Nat was off to the Vipers; only for training not to play a match. I stayed at home with Hannah as the weather wasn’t very nice and so poor Deb got to watch him by herself in the rain. She was probably in the club house nattering with the other parents.
I tried to get some sleep when they got home as it was work again in the evening.
It was Halloween and the kids and friends were going out Trick or Treating. The boys called round to our house and when I got out of bed I discovered a hoard of monsters downstairs.
The weather was dreadful and became worse after they’d left. I ended up answering the door and giving out treats as Deb somehow managed to be on the phone to her Mum for about an hour. We had run out of sweets just as the kids returned drenched through. I was due to leave for work shortly after and anticipated getting soaked but luckily the storm passed and the ride in wasn’t too bad.
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Sunday 31 October 2010
Today I had rugby training where we had a game at the end but as we did not get much space the forwards and the backs had 2 different games but as there was 1 to many forwards when you scored a try you went over to the other team.
Later on in fact at night I went trick or treating it was fun we started of with me, Brandon, Jacob, Hannah and Zak and about half way though Jonathan joined us. We would have more sweets than we did if it hadn't pissed it down with rain.
Later on in fact at night I went trick or treating it was fun we started of with me, Brandon, Jacob, Hannah and Zak and about half way though Jonathan joined us. We would have more sweets than we did if it hadn't pissed it down with rain.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Truth About God, Secrets of the Universe, Boring Day
Nothing that I can now recall other than discovering the secret of the universe and the truth about God. Aside from those two things it was a pretty boring day.
Friday, 29 October 2010
Nat's Birthday Party, 10 Boys: 1 Girl, Laser Quest, Party,
PUT IN PHOTOS AND VIDS
Laser quest party. arrived 5.15 with Nat and Han and checked everything was booked correctly, Nat and Han got their membership cards and we watched a group of little girls playing. Around 5:45 Nat's guests started turning up (List Here) and the too were signed up and given free membership. There was a briefing about the rules and the fighting area and what was and wasn’t allowed given bu a no-nonsense instructor and after this they were off for their first battle. Deb and I watched this on the TV screens in the recreation area.
After they had played three games, with varying teams, we held the party in one of the side rooms. Pizza or chicken nuggets and chips followed by birthday cake. Afterward parents arrived to pick up their various offspring then Deb drove me to work. Think everyone had a good time.
Nat's Guests were:
Jacob
Josh
Johnaton
Vinay
Michael
James Mee
Zak
Sam
Brandon
Hannah
I went into work afterward and continued to be manual
Laser quest party. arrived 5.15 with Nat and Han and checked everything was booked correctly, Nat and Han got their membership cards and we watched a group of little girls playing. Around 5:45 Nat's guests started turning up (List Here) and the too were signed up and given free membership. There was a briefing about the rules and the fighting area and what was and wasn’t allowed given bu a no-nonsense instructor and after this they were off for their first battle. Deb and I watched this on the TV screens in the recreation area.
After they had played three games, with varying teams, we held the party in one of the side rooms. Pizza or chicken nuggets and chips followed by birthday cake. Afterward parents arrived to pick up their various offspring then Deb drove me to work. Think everyone had a good time.
Nat's Guests were:
Jacob
Josh
Johnaton
Vinay
Michael
James Mee
Zak
Sam
Brandon
Hannah
I went into work afterward and continued to be manual
Friday 29 october 2010
Today was AWESOME!!!! It was awesome because it was enrichment day at school I took part in the tech challenge and got through the first stage I don't know if I got through the second phase. After school I had my Birthday Party which was great fun we played laser tag at this new place in Leicester called Laser Force. We played 3 games, got life time membership, Where given ether chicken nuggets or pizza both came with chips, an Ice poll and 2 drinks not bad for £12.50 per person. I won 2 out of 3 games and as it was my party I got £45, a box of sweets, A nerf gun ( OK I got this on Wednesday but it was meant for today), A air powered rocket thing, a book called selfish pigs and the Second space wolf omnibus plus I got a free membership card holder from the people who run the place as well as choosing the teams and being first in line to get the my drink and Ice poll. The people who came where Me, Jacob, Jonathan, Michael, Brandon, James, Vinay, Hannah (my sister), Zak, Sam and Josh.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Meeting Mr Jordan, Hannah's Teacher, Good Report Doing Well, Overtime, PC Problems, Lisbon, Portugal, Nono Gomes, Nokia N8, Hasmukh's Phone,
Meeting with MR JORDAN about Hannah who’s doing just fine it seems;so wish w could say the same about her attitude at home! At school it seems she at or near the top in all her subjects, confident, fluent and popular. You’d never believe it from what she tells as school is like when she comes home; according to Hannah she has no friends and nobody likes her. This was reassuring news as we were concerned about her attitude to learning.
I went into work 2 hours early to do overtime but as soon as I starte my PC systems decided not to work properly and i sent the first hour on the phone top IT support. Spoke to a great guy in Lisbon (es in Portugal)Overtime Nono Gomes who was good fun. Unfortunately he was unable to fix the problem and wso I’d be working manually for at least four days until IT go it sorted; a good start to the week!
On the plus side, Hasmukh has received his new Nokia N8, what I’ll be buying (and fucking up it’ll turn out more of this when it happens)and I spent ost of the night playing with it.
It was gorgeous but I didn’t like to fiddle too much with someone else's phone especially not one as expensive as that.
I went into work 2 hours early to do overtime but as soon as I starte my PC systems decided not to work properly and i sent the first hour on the phone top IT support. Spoke to a great guy in Lisbon (es in Portugal)Overtime Nono Gomes who was good fun. Unfortunately he was unable to fix the problem and wso I’d be working manually for at least four days until IT go it sorted; a good start to the week!
On the plus side, Hasmukh has received his new Nokia N8, what I’ll be buying (and fucking up it’ll turn out more of this when it happens)and I spent ost of the night playing with it.
It was gorgeous but I didn’t like to fiddle too much with someone else's phone especially not one as expensive as that.
Thursday 28 October 2010
Today was normal at school except that I had Rugby after school. We split the team in 2 and had a game My team won, we won because I would smash through them then I would turn round and give one of the backs the ball we would then get it out to the wing and score!!! After school I had judo I had to come of at the end as I injured my knee it hurt a lot an awful lot.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
PC, Twitter, Booze, Civilisation, Boxing, 10 year old Girl sparring, nerf gun, scouts, Jacob
Again the day passed with me at home mostly on the PC tweeting and drinking beer, civilization you gotta love it. Nat had boxing this evening, before scouts; apparently he had thee sparring matches, one of which was against a Ten Year Old Girl,(it seems she wanted to fight him)all of which he won by applying the berserker within The 10 year old was stopped after 10 seconds apparently when he floored her.
Later in the evening when at Scouts Jacob gave him his birthday present which was a double barreled Nerf gun.
Later in the evening when at Scouts Jacob gave him his birthday present which was a double barreled Nerf gun.
Wednesday 27 October
Today was pretty normal at school but After school I went to Boxing and Spared, I spared with one boy twice and went bezuker I punched and punched and just did not stop punching I also had a fight with a girl (just one note she asked to fight me) but it was called of in the first 10 seconds as I almost pushed her over!!! At scouts we had to make a camp gadget and ours was fine until One wanker in my patrol destroid it but on a lighter note Jacob gave me my birthday present a nerf shot gun. So you better watch out!!!
