whether we like it or not!

I did go back to bed after photographing the dawn. I awoke at around 8 to another cloudy morning. As the day wore on we could see people getting off the little train and putting up their brollies. Husband popped out for the papers and some milk. when he returned he said 'Either J has a twin sister, or she is in St Ives' 'J who? I asked, J from church' he replied. he had seen this lady who looked like J dressed like J, wore her hair like J, but hadn't spoken to her. He said she had looked at him too. I said, 'well she and her son do sometimes come to Cornwall, maybe it was'.
Husband decided that the rain looked set in for the day and suggested that we drove along the South coast for a while, starting with Marazion.,we haven't been to Marazion for years. So we set off along the A30, turning left towards Marazion. It was still raining when we arrived, and we trudged along to the village centre. I was wearing my proper waterproof, but the rain was just steady, not torrential. We walked to the end of the shopping area, then found somewhere for lunch. We ate in, I had a crab ciabatta this time, husband had cod and chips.The people at the table next to us were German, and the other side sounded Portuguese; there were lots of German tourists in Cornwall, quite a few Americans and Japanese too. I wonder what they thought of the British Summer.
We wanderd back along the Main Street and ventured into a shop called the silver mine.It has been there for as long as I remember, over 30 years. I could never afford to buy anything when the children were young, but I found a neat little necklace, reduced in price, quite inexpensive, so treated myself.
We then wandered into the Post office, attracted by some vases in the window, strawsilk, laid over glass and painted. I chose the smallest cheapest one, and also chose a couple of take home gifts.
Then we walked back to the car. I noted that the tide was still out and my Daughter could have achieved the ambition she had as a10 year old to walk across the Causeway and back

We drove off towards Helston, but at the last minute decided to go down to Porthleven. It was still raining, but we wandered around more shops, saw more tempting retro stuff,and bought it. I said, 'If we don't stop we'll have no room in the car at all'. We stopped at a tearoom for a cuppa, and a rather nice Brownie, then as it was so cold went back to the car, via a small supermarket, where I bought the last 250g pack of mince for that evenings bolognese.

St Michael's Mount

When we got back to the flat Husband said, 'Yes it was J, I emailed her Son, and she is in Cornwall', what a small world we live in!

my new vase

Porthleven

I started my packing on Thursday evening, we woke to blue skies and fluffy clouds on Friday, forecast wrong again! However we were not complaining. We started to pack stuff away, trying to tidy as we went, I stripped the bed, and folded the mattress topper. We the left things for a while and wandered around St Ives, enjoying the sunshine. Husband wanted his last pasty, and I decided to have my last lunch in Bumbles. Afterwards I walked round the corner to Porthmeor. I phoned husband and he came to join me. We wandered around together, he said he had seen J again and they had talked. We bought our final ice creams on the wharf, then spotted J again. I called her over, She was actually staying in Penzance with family,and had relatives from Australia with her.The first time she had seen husband, she had though it must be his double,and as I wasn't with him decided it couldn't be him. She is used to seeing him in a suit in church, not a checked shirt and hat.
We wished her good weather for the rest of her stay, then wandered back to the flat for the packing of the car, and the final clear up.Husbamd managed to get everything in the car but I would still have a bag between my knees, something I always used to complain about. How we ever fitted the kids in I don't know, but we did have an estate car and a roof box, for the plastic dinghy, beach chairs, windbreaks, boules, frisbee etc. Maybe we should get another estate car!
We got the flat ship shape, locked the door and set off walking to the town to drop off the keys, then our final walk back up the steep slope to the car. It was around 7 or 7.30 as we drove off. we stopped at Bodmin for fish and chips and decide to eat in. As we sat by the window husband said, 'Look how close that guy has parked to my car'. I watched a young woman ease herself out and said, 'That's J B, or she used to be'. I knew she had married  but didn't know her husband. As we got up to pay she recognised us and we had a long chat. Her family went to the same church as us in St Albans, they now go to the Daughter church  J trained .as aGP and now works in Bristol, they had come down to Cornwall for the weekend. Honestly, I couldn't believe we had met so many people we know so far from home.
We arrived at Days  Inn, Taunton Dene not long after 10.30. It has undergone a couple of name changes, but the rooms and beds are the same, more comfortable than the last one, with a decent shower, although perhaps a little shabby after 20 years.
We hit the hay and husband was soon snoring. Boo! Someone else seemed to be snoring in another room in the gaps, all my sleep aids had been left in the car, then some latecomers came into the room above ours talking loudly. they also appeared to be using the floor as a trampoline.
I eventually got to sleep, but we both awoke late, and by the time we went to hand in the key there was no one on reception. We dropped the key in the box, then found our way back to the Northbound carriage way then off at the next turn, to Cartgate where we repeated our breakfast of 2 weeks ago. We diverted a bit to avoid Yeovilton air day, but used the A303, then the M3 stopping at Fleet for lunch. We were home at about 3pm, unloading the car and making a real tip of our small house. Back to a garden like a meadow, no fruit to harvest, too much rain not enough sun; back to reality with no beautiful view. St Ives we love you, you are so relaxing, hopefully we'll be back one day.