… did ya miss me? 🙂
We landed on American soil late Saturday afternoon. I much prefer the flight home to the flight there – if you can catch a small nap on such a crowded flight (not likely with the row mates I had bouncing in and out, digging under the seats, reaching into the overhead, hitting the loo every half hour….). The flight was two hours late in taking off, but Heathrow isn’t lacking for some nice coffee shops. We checked email and watched people. I played a solitary round of spot-the-almost-celebrity. You’d be surprised (or maybe not) how many men over there do resemble Prince Charles and Prince Phillip. In a really odd moment, I saw my mother’s younger look-alike.
We traveled the southern coast mostly – Penzance (but saw no pirates, go figure), Port William (a smuggler’s village), Boskednan, Plymouth, Fowey (pronounce “Foy”), and Mousehole (pronounced “Mowzel”). Never have I seen so many flowers – they were growing out of cracks in walls, in the bows of trees, in sidewalks, around nearly anything that has a thin layer of soil or peat. All in bloom, all gorgeous thanks to the nearly constant rain or drizzle. Odd sight – palm trees and magnolias. It never gets cold enough to really freeze. Our one B&B owner was growing figs on her patio.
We did some touristy things – visited St. Michael’s Mount, which was well worth the boat ride and the pounds to get in. There I met a very bow-legged tabby cat who sauntered up to me, rubbed against my leg, and then flopped down in the sun beside me, flicking her tail and closing her eyes. Cat Valhalla. We also visited Minack Theatre, which was a stunning venue, and we stayed for the first half of a Cinderella remake before retreating to the warmth of the car (very cold!). We also made a hasty trip to Stonehenge in what I call our drive-by henging – the Brits have realized the value of commercialization, and have fenced off the area and now charge folks to walk close to the henge. We walked up to the fence, held cameras over it, and took photos. Enough henge.
Spent wonderful nights in lovely places, and had only one awful experience, naturally on the last night. We stayed in Salisbury at a lovely old inn/tavern right on the edge of a fast-moving river. However, the inn part is directly above the tavern part, and apparently this was the drinking side of town. A surprise party for the owner had the noise LOUD and constant right below our window until 2 a.m. When he couldn’t take any more and went down to complain, the very drunk owner (understandably, as it was his party) was unsympathetic and totally unhelpful. He refused a refund, refused to break up the party, and when he said all he could do was find us another place, my better half said, “Fine, then do so.” Dumbfounded, the dude feigned making two calls and said he couldn’t find anyone awake. Hell no – these people were asleep, as we should’ve been! We left at 6:30 a.m. very tired and very ticked off, and my review has already landed on Trip Advisor, where I saw others had a similar experience.
We came back to warmer temps and gorgeous flowers of our own. And now back to work. One funny thing – at the customs desk here in Philly, the dude asked what I did for a living. When I said, “I’m a writer”, he was impressed and said, “Are you a creative writer?” I replied, “It’s all creative writing!” He loved it. 🙂
Now back to the grind. I have two deadlines and a few interviews to tackle in the next month, and I’m totally refreshed. Remind me of that in a few days when I get vacation withdrawal. 🙂
Meantime, check out yesterday’s pre-written post for a bit of a career tune-up. It’s just below this one.
Thanks for your come back.I missed you very much.please don’t do this second time.
Oh honey, I’ll definitely be going again! But didn’t I leave you with lots to read while I was gone?
While you were in Cornwall, did you go to Jamaica Inn? And visit Tintagal?
I loved Mousehole — I stayed near Fowey — we had to take the “ferry” — ie a raft with a motor attached) from beside Chris Du Maurier’s house at Boddinnick over to Fowey to reach the roads. We stayed close to Polruan in a rented farmhouse.
It wouldn’t have mattered where you stayed in Salisbury — not a good inn in the place. You’re better heading towards Amesbury.