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Ghostly Visitation, JFK, John Wayne, Bullshit, Medium Rare, Pun
Cannot recall anything of any consequence that happened today. Certainly nothing happened to me other than being contacted by the spirit of former US President JFK who gave me the lowdown on who was really behind his assassination...John Wayne, who’d have thought it!Neither Deb or the kids mentioned anything so that’s it for this uneventful day.
I don't experience these visions often; they're much like the way I like my steaks...Medium Rare!!!
I don't experience these visions often; they're much like the way I like my steaks...Medium Rare!!!
Tuesday 26 October : Lego Challenge, No Rugby,
Mum dropped me of at school today because I thought I had rugby I DID NOT as I learned later. Anyway at lunch I went in to miss Lewis's room and there where several massive boxes in there I asked what they where for and she said "They are for the Lego challenge and one of them is for your team!!!!" So I am in the FFL (First Lego League) so hurray for me!!!"
Monday, 25 October 2010
Twitter, Overtime Request, Spooks
Nothing much happened today, it’s still one of my of days but Deb was back to work and the kids were back to school so I spent most of the day on the PC doing not a lot. Spent some time on Twitter, started uploading holiday photos and videos. Not much else. I received a call from Sarah, senior manager at work, at about 18:00 asking me if I could come in this evening to do overtime because they were exceedingly short staffed. Normally I‘d jump at the chance but I’d had a few beers during the day, it was peeing down with rain and so I didn’t fancy cycling with that combination. Taped yet another episode of Spooks, I must start watching them before the recorders full.
Monday 25 October
First day back at school after half term it was a pretty normal day except that I was frozen solid it was so cold this morning, and after school I went to Brandon's had dinner and played a game of 40K. I got back home at about 8-9 pm when I got home I watched the Gadget show and wrote this.
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Back at Home, Vipers, Playing Hinckley, Defeated, Neil's Rant, Training Times, Bruce and Zak's Dad
There’s no rest for the wicked; we’re no sooner home from Cornwall than we’re off to see Nat play rugby for Leicester Vipers against Hinckley.
Oh dear such a shame, after lots of time together the Vipers pack have really got their act together and can hold their own against anyone, Nat’s the hooker, but unfortunately the backs are suffering from a two edged blow. A number of the experienced players have either left or are out with injuries and there are a lot of newbies who’ve never played rugby before. Against a well trained experienced team like Hinckley the Viper didn't stand a chance. Whenever the pack won the ball the backs lost it and then Hinckley would storm through them to score another try. It’s best to draw a veil over the final score!
On a note closer to home, Nat continues to suffer from an injury (we thought it was a pulled tendon later turned out to be a bruised kneecap)to his leg and it’s causing him a lot of pain.
Poor Deb she really caught the brunt of Neil’s (he’s the Vipers trainer) frustration with the teams performance when he turned on her and accused Nat of being par f the problem because he can’t come to training on a Wednesday. Deb doesn’t take that kind of shit from anyone and point out that as we’ve explained before, repeatedly, if the training session was was held just one hour earlier he’d be there every week come rain or shine but as it stands it’s training or Scouts and Scouts comes first with him every time. Don’t recall anything of any great import during the rest of the day other than Nat’s friend Zak has now started playing for the Vipers and his Dad and he had got a lift to the game with Jacob’s Dad Bruce. We all ended up chatting and like Bruce he seems to be a very nice guy. Next time I must find out his name, I never ever remember to ask people their names!
Oh dear such a shame, after lots of time together the Vipers pack have really got their act together and can hold their own against anyone, Nat’s the hooker, but unfortunately the backs are suffering from a two edged blow. A number of the experienced players have either left or are out with injuries and there are a lot of newbies who’ve never played rugby before. Against a well trained experienced team like Hinckley the Viper didn't stand a chance. Whenever the pack won the ball the backs lost it and then Hinckley would storm through them to score another try. It’s best to draw a veil over the final score!
On a note closer to home, Nat continues to suffer from an injury (we thought it was a pulled tendon later turned out to be a bruised kneecap)to his leg and it’s causing him a lot of pain.
Poor Deb she really caught the brunt of Neil’s (he’s the Vipers trainer) frustration with the teams performance when he turned on her and accused Nat of being par f the problem because he can’t come to training on a Wednesday. Deb doesn’t take that kind of shit from anyone and point out that as we’ve explained before, repeatedly, if the training session was was held just one hour earlier he’d be there every week come rain or shine but as it stands it’s training or Scouts and Scouts comes first with him every time. Don’t recall anything of any great import during the rest of the day other than Nat’s friend Zak has now started playing for the Vipers and his Dad and he had got a lift to the game with Jacob’s Dad Bruce. We all ended up chatting and like Bruce he seems to be a very nice guy. Next time I must find out his name, I never ever remember to ask people their names!
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Cornwall Holiday : Saturday 23 Oct : Last Morning, Car Breakdown, RAC, No N8?, Travelling Home, Atlantic Village Shopping, Amazing Stalls, Rainbow
Morning time to go, checked all the rooms, packed away the toiletries, prepared a small breakfast and ready to go by 9;00 until disaster struck. Deb came to say that she couldn’t get the car to start and she thought the electrics in the boot had shorted out again. Bang went any idea of an early start and Deb went to reception to ring the RAC while I sorted out the kids etc. Deb returned to say the RAC had said they’d be about 45 minutes. They turned up sooner and the mechanic was there at about 09:25. Deb was concerned we would need to get the electrics replaced and it seemed like the extra money I’d earned to get a Nokia N8 might be disappearing into the black hole that is keeping a car on the road. What a fantastic end to our holiday; I was so pissed off at the prospect that I immediately got reception to send round two peasants who I then ritually disemboweled to relieve my frustrations. The RAC man eventually got the car running and confirmed the problem was with the electrics but that the problem was due to them getting wet during the torrential downpour over night. He was hopeful that everything would dry out as we drove and I, for one, kept my fingers crossed that he would be proved correct. Eventually we were sorted and we left the Estate at around 10:00 an hour later than we had planned to.
This wasn’t too much of a delay and it looked as if we could keep to Deb’s journey home plan. She wanted to drive up the west coast parallel to the Celtic Sea passed New Quay and Wadebridge up into Devon eventually arriving at the Atlantic Shopping Village located near the town of Bude.
As we began our journey the weather also began to improve and within an hour it was quite sunny, the clouds had lifted and when we were in sight of it we were able to appreciate the coastline as it passed by on our left.
In the car I kept attempting to get a GPS fix ion both the N82 and the N95 but still wasn’t able to do so. The best I could get, when there was a cellular signal was an approximate position on Google Maps based on the nearest cell tower’s location (note the following day at the Vipers Rugby Ground I got a GPS lock on in less than one minute so the phones were OK).
