Your problems are tiny compared to others_

We are all guilty at some stage of getting grumpy and depressed thinking our lives are bad. Every now and then you find people who are in far worse situations than your own.

Last year a friend of mine spent most of the year inside a hospital in Bristol because her son, not yet a teenager, had a brain tumour and cancer. She had no money and had to rely on the superb help of Bristol hospital and friends to keep her going.

I received an email from her today saying her son lost his fight against cancer on the 5th December and passed away.

Having your own child die before you has to be the most dreadful thing that could ever happen in your lifetime and I feel so terribly upset for her and her family. She is the nicest and kindest person I have ever met and yet for years she has struggled through worry after worry. It shouldn't happen to the nice people but all too often it does.

So if you're sat at home thinking how bad things are just spare a thought for my friend Rose.

Christmas is over

I took down my decorations and tree today. It is always a sad day for me as I really love Christmas. It doesn’t seem it was over a month ago I put everything up.

Half moon soon to be no moon

Torbay Sports Council is hoping to transform the undercover walkway at Princess Gardens into a seasports centre that will be the envy of other resorts. The scheme also has support from the Cultural Partnership, and it is hoped that funding for the project will be secured this year.

Members of the Sports Council said the centre would be available to all, with schools, colleges, youth organisations, disabled groups and members of the public having access to its high-tech facilities.

Shore fishing site growing

TorbayFishing.com is growing at a huge rate and the people sending in reports are booming. I thought when I created it that there wouldn't be much activity during the winter months but I've only seen a 10% drop. My thanks to everyone who contributes towards the site.

I fished at Oddicombe today and it was my first fishing trip of 2005 so I did not want to blank or I’d feel it was a bad omen for the rest of the year fishing.

There were 5 others from the forum down there and between 11am and 4pm there wasn’t a single bite on any of the 12 rods.

It took me 8 hours before I caught my one and only fish of the day and I’ve never been so happy to see a dogfish.

You can only love your deceased so much

Torbay council is set to start legal proceedings against people who have too many flowers on their loved ones graves. The council have imposed a limit on the amount of space in front of the graves you’re allowed to place flowers.

Want to buy a Cornflake?

A Westcountry man has successfully managed to sell a solitary cornflake on Internet auction site e-Bay. The sale was achieved by e-commerce student Bill Bennett, of Williton in Somerset, who auctioned the single flake with a starting price of 1p.

The bidder, whose name has not been released, secured the cornflake for £1.20, which when postage and packing are added will come to a total of £2.40 - about 80p more than he would have needed to pay for a whole packet of cornflakes.

More than 250 prospective buyers visited the site where Bill had put the cornflake up for grabs, and 29 people expressed an interest.