During the late ‘forties, following the end of the Second World War, there was a general feeling of optimism that the world had changed for the better. The population had survived six years of sacrifice, rationing and the deaths and injuries that war brings, but there was now a sense of a new and better future for people generally. We had stepped into an era of the National Health Service, greater public ownership, better education, and servicemen were coming back from the forces to take up civilian employment  again. Rebuilding of all the bomb ravaged cities including Plymouth was at least beginning, albeit slowly, and employment generally was not a problem for most people. Quite naturally as the seasons progressed, people’s thoughts turned to holidays, and where they were to go this year. Social mobility was already better than in the pre-war years of the slump and greater numbers of people were able and determined to take holidays away from home. Most people had seen the very enticing advertising, particularly Railway advertising, for coastal resorts throughout the country, from Scarborough to Blackpool and Sennen to Brighton. The Great Western Railway even differentiated between ‘The English Riviera’ (Devon) and ‘The Cornish Riviera’ (Cornwall) in their bid to attract as much holiday traffic as possible. It became the norm for families to sit down on a cold January evening with no ‘East-Enders’ or ‘Coronation Street’ to distract them, and pore over the primitive hotel brochures, and magazines such as the now defunct Dalton’s Weekly, one of the earliest victims of the world wide web, where there were seemingly never ending lists of Guest Houses and B&Bs, and to decide where to go for their annual week, or if they were either rich or lucky, their fortnight, away. Given that few people had telephones and there was at least a two year waiting period for a new connection, and even then long distance calls required operator assistance and were so expensive, there still remained the process of writing to a few of the chosen establishments to see if there were any vacancies. Waiting in eager anticipation for the first favourable reply added excitement before sending off confirmation and a deposit. Next came thoughts of “How do we get there?” But this time there were few enticing brochures, more likely pieces of hand-written yellowing paper derived from a visit to the local railway station Booking Office or the Ticket Office at the town centre bus station, with dates, times and prices written out in a beautiful copper-plate hand. Confidently the journey could now be booked.