We arrived at Atlantic Village around mid-day and after discovering the location of and making use of the toilets we went inside. It was a bog standard enclosed shopping mall but with one notable exception. In all of the walk ways, between the shops, there were stalls set up selling local products. Pasty stalls (Devon not Cornish pasties there’s a fearsome rivalry), stalls for local cider and beer producers, exotic cheese stalls, home made soups etc. I’d never seen it’s like and the stalls were fascinating. I sampled pumpkin soup, venison stew, another even nicer stew I can’t recall the name of, samples of cheese and so on. Yes we did go in the actual stores and we did buy some things but the stalls were by far the most interesting thing about the entire place. I managed to get the book of the TV series Geniuses of Britain for £3.99 instead of £20.00. We got some end of line/seconds from the M&S outlet for the kids and me, sweets to take to work, it never happened they all got given away to trick or treat callers on Halloween; however it’s the thought that counts. The giveaways were clever sales tricks; just like at the Cyder farm we ended up spending a fortune of the things we’d tried.
We stayed at Atlantic Village for about two hours before setting off again on the long, by UK standards, trek up through the West Country and back over to the East Midlands. The only notable thing that happened during the rest of our trip was spotting, possibly, the most beautiful fully formed rainbow it’s ever been my fortune to observe. Magnificent, I managed to grab a few photos and a few seconds of film but these don’t do it justice. There weather fluctuated greatly for the rest of the journey from heavy rain to sunny skies. Eventually we made it safely home at about 18:00. Don’t think we did much else so that was…
THE END OF OUR CORNISH ADVENTURE
This wasn’t too much of a delay and it looked as if we could keep to Deb’s journey home plan. She wanted to drive up the west coast parallel to the Celtic Sea passed New Quay and Wadebridge up into Devon eventually arriving at the Atlantic Shopping Village located near the town of Bude.
As we began our journey the weather also began to improve and within an hour it was quite sunny, the clouds had lifted and when we were in sight of it we were able to appreciate the coastline as it passed by on our left.
In the car I kept attempting to get a GPS fix ion both the N82 and the N95 but still wasn’t able to do so. The best I could get, when there was a cellular signal was an approximate position on Google Maps based on the nearest cell tower’s location (note the following day at the Vipers Rugby Ground I got a GPS lock on in less than one minute so the phones were OK).
We arrived at Atlantic Village around mid-day and after discovering the location of and making use of the toilets we went inside. It was a bog standard enclosed shopping mall but with one notable exception. In all of the walk ways, between the shops, there were stalls set up selling local products. Pasty stalls (Devon not Cornish pasties there’s a fearsome rivalry), stalls for local cider and beer producers, exotic cheese stalls, home made soups etc. I’d never seen it’s like and the stalls were fascinating. I sampled pumpkin soup, venison stew, another even nicer stew I can’t recall the name of, samples of cheese and so on. Yes we did go in the actual stores and we did buy some things but the stalls were by far the most interesting thing about the entire place. I managed to get the book of the TV series Geniuses of Britain for £3.99 instead of £20.00. We got some end of line/seconds from the M&S outlet for the kids and me, sweets to take to work, it never happened they all got given away to trick or treat callers on Halloween; however it’s the thought that counts. The giveaways were clever sales tricks; just like at the Cyder farm we ended up spending a fortune of the things we’d tried.
We stayed at Atlantic Village for about two hours before setting off again on the long, by UK standards, trek up through the West Country and back over to the East Midlands. The only notable thing that happened during the rest of our trip was spotting, possibly, the most beautiful fully formed rainbow it’s ever been my fortune to observe. Magnificent, I managed to grab a few photos and a few seconds of film but these don’t do it justice. There weather fluctuated greatly for the rest of the journey from heavy rain to sunny skies. Eventually we made it safely home at about 18:00. Don’t think we did much else so that was…
THE END OF OUR CORNISH ADVENTURE
Friday, 22 October 2010
Day 7 Friday 22/10 Cyder Farm, New Quay, Perranporth, Shag, Pasties, St Agnes, Beach, Caves, Mussels, Lost, Tin Mine, Underwater Challenge, American Buffet, Longest Pool Game, Bingo
Today was effectively the last day of our holiday. We’re motoring home and planning a stop on the way tomorrow but today is really the last hurrah. We didn‘t have a clear plan of action, other than a visit to Healy’s Cyder Farm where the previously mentioned Rattler
cider is fermented, I don’t think brewed is the correct term for cider making. We headed for Healy’s first and were there before lunchtime. I was surprised when everything, including the tasting, was free, I’d had gotten acclimatised by now to paying through the nose for everything, but soon discerned their cunning plan. “Yes thank you I would like to try a free taste of…” Subsequently spent £30 on buying bottles of my free tastes…sneaky Healy’s very very sneaky. The matured ciders which are bottled are treated as wines and were outstanding; we bought a bottle to have with our Christmas dinner this year. (photo of cyder buys here)
Leaving the cyder farm we headed, along the coast road, toward New Quay. We weren’t planning a long visit just a quick drive through to see what it was like. Before going into the town itself we stopped at the end of the coast road, parked up and walked a little way up a hill to get a good view of the bay. It was spectacular as the town, unlike many others, sits above the sea on the cliff tops. This probably explains why it has such a reputation for “Tomb Stoning” where drunken men, usually but not always drunken young men, leap from these cliffs and into the sea below; a significant number are killed or find they’ve joined the “in a wheelchair for life” club. It’s a very popular spot for teenagers from all over the country who’ve just finished their exams. Teenagers, Cliffs and Booze a recipe made in Hell.
We never did manage to make it down to the cliffs as New Quay has an incredibly maze like system of roads. We ended up going round in circles and eventually gave up and abandoned this plan. Even then we weren’t in the clear and we still managed to end up dead ended twice more before we got clear of the place. The Town’s slogan should be: “Visit New Quay You’ll NeverWant Be Able to Leave”.
As we made our way down the coast our first port of call was a little town called Perranporth. It was so “touristy” but in a nice way. I bought myself a back scratcher, was offered “A Shag for a Tenner”, inspected the local off license stock of Cornish beers and ciders and ate the tastiest pasty of the whole holiday. We’d park in the road as we refused to pay £3.50 for a hours parking so we were on the clock. We walked down to the beach while eating said pasties before returning to the car. Deb and I both agreed that the next time we visit it might be nice if we could get into a Time-Share nearby.
After this we drove onto St. Agnes then through and down to the bay. Christ I’d liked to have lived there; (INSERT PHOTOS) it was beautiful and, additionally, if you liked mussels you could eat for free because the rocks along the shore line were in-crusted with the little buggers!
While I scouted out a vantage point from which to take photos the other went onto the beach and soon they were little more than dots in the distance. Eventually I did make my way down and joined them there. Nat decided to content himself with drawing in the sand but as usual Hannah was irresistibly drawn to the sea and its accompanying wetness.
After Hannah had played chase with the waves enough we crossed the beach to take a look at the caves in the cliff face. Nat and Hannah, of course, had to climb up into them and got wetter still.
After a little while we made our way back to the car and moved on. Yet again we got lost and it took a while to get our bearings back; still no GPS signal, Damn You To Hell You Cyder Witches! Eventually we were back on track and headed for home. On the way we stopped to look at a tin mine steam engine at a national trust site but lacked sufficient funds to take a trip around the full site.
Back at the Coach House we grabbed our swimming gear and headed for the pool for one last swim. While there I challenged the kids to try to swim the length of the pool underwater; the both succeeded to do so. We left the pool and went back to our rooms for a little while before returning to the main complex to experience the American Hot Buffet evening. Food was great but the kids tried to pile too much food, at one go, onto their plates and ended up unnecessarily wasting some. The homemade burgers were particularly heroic; thick, juicy and very very tasty.
