July 19th

 Anticipation

I have been at high degree of excitement for a little while now with the anticipation of Tim, Bridgie and Keith visiting!

Tim arrived last Monday and is awaiting his quarantine test results before coming down. The company doing it are so slow (he's not impressed). He paid for two tests so he could leave quarantine early if they were negative...but he may well reach the end of the quarantine period before he gets the results! 

Personal experience for him of private companies... like Test and Trace and PPE!

The shenanigans of Boris over the weekend sums it all up.

Anyway - to brighter things - if all is well with tests B, T and K are planning to come later this week.

I have been busy cleaning and tidying the house and have been on cloud nine! The ladies at golf have had to keep hold of my feet in case I floated away!

Needless to say there has been quite a lot of golf (though some of it had to be delayed because of rain and fog).

Now we have blue sky and bright sunshine - glorious in fact.

Not only have I been trying to tidy the house but also the garden too, which was greatly appreciated by this young robin (?)

I have really enjoyed all the sport on the tv. The tour went by Montsegur so I had to take a picture of the laptop - we had gone there in the camper and Keith and Phil had climbed up to it while I stayed with Tim and Little Bridgie at the bottom. (Been up since!)

Last week I played some of my best golf - two really good rounds - but then yesterday normal service was resumed. Mind you, the weather was so hot Saturday and Sunday, hardly a breath of wind and despite having the umbrella up for shade; a wet flannel round my neck and two bottles of cold water it was a bit of a struggle.

We were very mindful to be careful because one of our men players died after the Club Championship weekend. He'd struggled on the second day and he was found dead at home the following day - we think he had a massive heart attack. He was only 61. It was such a shock as we'd only seen him and been talking to him two days before. Still can't get my head around it.

Back at home I have experimented with the sofa- bed in the sitting room (for when the family are here). It was more comfy than I expected especially with an extra under-layer.

Bronwen (one of my golfing buddies) has said we may use her studio in her garden too which is really kind of her. Bronwen lives down by the church so not far away.

Bron's studio

Some of Bronwen's lovely garden

Well I'd better get back to that cleaning, below is a picture from yesterday!

5th July

 5th July

Well look!

The spike flowered!

and it was absolutely wonderful. The scent was a gentle lily of the valley and it  quietly filled the room.

I found myself talking to it quite often (!!) appreciating every moment because it only lasts a day!

What a treat it was and there is another spike developing.

We had our Club Championship over the weekend and yours truly came second by two shots! It was a lot of fun and we were really lucky with the weather because thunder storms had been forecast but we were in sunshine mostly though the usual fresh breeze.

The pathways are still a delight of colour.

When I've been home I have been spoilt for sport to watch... Tour de France on the little screen on the left; golf on my laptop and tennis on the TV.

That's been fun - and I believe football has also been on too?

Our Covid rates in Cornwall seem to be levelling off, still above UK average and of concern to us, but the government is determined to lift all restrictions soon so we will have to deal with the fall-out ourselves.

Keith has remained fine and has felt frustrated about the isolation needed because of the Track and Trace ping when there is no way of knowing exactly what caused the alert or when. I believe the government is planning to ditch everything at the end of the month and try to persuade people that we are now through it.

We'll see. 

Month End

 June 30th

Since I wrote last our rates have gone through the roof.

Cornwall as a whole has a rate of 153/100,000 but Falmouth for example has a rate of over 660/100k.

The other hot spot is St Ives, amd of course we are told it is nothing to do with G7.

I don't believe it is all down to G7 by any means, half term visitors were the start of it all, bringing the delta variant with them, however I am also sure that it has had an impact.

So a quick look back at the rest of this month which has really flown by.

On the  Friday the 18th a group of us went up to play at Perranporth. It was a glorious day and we had a lot of fun - it was a friendly against a team from Perran and we had one or two ladies in our team who hadn't played it before so that was exciting for them.

The following day was our Ladies Captain's Day and we had gorgeous weather again!

On Sunday it was raining again and I spent time preparing a short 'movie' to celebrate Anne's life.

