Mind the gap!

 Mind the Gap!

I can hardly believe that the last time I wrote it was the end of September and now it's 10th November!

I'll do a quick catch up with a few pictures but basically all is well and Keith has had a lovely trip to Korea to see Phil and Brandi! He was so excited to be travelling again - he's off again soon... to Thailand this time.

So since I last wrote their have been walks...

This was at Sennen on a windy afternoon

golf...

We did get caught in this approaching shower!

...the golf below was up at St Austell; 

some challenges... 

my laptop is still functioning - just - but it is precarious and as the screen cracked the touchscreen no longer works ( I will have to upgrade at some point!)

there were lovely walks:

I love this view of the Cape from the Tregeseal Valley.

More golf,  this was at Dartmouth - it rained on our final day but we still played!

There have been awesome cloud formations,

and this week I had my booster vaccination and Keith had his too.

Last weekend I did a PCR test because I'd been with someone who had tested positive but that was a negative result and all has been well.

Best of all my friend Lindsay is back home and doing well after a heart valve replacement op. She had about 6 weeks waiting for it (she went privately) and she is now slowly building up her strength. I've been over to see her and Peter several times (sometimes taking food!) and its lovely to see her doing so well.

It certainly makes you take stock when this sort of thing happens.

The government continue to be unbelievable with some of their actions... but at least I am free to say so!

Tim was here for about a month and is away for most of November. Bridgie Tim and Keith are all hoping to be here for Christmas which would be great! The family are all keeping well.

I feel extremely lucky to live here... there was a lovely article about St Just's cafes the other day - it really is a special community.

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cafe-owners-giving-remote-st-6167937

Hello again!

 A month and more!

I can hardly believe how much time has passed since I last wrote!

I suppose it is an indicator that things are more normal? Certainly life has been busy.

I played lots of golf; had a sore knee that turned out to be my pelvis; had Tim back (he's away again at the moment) and had my flu vaccination. I expect the call for a booster jab at some point over the next month or so.

I took Tim to a special Irish celebration Peter Gorton meal at the Club which was really good...

Berry crumble for pud

I felt like I wanted some greens with this

Delicious beetroot starter for me... Crab for Tim

Keith came back and was able to stay for the start of the Tour of Britain and we went out on to the road to cheer! It was fabulous!

We were stood on this corner!

They went so fast...and the number of cars and motorbikes involved was incredible!

It was lovely to follow it on tv as it wended it's way up to Bodmin, and to watch the later stages too. Unfortunately it was really misty while it was in West Penwith so the helicopter couldn't fly so our spectacular views remain secret!

I haven't had an ironing board since I've been down here and only occasionally iron on top of my oven! But it's not very easy. I spotted this little board in the window of Clemo's in St Just and it's just perfect! It lives on the back of my under-stairs cupboard door, hanging out of the way.  (I was listening to Classic FM on my laptop)

We have had some fabulous sunsets...

and Tim and I walked to Boat Cove near Pendeen one Sunday afternoon which was lovely.

Tim had a weekend away on the Gower with some friends and went up to London for his birthday weekend.

Our Covid rates have now reached about the average for England so there have been improvements in the Cornwall rates, generally though there are still about 30,000 new cases daily and about 100 deaths.

Our latest idiocy is panic buying of petrol because of a shortage of lorry drivers. There are shortages in the shops too for the same reason... and of course you know what happens...everyone fills up when they don't need to. It has been chaos.

The UK is a shambles of a country; there are not enough workers to harvest crops so they rot in the fields; shortages in shops and now shortages in fuel; and my electricity company (along with several others) has failed and has been taken over (in my case) by British Gas. Oh, and National Insurance is going up to help pay for the NHS... no mention of the  Brexit  promise of  hundreds of thousands of pounds a week  that would be available to put into the NHS when we left theEU?

Sorry...incorrect...it wasn't hundreds of thousands... it was £350 million a week which we could spend on public services...