Anyone who’d wanted to play a game of pool was in for a long wait that evening because Nat and Hannah got to the table first and played what must rank as one of the longest games ever. After we’d finished we returned again to our rooms but not for long. There was going to be bingo in the bar at nine so, leaving
Deb at home, the kids and I went back to play. We’d only enough money left to play the first game. We didn’t win and so returned to Deb shortly afterward.
After that it was a question of getting the packing finished so we could get an early start the next morning. That night there was a torrential rain storm that put an end to our planned early start! However we weren’t to know and eventually the majority of the packing was done and only morning essentials were left out. Deb and the kids went to bed but I stayed up to watch the TV and do a little reading. I think I fell asleep on the sofa as I don’t recall going to bed. I did go out a few times to take a look at the storm. The rain was bucketing down if you put your head out passed the door frame you’d be soaked in a second.
Leaving the cyder farm we headed, along the coast road, toward New Quay. We weren’t planning a long visit just a quick drive through to see what it was like. Before going into the town itself we stopped at the end of the coast road, parked up and walked a little way up a hill to get a good view of the bay. It was spectacular as the town, unlike many others, sits above the sea on the cliff tops. This probably explains why it has such a reputation for “Tomb Stoning” where drunken men, usually but not always drunken young men, leap from these cliffs and into the sea below; a significant number are killed or find they’ve joined the “in a wheelchair for life” club. It’s a very popular spot for teenagers from all over the country who’ve just finished their exams. Teenagers, Cliffs and Booze a recipe made in Hell.
We never did manage to make it down to the cliffs as New Quay has an incredibly maze like system of roads. We ended up going round in circles and eventually gave up and abandoned this plan. Even then we weren’t in the clear and we still managed to end up dead ended twice more before we got clear of the place. The Town’s slogan should be: “Visit New Quay You’ll Never
As we made our way down the coast our first port of call was a little town called Perranporth. It was so “touristy” but in a nice way. I bought myself a back scratcher, was offered “A Shag for a Tenner”, inspected the local off license stock of Cornish beers and ciders and ate the tastiest pasty of the whole holiday. We’d park in the road as we refused to pay £3.50 for a hours parking so we were on the clock. We walked down to the beach while eating said pasties before returning to the car. Deb and I both agreed that the next time we visit it might be nice if we could get into a Time-Share nearby.
After this we drove onto St. Agnes then through and down to the bay. Christ I’d liked to have lived there; (INSERT PHOTOS) it was beautiful and, additionally, if you liked mussels you could eat for free because the rocks along the shore line were in-crusted with the little buggers!
While I scouted out a vantage point from which to take photos the other went onto the beach and soon they were little more than dots in the distance. Eventually I did make my way down and joined them there. Nat decided to content himself with drawing in the sand but as usual Hannah was irresistibly drawn to the sea and its accompanying wetness.
After Hannah had played chase with the waves enough we crossed the beach to take a look at the caves in the cliff face. Nat and Hannah, of course, had to climb up into them and got wetter still.
After a little while we made our way back to the car and moved on. Yet again we got lost and it took a while to get our bearings back; still no GPS signal, Damn You To Hell You Cyder Witches! Eventually we were back on track and headed for home. On the way we stopped to look at a tin mine steam engine at a national trust site but lacked sufficient funds to take a trip around the full site.
Back at the Coach House we grabbed our swimming gear and headed for the pool for one last swim. While there I challenged the kids to try to swim the length of the pool underwater; the both succeeded to do so. We left the pool and went back to our rooms for a little while before returning to the main complex to experience the American Hot Buffet evening. Food was great but the kids tried to pile too much food, at one go, onto their plates and ended up unnecessarily wasting some. The homemade burgers were particularly heroic; thick, juicy and very very tasty.
Anyone who’d wanted to play a game of pool was in for a long wait that evening because Nat and Hannah got to the table first and played what must rank as one of the longest games ever. After we’d finished we returned again to our rooms but not for long. There was going to be bingo in the bar at nine so, leaving
Deb at home, the kids and I went back to play. We’d only enough money left to play the first game. We didn’t win and so returned to Deb shortly afterward.
After that it was a question of getting the packing finished so we could get an early start the next morning. That night there was a torrential rain storm that put an end to our planned early start! However we weren’t to know and eventually the majority of the packing was done and only morning essentials were left out. Deb and the kids went to bed but I stayed up to watch the TV and do a little reading. I think I fell asleep on the sofa as I don’t recall going to bed. I did go out a few times to take a look at the storm. The rain was bucketing down if you put your head out passed the door frame you’d be soaked in a second.
Thursday, 21 October 2010
THURSDAY 21/10 The Lizard, Mullion, Holiday Camp, Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose or HMS Seahawk, Toffe Apples, Rattler, Portreath, Fish and Chips, Quiz, Lolly Pops
This morning we’re off to see a few of the places we visited the last time we were down this way. Specifically, we’re visiting the Lizard the most southerly point on the mainland of Britain. It’s a spectacular place with incredible views as can be seen from the embedded pictures below. The lighthouse museum was unfortunately closed but we did get to take a stroll round the grounds of the Youth Hostel located next to it.
After leaving the Lizard we stopped at the cafe / base shop located next to Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose or HMS Seahawk as it’s also known. While we were there we discovered that there was a coach trip around the base that afternoon so we bought tickets for it. The trip wasn’t due to begin until 2PM so we had a little time to kill. We had stayed at Mullion Holiday camp the last time we were here and as this wasn’t far we decided to drop in there to see if Hannah and Nat remembered it. Our visit was a quick in and out (but with Gusto, me old Droog mates, with Gusto), Deb stayed in the car the lazy cow, and yes even Hannah remembered coming here. I say even Hannah because when ever you reminder her of something she’s done in the past she gives you blank look combined with another look that suggests that you are deluded and that she’ never been to any such place. There wasn’t time to drive down to Mullion village itself which was a shame as I remember the harbour and beach as being particularly lovely.
On our way back to Culdrose we stopped at a small cafe where Hannah had sausage and chips (absolutely delicious locally produced sausages) Deb and Nat each had a cream tea and I had a pint of Rattler cyder (yes that’s how they spell cider).
We were finished and back at Culdrose just in time; a few minutes after we arrived we were allowed to pass the armed guards (they had real guns!) and enter the base and board the coach. The tip was “awesome” some might say but with typical British understatement I’d simple describe it as “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”.
We saw some amazing sites and the photos and videos, taken through the coach windows, don’t really them justice. Jets, helicopters, and turboprops the list just goes on. We must have seen a dozen or more take-offs and landings whilst we were there.
We disembarked twice, once to visit the tiny base cinema to watch two films, one about the Royal Navy in general and the other specifically about Culdrose. Here we also saw some of the classrooms where Royal Navy and overseas trainees lean how to service and maintain the fleet of aircraft based there. Our second port of call was at a maintenance hanger to view a stripped down SeaKing helicopter, the model that had just been phased out and replaced by the Merlin. The tour, which seemed to fly by, actually lasted the best part of two hours and was worth every penny we spent to go on it. The guide was so enthusiastic and such a supporter of the base and its role in local life. She was the lady we’d first spoken to earlier in the cafe who persuaded us to book the trip in the first place. If you’re ever in the area and get the opportunity to do this trip then jump at the chance, you won’t regret it.