We were having a special evening on the Tuesday and Lindsay and put a display together about her. We went down to the club on the Monday afternoon to prepare the room... only to find when we arrived on Tuesday evening that it had all been re-arranged and we had to start over - but it all went well.

We had several of her quilts which some of our ladies took to either use themselves or pass on to others.

It was a good evening.

Keith had arrived the evening before  and we had a lovely walk down at Cape.

On the Tuesday we drove to Land's End and walked to Nanjizal and it was beautiful!

The colours were glorious.

Nanjizal had sand which was great and there were a surprising number of people on the beach.

We took coffee and a sandwich with us...

and the sea wasn't too cold!

In the afternoon Keith went off on Phil's bike and he watched the football in the evening while I was at Anne's celebration.

On the Wednesday we went up to Chun Quoit and Castle.

It was misty but that didn't effect the peaceful atmosphere of the place.

Leaving Chun Castle

Wonderful Chun Quoit

And of course we had to go to the Crown's Mines

there was a sign to warn of a cliff fall...

and they weren't joking!

 Once again in the afternoon Keith went off on the bike to Carn Gloose where he has a favourite bench.

Phil's birthday on the 24th was very foggy! We decided to have breakfast down at The Dog and Rabbit...but no answer from there phone.

Eventually we discovered that their son was off school while awaiting a covid result...

so I had to come up with the goods instead!

Not as good but not bad!

Because of the fog we went over to Newlyn and had coffee with Lindsay and Peter, then after Keith's now usual bike ride in the afternoon we went to Sennen for an evening walk on the beach.

The fog had gone and it was beautiful.

Friday I had a committee meeting in the morning (another foggy one) but it cleared later.

In the evening we went out for a Peter Gorton meal - it was delicious!

Duck

This trio of puds were amazing... basil panna cotta, cherry sorbet etc etc1

It was absolutely delicious!

Keith was catching the train early Saturday morning - we went in for 6.30 am and his trip back.

We had a visitor on the golf course!

We had absolutely torrential rain on the Sunday and foggy again on Monday but we were back golfing on Tuesday, this time up at Looe.

We had a really lovely time and even with the covid restrictions it felt almost normal.

Today I have noticed this amazing flower spike on the cactus...it might be open tomorrow!

So that brings us up to date...except... I had a call from Keith this evening to say he had been pinged by Track and Trace to say he was a contact of someone who has tested positive.

He has to isolate until midnight on the 6th.

We have worked out that this probably means that it was someone on the train with him on the Saturday on the way home, or at the cricket match he went to watch  that afternoon.

He is feeling fine, has no symptoms and did a lateral flow test this evening which was negative.

Keeping fingers crossed that that is how things remain.

I have been doing lateral flow tests regularly for a while now and upped it to twice a week when our covid rates went up so much. I'll keep doing them and keep a careful eye on things in case it was a contact down here.

17th June

17th June

Just a quick update re Covid.. our rates have gone up massively.

Cornwall's rate now includes the first two days of the G& and our rate is now 71/100k

And the rates in St Ives and Falmouth are much higher 

"The seven-day case rate up to 11 June for St Ives was 517.5 per 100,000, one of the highest in the country. 

In Falmouth, the case rate was also one of the highest in the country, at 382.1 per 100,000, with 30 actual cases in the week ending 11 June."

14th June

 June 14th

I got back yesterday from a weekend away!!!

Lindsay and I went up to Lyme Regis to play in a regional golf competition. We played the course (above) on the Thursday in swirling mist and didn't get to see any views...but they were there for the actual competition!

It's a fabulous course and I'd like to play there again.

We stayed in this delightful thatched house, we had neighbouring rooms up in the loft... those two tiny windows in the thatch.

There was also a very pretty garden - and fabulous hosts.

Lyme Regis was fairly busy but probably nothing compared to the summer.

We spent the Friday relaxing - we walked across the beach finding fossils

and  found a lovely little place for pizza in the evening.

We had tried to book a meal in various different places but they were all booked up. Covid has definitely made a difference to the way people plan.

