shoes and slowly putting them on, a man sharpening knives in the shadows cast by a swinging bulb, and a butcher dealing with a dead pig are your thing, this was the place to be. We then heard an all-too-brief performance by the Plymouth Complaints Choir, whingeing on about everything from kids not tidying their rooms through to men wearing hats indoors. The evening finished with a meal at the Beijing Noodle Bar where my youngest son was harassed - but charmingly so - by the very cute 17 month old daughter of the head waitress, who kept trying to climb up onto his lap.