By now it was late afternoon and we started back toward Clowdance Estate; on the way we stopped at Sainsburys where I bough some beer, provisions, toffee apples or the kids but no Rattler Pear Cyder. I only mention Pear Rattler here because Sainsbury’s price was the lowest we’d seen (£1.95 compared to £2.50 elsewhere) and so instead of buying a load at the cyder farm we intended to buy it, and ordinary Rattler, from here...we forgot so I came home with only the two bottles of pear and two of beery we bought at the cyder farm and no bottles of normal Rattler, None, Zilch, Sod All...Bugger!
After this we drove into Portreath, where the kids had soaked themselves the previous Sunday, and bought Fish and Chips from the chip shop on the seafront. Given the price we paid for these I was very disappointed in the size of the portions. When we had finished we completed the drive back to Clowdance Estate and had a few hours rest.
Later we sent an hour or so in he pool and sauna before attending the quiz night being held in the bar at 9:00 PM. Teams were supposed to be limited to four people but a couple of tables were obviously collaborating and effectively fielding a team of eight. Our team consisted of the four of us and while we didn’t win a single individual round we did come within three points of the best overall total score! Not bad for just two adults and two kids and, in fact, if we hadn’t changed three of my answers we would have actually tied for first place with forty eight points each. However I mustn’t forget to mention that despite the fact that our team didn’t win anything that both Nat and Hannah did manage to each, individually, win a lolly pop. Hannah won hers for shouting out the correct answer to the first question of the night and Nat for the stupidest team name. We were, officially the Clotted Dreams but according to Nat we were AKA. . . The
Afterward we left and returned to our rooms and sleep...night all! At this point if I were writing my normal blog I’d note tat I was only a few words short of a thousand words and then waffle on until I passed that milestone but there’s now no need for me to do so or at least there won’t be any need after a few words more.
After leaving the Lizard we stopped at the cafe / base shop located next to Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose or HMS Seahawk as it’s also known. While we were there we discovered that there was a coach trip around the base that afternoon so we bought tickets for it. The trip wasn’t due to begin until 2PM so we had a little time to kill. We had stayed at Mullion Holiday camp the last time we were here and as this wasn’t far we decided to drop in there to see if Hannah and Nat remembered it. Our visit was a quick in and out (but with Gusto, me old Droog mates, with Gusto), Deb stayed in the car the lazy cow, and yes even Hannah remembered coming here. I say even Hannah because when ever you reminder her of something she’s done in the past she gives you blank look combined with another look that suggests that you are deluded and that she’ never been to any such place. There wasn’t time to drive down to Mullion village itself which was a shame as I remember the harbour and beach as being particularly lovely.
On our way back to Culdrose we stopped at a small cafe where Hannah had sausage and chips (absolutely delicious locally produced sausages) Deb and Nat each had a cream tea and I had a pint of Rattler cyder (yes that’s how they spell cider).
We were finished and back at Culdrose just in time; a few minutes after we arrived we were allowed to pass the armed guards (they had real guns!) and enter the base and board the coach. The tip was “awesome” some might say but with typical British understatement I’d simple describe it as “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”.
We saw some amazing sites and the photos and videos, taken through the coach windows, don’t really them justice. Jets, helicopters, and turboprops the list just goes on. We must have seen a dozen or more take-offs and landings whilst we were there.
We disembarked twice, once to visit the tiny base cinema to watch two films, one about the Royal Navy in general and the other specifically about Culdrose. Here we also saw some of the classrooms where Royal Navy and overseas trainees lean how to service and maintain the fleet of aircraft based there. Our second port of call was at a maintenance hanger to view a stripped down SeaKing helicopter, the model that had just been phased out and replaced by the Merlin. The tour, which seemed to fly by, actually lasted the best part of two hours and was worth every penny we spent to go on it. The guide was so enthusiastic and such a supporter of the base and its role in local life. She was the lady we’d first spoken to earlier in the cafe who persuaded us to book the trip in the first place. If you’re ever in the area and get the opportunity to do this trip then jump at the chance, you won’t regret it.
By now it was late afternoon and we started back toward Clowdance Estate; on the way we stopped at Sainsburys where I bough some beer, provisions, toffee apples or the kids but no Rattler Pear Cyder. I only mention Pear Rattler here because Sainsbury’s price was the lowest we’d seen (£1.95 compared to £2.50 elsewhere) and so instead of buying a load at the cyder farm we intended to buy it, and ordinary Rattler, from here...we forgot so I came home with only the two bottles of pear and two of beery we bought at the cyder farm and no bottles of normal Rattler, None, Zilch, Sod All...Bugger!
After this we drove into Portreath, where the kids had soaked themselves the previous Sunday, and bought Fish and Chips from the chip shop on the seafront. Given the price we paid for these I was very disappointed in the size of the portions. When we had finished we completed the drive back to Clowdance Estate and had a few hours rest.
Later we sent an hour or so in he pool and sauna before attending the quiz night being held in the bar at 9:00 PM. Teams were supposed to be limited to four people but a couple of tables were obviously collaborating and effectively fielding a team of eight. Our team consisted of the four of us and while we didn’t win a single individual round we did come within three points of the best overall total score! Not bad for just two adults and two kids and, in fact, if we hadn’t changed three of my answers we would have actually tied for first place with forty eight points each. However I mustn’t forget to mention that despite the fact that our team didn’t win anything that both Nat and Hannah did manage to each, individually, win a lolly pop. Hannah won hers for shouting out the correct answer to the first question of the night and Nat for the stupidest team name. We were, officially the Clotted Dreams but according to Nat we were AKA. . . The
Afterward we left and returned to our rooms and sleep...night all! At this point if I were writing my normal blog I’d note tat I was only a few words short of a thousand words and then waffle on until I passed that milestone but there’s now no need for me to do so or at least there won’t be any need after a few words more.
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Wed 20 Oct - Cornwall - The Eden Project
We were up at a reasonable time for the first time this holiday and were planning on visiting the Eden Project if it wasn’t too expensive. We have visited there once before when we stayed in Dorset in October 2001. We diverted to Cornwell on our way home on the last day but both Nat and Hannah were far too young to remember. It would be interesting to see how it had changed over the last ten years. Originally you could still make out much of the original clay quarry and of course the plantings, both in the domes and outside, were in their infancies.
We’d just passed the infamous, see previous entry, “out of stock” Tesco’s when we passed a girl whose hair was holding up her boobs. I can’t remember exactly what she’d done, as there was hardly time to take a photo, but it must have been unusual for me to note it in my phones holiday diary notes; shit, this will bother me for months now!
We were soon passing through the outskirts of Truro having already passed Truro College which impressed Nat greatly. He’s thinking of moving to it so that he can go surfing. Truro, which is the county town of Cornwall, what little we saw of it appeared to be very pretty and boasted an enormous; at least it looked enormous to us, Cathedral. We weren’t able to visit this time round, by the time we were passing it on our way back it was rush hour and Deb was too tired to attempt to drive through an unfamiliar town in such traffic conditions. On passed St. Austell the north to eventually arrive outside the Eden Project. We parked up and caught the shuttle bus to the entrance; yes it’s that big and that busy that the car parks require shuttle buses, you don’t even get shuttle buses at the NEC and that’s f**king gigantic! Shuttle Buses I Weres Gobsmacked Big Time My Mens! (Yes I know that sentence is WRONG).