I have been doing a lateral flow test every 6 days or so. I realise its limitations but it gives me a feeling of greater confidence when I am meeting new people.

The golf competition was a little frustrating - I think it's a course I could play well on - the greens were huge and true - but I didn't play well but not dreadfully either.  There were a few distractions unfortunately. However, these things offer many lessons and I'm sure I've learnt a few things.

Looking back over the last few weeks we have had more changes of weather. Several times we have had to cancel and mist and fog has been an issue of late.

We've also had some lovely days - the below was one of them when we invite folk from different clubs to come and play with us as our guests. We had a glorious day.

I mentioned on the last blog that I was meeting the chap from the school - it was a little frustrating to say the least and I have passed on any further contact to Cape and be followed up by a player (male) who is a better player than the teacher himself.  

You have permission to read between the lines.

Keith is coming to stay next week which is lovely - I hope we have some good weather!

G7 happened while I was away but it seemed to go ok and some of the pictures showed off Cornwall at its best.

Unfortunately our Covid rates are going up again. Cornwall was 3 per 100,000 last week... now it's 12and in the country it's gone up to 30+ 

The lifting of lockdown restrictions looks set to be delayed - but it is the only wise thing to do. Looking at folk in Lyme Regis - other thank masks and distanced queues - things seemed fairly normal.

I'm sure our rates will fly high again with the huge influx of people that we have had. 

Family are all well - can't wait to see them all and give and receive some hugs!

Tues May 25th

May 25th 

I can hardly believe it is two weeks since the last blog!

The weather that day was fairly typical of the late spring that we have had, the above was the view out of the window as another heavy shower blew in, bringing hail!

 But it wasn't always so, on the Thursday of that week we enjoyed golf in relative sunshine

followed  by a Peter Gorton BBQ meal which was delicious.

We still needed coats and hats and rugs but it was very enjoyable all the same. We were joined by Lindsay's cousin and her husband who live at Swanpool.

They are charming people with a wealth of knowledge and experience. He was a museum curator in Dorset I believe - and she a librarian I think. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon!

We managed to play golf on the Saturday despite a poor forecast but the following week we were back into gale force winds and driving rain!

It would be lovely to have a break from this.

We were allowed to meet inside in groups up to 6 on Monday 17th May!

The club celebrated with a quiz night but without our usual host. It was still an enjoyable evening.

We have a golf pro who has now been affiliated to the club and I was lucky enough to get a lesson with him on Thursday afternoon last week (in the midst of the gales).

Now I am trying to put his advice into practice which is both fun and challenging  at the same time!

I was impressed with him. The club are encouraging links with the local school and are encouraging 'newbies' of any age to play. I have been helping with them quite a bit and really enjoying it. 

With the new pro's seal of approval I will carry on with that and then will point folk in his direction when they want to progress further.

I'm meeting the teacher at the school this afternoon so we'll see how that goes.

The garden in the front is looking really pretty and the willow hedge is beginning to sprout. It will be interesting to see how goes.

Annie, the lady in the middle of the picture below celebrated her birthday with a few of us last year. We used to meet up for coffee and cake fairly regularly - she used to play golf with us but gave it up about 3 years ago. Very sadly her breast cancer of many, many years ago returned two year's back and after a feisty attempt to keep it at bay she dies on Friday.

She will be sorely missed by us all.

The inclement weather has continued and  once again it is wet and windy out (and not warm!)

Hopefully things will begin to improve soon.

Bridgie had a lovely birthday weekend, travelling with Ben over to Chepstow for the weekend; meeting up with Keith on the Friday and exploring the Wye Valley the rest of the time. 

Back to work again now but I'm hoping she will come and stay in July when most of her MBA work will be complete.

On the Covid front, many of us have now had both doses of vaccine and I am now testing myself with a lateral flow test about once a week, particularly if I am meeting new folk. The brief unpleasantness of the test is worth it for the reassurance it gives (acknowledging its limitations of course).

We are allowed to meet inside in groups of 6 or two households; and outside in groups of up to thirty.