Nothing changes. 

But, the weather has definitely changed. When the sun stops rising and setting on the north side of the terrace it's a sign of autumn and we have had those misty mornings which are rather beautiful.

Lovely visitors

My Lovely Visitors

What a super time we had together; Tim was sleeping in Bronwen's studio; Keith had my room; Bridgie was in what is known as Bridget's room... and I slept on the bed-settee. It was far more comfortable than it had been rumoured and in the mornings Bridgie would join me for a while and we would watch the Olympics!

Sitting in the morning...

...watching the 'Lympics'
The arrangements worked really well. I was delighted too that the decisions about food were made by us all, sometimes I cooked, or we had take-out. Altogether it was stress free.

While Keith was here the beach was on the menu every day. 
Gwynver was a trip Keith Tim and Bridgie did one day

and they went swimming again. Each time it seemed less cold!

The weather really was fabulous and we usually had trips up to the Carn in the evening to check the sunsets.

I drove us to Lands' End and we all walked towards Sennen; Tim and Keith and Bridgie walking on to the beach while I went back to the car and picked them up from the beach.

These are Tim's pictures.

(Apologies for the order of things... not quite sure which day we did what but you'll get the drift of lots of lovely walks and times together)

In the afternoon we headed down to Cot Valley and I took them on the path across the fields - reminded Tim of Gladiator

They were surprised at the extent of the Cliff fall - the path along the pipe line is all but obliterated and I was surprised at the number of people who were there.

I left them there and headed back - and they went for a swim!

They thought it was wonderful!

Most afternoons - about 5pm Tim would head down to the Gym at the golf Club and Bridgie would go too. After Keith left and she was working from here she would go down after she'd finish work and they would spend an hour or so there. Sometimes Bridgie jogged down and Tim went on the bike!

All this energy!

Ahhhh!

That's all for now.... more when I can (busy week ahead but will try and catch up soon)

Oh, as of now our Covid rates are still appalling - over 32,000 new cases a day and an average of 100 deaths a day - and it's passed off as normal.

Cornwall's rates are over 320/100k and Newquay's is over 1100/100k.

I continue to do twice weekly lateral flow tests and am still avoiding enclosed and busy spaces.

Byebye for now...

I left you with my high level of excitement... and what a wonderful time we have had!

Tim had arranged for a hire car and had planned to pick up Bridgie (from Slough) and Keith from Bath en route.

However, the hire car company was in disarray and after delay and indecision on their part and long messages between Tim, Keith and Bridgie they each made their own way here by train.

Keith met Bridgie at Taunton and they arrived at Penzance very late Wednesday night/Thursday morning - just after midnight.

Tim followed on Thursday but his train suddenly terminated at Reading and then there were several cancelled ones. He eventually arrived about 8.15 pm.

Hug of a lifetime!

The chaos on the trains and in the hire company is largely due to Covid. The Track and Trace system has 'pinged' people who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive with the result that they have had to isolate for up to 10 days. This has caused huge problems in almost every area of life. Restaurants, hotels, other service industries are closed because of it. 

Our cafe, Dog and Rabbit has been closed again because of it. The golf club are having problems getting laundry because the laundry workers have been pinged, and other local businesses have had to close.

It has been a huge challenge especially when the influx of Tourists is massive.

Anyway... back to my lovely visitors!

The day was glorious and we went to Sennen, it was flat calm and beautiful, Keith and Bridgie found it very cold in the sea, but sun-cream was needed and we had a lovely time.

We parked above Sennen in the field at the top and had the walk down to the beach.

The walk back was a little slower!!

Then it was time to pick up Tim from the station - we were all a bit emotional - it was so wonderful to be together again.

How wonderful it was to be together... and we enjoyed hugs galore!

We took Tim's stuff down to Bronwen's where Tim was going to be in the annexe.

I'll leave it there and pick up from here in a day or so... otherwise I'll not get this posted and it will be too long!

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.