The Eden Project is an astonishing project that consists, in the main, of two gigantic geodesic domes, one housing an Equatorial Forest, the other a more Semi- Tropical / Mediterranean climate. Outside of these there are extensive ground full of plants, features, other buildings and all sorts of peculiarities. All these “item”, including the domes, are located on the floor of this former clay pit (!) and are reached via ramps, steps, elevator or road train.
We paid for a family ticket, £50 but free to return anytime during the following 12 months, and made our way out onto the viewing platform. From here we walked down the ramp to the quarry floor. This seems a reasonable enough point at which to embed the photos…enjoy!
The first thing you notice, aside from the domes of course, as you descend to the quarry floor is a giant robotic statue that bears kind of a resemblance to a Man/Dinosaur/Doctor Who Monster. This statue/construct, known as WEE, is made up of the total amount of electronic waste the average UK citizen will discard during their lifetime. It’s bleeding enormous and certainly makes you consider our throw away, built in obsolescence, lifestyle (yes I’m as guilty as everyone else in my pursuit of the perfect mobile phone). I wouldn’t be quite so bad if much of this stuff was recycled but I’m sure that most of us are well aware that, at least until recently, the majority of it ends up corroding away to uselessness in the numerous landfills up and down this country.
When we got given out tickets the kids also each received a treasure map filled with clues that they had to identify as they made their way around the project. Nat showed little interest in his but Hannah, with Deb’s help, assiduously searched them out and, I believe found most if not all of them…well done that soon to be sulky little girl!
We made our way around the outside of the project before entering the domes themselves; as you can see from the photos above (which I may or may not have yet got round to individually labelling) there was an awful lot to see and do. Hannah managed at some point to take umbrage about something, I’ve given up asking, and I discovered the free Wi-Fi network and managed to upload an AudioBoo (a spoken blog entry) to Twitter and Facebook while I was negotiating my way round the outer perimeter…wow!
With Hannah alternately stalking off and coming back I found I spent most of the time going round with Nat who, unlike Deb and Hannah, would wait for me when I stopped to take yet another photo. Eventually we’d seen most of what there was to see outside and finally we entered the main building that accessed the domes. Before doing anything else we went into the cafeteria to get something to eat. We had pasties, chips and drinks. I had another rattler!
Finally, we logged our tickets, so that they were verified and our year long passes were secured, we bought additional tickets to visit the overhead canopy, Deb bought some bottles of water, thank God, and then, all this done, we entered the Jungle. At first the heat and humidity weren’t too noticeable and to be honest all through the visit the heat wasn’t the main problem. As we ascended to the top of the dome the humidity built up and we started sweating copiously. The equatorial zone didn’t seem greatly different from our last visit; I imaging that the plants grow so quickly in these conditions that they are constantly having to be cut back so the growth we’d seen the first time was little different to what we saw now. Eventually we reached the top, having taken numerous photos and videos on the way and having stopped to be rained on and listen to the thunder. We halted at the entrance to the above the canopy experience and waited to be advised of when we could experience this. We weren’t kept waiting long, about ten minutes, but we were very near the top and the humidity was pressing. My top was utterly drenched with sweat and it felt as if I’d worn it under a shower. It was going to get wetter and then colder!
At last, it was time to ascend to the walk up which led to the platform suspended above the canopy. The walk up was rather unpleasant; we were walking a walkway suspended by wires that swayed whilst you walked. Added to this it was made of perforated metal so if you looked at the steps, as you approached them, you’d become disorientated by the view of the jungle you could see through the gaps. The best strategy was to gaze upward toward the roof of the dome as you ascended. The platform itself was even more wobbly than the walkway and Hannah really didn’t like it and wasn’t able to stay up for very long. Certainly if you weren’t careful and if you suffered at all from vertigo you could get very dizzy very quickly.
All that said, the view was spectacular and if you can stand the humidity combined with the wobbliness, your vertigo isn’t too bad and you can afford it then I’d recommend you spend that money and enjoy the experience!
By the time we were back down to the normal top of the dome our clothes were literally stuck to us; worse still as we descended the temperature dropped and our clothes cooled rapidly. By the time we reached bottom we were both soaked and chilled. This made the Mediterranean Dome a much less pleasant experience than it should have been! Advice do the Mediterranean Dome First!
Anyway, we made our way down to the entrance, stopping to try, what I at least thought, was a rather delicious fruit cocktail. Then stopping to drink these in the bamboo hut and play chess on the bamboo chess board using the bamboo chess men. I won, I bamboozled them…bam bam!
Out of Africa, kind of, and into the cold October weather; we hurried across to the Med dome hoping to stay warm and dry off. This proved that what I said above was correct, visit this dome first. We wandered around in this temperate climate shivering but gradually warmed. The major inhibitor was that our clothes were now both soaked and cold.
I snapped and filmed as we made our way round and at one point Nat and I, yes Hannah was once more off with Mum, made a film about spotting wild Harley Davidson motorcycles living wild in the wild! While we wandered I’m sure I spotted climbers swinging from the dome structure and later I discovered that in fact you could come here to learn certain techniques.
After we’d seen everything we left the domes and began to make our way back to the main entrance. We went via a final building that housed a number of odd displays, see photos, and I’m not entirely sure what it was all about. Deb later told me she felt the same way.
We took the lift up to the top, stopped long enough for Nat and Han to bash out a few tunes on the recycled oil drum percussion set, crossed the bridge and finally discovered and perused the enormous gift shop located by the main exit. After some time spent here we returned to the shuttle bus that dropped us off at our car park and we drove home.
It was a shame we couldn’t stop at Truro so we’ll have to do so next time we’re in Cornwall. Eventually, we arrived back at Cowenden. During one of those odd times when there was a mobile signal I received a tweet from , among others, Stephen Fry advising all that he’d had been cast as Sherlock Holmes’ cleverer brother Mycroft in the currently filming sequel to Guy Richie’s movie, which, coincidently, was the one we’d watched last night…Spooky!
We had a “ploughman’s lunch” for tea, went swimming and finally to bed at the end of a long and fun day.
We’d just passed the infamous, see previous entry, “out of stock” Tesco’s when we passed a girl whose hair was holding up her boobs. I can’t remember exactly what she’d done, as there was hardly time to take a photo, but it must have been unusual for me to note it in my phones holiday diary notes; shit, this will bother me for months now!
We were soon passing through the outskirts of Truro having already passed Truro College which impressed Nat greatly. He’s thinking of moving to it so that he can go surfing. Truro, which is the county town of Cornwall, what little we saw of it appeared to be very pretty and boasted an enormous; at least it looked enormous to us, Cathedral. We weren’t able to visit this time round, by the time we were passing it on our way back it was rush hour and Deb was too tired to attempt to drive through an unfamiliar town in such traffic conditions. On passed St. Austell the north to eventually arrive outside the Eden Project. We parked up and caught the shuttle bus to the entrance; yes it’s that big and that busy that the car parks require shuttle buses, you don’t even get shuttle buses at the NEC and that’s f**king gigantic! Shuttle Buses I Weres Gobsmacked Big Time My Mens! (Yes I know that sentence is WRONG).
The Eden Project is an astonishing project that consists, in the main, of two gigantic geodesic domes, one housing an Equatorial Forest, the other a more Semi- Tropical / Mediterranean climate. Outside of these there are extensive ground full of plants, features, other buildings and all sorts of peculiarities. All these “item”, including the domes, are located on the floor of this former clay pit (!) and are reached via ramps, steps, elevator or road train.
We paid for a family ticket, £50 but free to return anytime during the following 12 months, and made our way out onto the viewing platform. From here we walked down the ramp to the quarry floor. This seems a reasonable enough point at which to embed the photos…enjoy!
The first thing you notice, aside from the domes of course, as you descend to the quarry floor is a giant robotic statue that bears kind of a resemblance to a Man/Dinosaur/Doctor Who Monster. This statue/construct, known as WEE, is made up of the total amount of electronic waste the average UK citizen will discard during their lifetime. It’s bleeding enormous and certainly makes you consider our throw away, built in obsolescence, lifestyle (yes I’m as guilty as everyone else in my pursuit of the perfect mobile phone). I wouldn’t be quite so bad if much of this stuff was recycled but I’m sure that most of us are well aware that, at least until recently, the majority of it ends up corroding away to uselessness in the numerous landfills up and down this country.
When we got given out tickets the kids also each received a treasure map filled with clues that they had to identify as they made their way around the project. Nat showed little interest in his but Hannah, with Deb’s help, assiduously searched them out and, I believe found most if not all of them…well done that soon to be sulky little girl!
We made our way around the outside of the project before entering the domes themselves; as you can see from the photos above (which I may or may not have yet got round to individually labelling) there was an awful lot to see and do. Hannah managed at some point to take umbrage about something, I’ve given up asking, and I discovered the free Wi-Fi network and managed to upload an AudioBoo (a spoken blog entry) to Twitter and Facebook while I was negotiating my way round the outer perimeter…wow!
With Hannah alternately stalking off and coming back I found I spent most of the time going round with Nat who, unlike Deb and Hannah, would wait for me when I stopped to take yet another photo. Eventually we’d seen most of what there was to see outside and finally we entered the main building that accessed the domes. Before doing anything else we went into the cafeteria to get something to eat. We had pasties, chips and drinks. I had another rattler!
Finally, we logged our tickets, so that they were verified and our year long passes were secured, we bought additional tickets to visit the overhead canopy, Deb bought some bottles of water, thank God, and then, all this done, we entered the Jungle. At first the heat and humidity weren’t too noticeable and to be honest all through the visit the heat wasn’t the main problem. As we ascended to the top of the dome the humidity built up and we started sweating copiously. The equatorial zone didn’t seem greatly different from our last visit; I imaging that the plants grow so quickly in these conditions that they are constantly having to be cut back so the growth we’d seen the first time was little different to what we saw now. Eventually we reached the top, having taken numerous photos and videos on the way and having stopped to be rained on and listen to the thunder. We halted at the entrance to the above the canopy experience and waited to be advised of when we could experience this. We weren’t kept waiting long, about ten minutes, but we were very near the top and the humidity was pressing. My top was utterly drenched with sweat and it felt as if I’d worn it under a shower. It was going to get wetter and then colder!
At last, it was time to ascend to the walk up which led to the platform suspended above the canopy. The walk up was rather unpleasant; we were walking a walkway suspended by wires that swayed whilst you walked. Added to this it was made of perforated metal so if you looked at the steps, as you approached them, you’d become disorientated by the view of the jungle you could see through the gaps. The best strategy was to gaze upward toward the roof of the dome as you ascended. The platform itself was even more wobbly than the walkway and Hannah really didn’t like it and wasn’t able to stay up for very long. Certainly if you weren’t careful and if you suffered at all from vertigo you could get very dizzy very quickly.
All that said, the view was spectacular and if you can stand the humidity combined with the wobbliness, your vertigo isn’t too bad and you can afford it then I’d recommend you spend that money and enjoy the experience!
By the time we were back down to the normal top of the dome our clothes were literally stuck to us; worse still as we descended the temperature dropped and our clothes cooled rapidly. By the time we reached bottom we were both soaked and chilled. This made the Mediterranean Dome a much less pleasant experience than it should have been! Advice do the Mediterranean Dome First!
Anyway, we made our way down to the entrance, stopping to try, what I at least thought, was a rather delicious fruit cocktail. Then stopping to drink these in the bamboo hut and play chess on the bamboo chess board using the bamboo chess men. I won, I bamboozled them…bam bam!
Out of Africa, kind of, and into the cold October weather; we hurried across to the Med dome hoping to stay warm and dry off. This proved that what I said above was correct, visit this dome first. We wandered around in this temperate climate shivering but gradually warmed. The major inhibitor was that our clothes were now both soaked and cold.
I snapped and filmed as we made our way round and at one point Nat and I, yes Hannah was once more off with Mum, made a film about spotting wild Harley Davidson motorcycles living wild in the wild! While we wandered I’m sure I spotted climbers swinging from the dome structure and later I discovered that in fact you could come here to learn certain techniques.
After we’d seen everything we left the domes and began to make our way back to the main entrance. We went via a final building that housed a number of odd displays, see photos, and I’m not entirely sure what it was all about. Deb later told me she felt the same way.
We took the lift up to the top, stopped long enough for Nat and Han to bash out a few tunes on the recycled oil drum percussion set, crossed the bridge and finally discovered and perused the enormous gift shop located by the main exit. After some time spent here we returned to the shuttle bus that dropped us off at our car park and we drove home.
It was a shame we couldn’t stop at Truro so we’ll have to do so next time we’re in Cornwall. Eventually, we arrived back at Cowenden. During one of those odd times when there was a mobile signal I received a tweet from , among others, Stephen Fry advising all that he’d had been cast as Sherlock Holmes’ cleverer brother Mycroft in the currently filming sequel to Guy Richie’s movie, which, coincidently, was the one we’d watched last night…Spooky!
We had a “ploughman’s lunch” for tea, went swimming and finally to bed at the end of a long and fun day.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Tuesday 18 October - St Ives
We were up late yet again, the holiday would be over before we knew if this kept up, and yet again Deb and I were at each other’s throats. She’s got the stereotypical ladies excuse whereas with me it’s because, at the moment, I’ve got very short tempered with Hannah, she keeps lying and being rude, and if I tell her off for being naughty and when Deb automatically leaps to her defence regardless of what she’s done I get really angry with her. So we left to visit St. Ives with an undercurrent of hostility present. To be honest I really didn’t want anything to do with anyone so I kept myself to myself and took lots of photos. Things didn’t really change until after we’d arrived at St Ives and spent some there.
Anyway, back to the journey, we drove indirectly (On our why to Lelant Saltings Deb took a wrong turn and for a while we were headed in the opposite direction. When we realised our mistake and headed towards Penzance and St.Michael's Mount before turning north back toward Lelant Saltings) to Lelant Salting railway station with he intention of parking the car there and taking the train into St Ives. We’d chosen to do this for two reasons, first, we were told the rail route allowed you to glimpse spectacular scenery that you would otherwise miss and that, secondly, parking in St Ives was a nightmare! Both points were correct, the railway journey took us passed absolutely stunning beaches and headlands AND WHEN WE WERE WALKING THROUGH ST IVES IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT THERE REALLY WAS NO PARKING! Initially, the weather that morning had been disappointing, drizzling and overcast. Luckily, by the time we got into St.Ives, all this had changed and the day became almost summary. I heard that artists move to St.Ives and the surrounds because they considered that here was found the best natural light in Britain. I’d dismissed this as artistic bollocks and an excuse to live in the sunniest part of the UK but I have to admit I was the ignorant peasant. The light is unbelievable, all of West Cornwall seemed to be lit differently from everywhere else, everything seemed brighter and sharper, but St Ives was a revelation...I stand corrected a real man can admit when he’s wrong, its just wilful little nine year old girls who can’t, can they Hannah?
Anyway the train ride proved to be as lovely as we’d been told it was and a little while later we pulled into St Ives Station, which itself is blessed with a view of a beautiful bay situated directly below it, from there we walked to the top of the town - after that it was ALL downhill, and, indeed, a very steep hill it was!
St. Ives is gorgeous, one of those places that you immediately fall in love with and want to move into without delay. I think we were all captivated by it, certainly, I know I was; I couldn’t stop taking photos and videoing almost everything I saw. The Harbour is captivating and I walked its entire length while Deb and the Kids sat on their arses at the land end.
As I’ve already mentioned everything that’s claimed for the natural light in St. Ives is true and it’s true in spades. Absolutely everything you looked at seemed sharper and more in focus than anywhere else I’ve ever visited. It reminded me of the light on the Greek island of Zakynthos where all the blues are that spectacular multicoloured sea is translucent. Certainly I’ve never seen so many artists and art shops in one place before and don’ forget they’ve got their own Tate gallery! Unfortunately the Tate here is far too expensive to actually enter so that’s all that you’ll learn about it in this blog! This seems as good a place to place the photographs as anywhere:
After we’d completed our first tour of the town and taken in a sea front gallery, lovely lovely paintings by the way, the air of hostility, mentioned earlier, had dissipate and we decided to stop for lunch in a sea front pub where we had whitebait (Deb and me), 2 bowls of cheesy chips (1 for Hannah 1 to share), vegetable soup (Nat) and a pint of rattler (Me). Nice food, nice pub but, like everywhere in Cornwall, bloody expensive!
Afterward we continues our odyssey climbing a short way back up the hill then heading across the town taking in the main shopping strip and finally finding the sign posts for the Tate. We visited the Tate but for the reasons already given we didn’t actually go into the Gallery proper. The Tate is situated around the headland away from the town harbour and the change in the sea is astonishing. The harbour and surrounding sea had been as still as a mill pond because, I assume the headland acted as a windbreak whereas round the other side of it you encountered numerous surfers taking advantage of large powerful waves.
We walked back into the town had final look around the shops and started the long climb back up to the railway station. We too advantage of the many shops on the hill to stop and rest and shop some more. Eventually, we reached the Station, waited for the train and finally waved farewell to glorious St Ives; I’ll be back my love!
By now the tide had completely come in and the swampy flood plain that had had been the backdrop of our journey into town was now totally flooded and as a result the landscape was transformed.
Back at Lelant Salting we reclaimed our car and headed for home. We weren’t in a hurry and took our time as we tootled slowly home taking in the beautiful Cornish scenery!
Back at the Estate after we had rested and had something to eat we made our way to the pool and sauna after which we went back to our rooms and to bed or TV as took one’s preference.
VIDEOS STILL TO BE POSTED INTO THIS BLOG ENTRY
Anyway, back to the journey, we drove indirectly (On our why to Lelant Saltings Deb took a wrong turn and for a while we were headed in the opposite direction. When we realised our mistake and headed towards Penzance and St.Michael's Mount before turning north back toward Lelant Saltings) to Lelant Salting railway station with he intention of parking the car there and taking the train into St Ives. We’d chosen to do this for two reasons, first, we were told the rail route allowed you to glimpse spectacular scenery that you would otherwise miss and that, secondly, parking in St Ives was a nightmare! Both points were correct, the railway journey took us passed absolutely stunning beaches and headlands AND WHEN WE WERE WALKING THROUGH ST IVES IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT THERE REALLY WAS NO PARKING! Initially, the weather that morning had been disappointing, drizzling and overcast. Luckily, by the time we got into St.Ives, all this had changed and the day became almost summary. I heard that artists move to St.Ives and the surrounds because they considered that here was found the best natural light in Britain. I’d dismissed this as artistic bollocks and an excuse to live in the sunniest part of the UK but I have to admit I was the ignorant peasant. The light is unbelievable, all of West Cornwall seemed to be lit differently from everywhere else, everything seemed brighter and sharper, but St Ives was a revelation...I stand corrected a real man can admit when he’s wrong, its just wilful little nine year old girls who can’t, can they Hannah?
Anyway the train ride proved to be as lovely as we’d been told it was and a little while later we pulled into St Ives Station, which itself is blessed with a view of a beautiful bay situated directly below it, from there we walked to the top of the town - after that it was ALL downhill, and, indeed, a very steep hill it was!
St. Ives is gorgeous, one of those places that you immediately fall in love with and want to move into without delay. I think we were all captivated by it, certainly, I know I was; I couldn’t stop taking photos and videoing almost everything I saw. The Harbour is captivating and I walked its entire length while Deb and the Kids sat on their arses at the land end.
As I’ve already mentioned everything that’s claimed for the natural light in St. Ives is true and it’s true in spades. Absolutely everything you looked at seemed sharper and more in focus than anywhere else I’ve ever visited. It reminded me of the light on the Greek island of Zakynthos where all the blues are that spectacular multicoloured sea is translucent. Certainly I’ve never seen so many artists and art shops in one place before and don’ forget they’ve got their own Tate gallery! Unfortunately the Tate here is far too expensive to actually enter so that’s all that you’ll learn about it in this blog! This seems as good a place to place the photographs as anywhere:
After we’d completed our first tour of the town and taken in a sea front gallery, lovely lovely paintings by the way, the air of hostility, mentioned earlier, had dissipate and we decided to stop for lunch in a sea front pub where we had whitebait (Deb and me), 2 bowls of cheesy chips (1 for Hannah 1 to share), vegetable soup (Nat) and a pint of rattler (Me). Nice food, nice pub but, like everywhere in Cornwall, bloody expensive!
Afterward we continues our odyssey climbing a short way back up the hill then heading across the town taking in the main shopping strip and finally finding the sign posts for the Tate. We visited the Tate but for the reasons already given we didn’t actually go into the Gallery proper. The Tate is situated around the headland away from the town harbour and the change in the sea is astonishing. The harbour and surrounding sea had been as still as a mill pond because, I assume the headland acted as a windbreak whereas round the other side of it you encountered numerous surfers taking advantage of large powerful waves.
We walked back into the town had final look around the shops and started the long climb back up to the railway station. We too advantage of the many shops on the hill to stop and rest and shop some more. Eventually, we reached the Station, waited for the train and finally waved farewell to glorious St Ives; I’ll be back my love!
By now the tide had completely come in and the swampy flood plain that had had been the backdrop of our journey into town was now totally flooded and as a result the landscape was transformed.
Back at Lelant Salting we reclaimed our car and headed for home. We weren’t in a hurry and took our time as we tootled slowly home taking in the beautiful Cornish scenery!
Back at the Estate after we had rested and had something to eat we made our way to the pool and sauna after which we went back to our rooms and to bed or TV as took one’s preference.
VIDEOS STILL TO BE POSTED INTO THIS BLOG ENTRY
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