random ramblings: Oh 'ow 'appy us'll be, when us gets to the West Country

On Friday 31st, we actually spent most of the day packing and cleaning the house. The car was packed, and was choc a bloc. We left home at around 4.30 pm, the traffic on the M25 was slow, husband rejected my suggestion to use a different route, and eventually the congestion cleared and we had a clearer run. This did disrupt our plans a bit, and we ended up stopping at the last services on the M4 for something to eat. It being Motorway services, the food was quite uninspiring, but at least it wasn't too late in the evening. We arrived at our overnight stop later than planned. This was near Taunton. There was no restaurant in the building, but there was a Harvester nearby, so I still have not eaten in a Harvester restaurant.
We checked in and were given our room 'key'. This was one of those annoying bits of plastic which is inserted into the slot in the door, and opens the door, if it's not being temperamental. I had booked the 'Express' as our usual Days Inn was full. Our room was on the second floor, but thankfully there was a lift. The room was adequate, but there was an air conditioning unit right over the bed. This was noisy, and the room was freezing. The room key also operated the lights. On unpacking the overnight bag I discovered I had forgotten toothpaste, but on going to reception to see if I could buy some was presented with a tiny pack with a tiny brush and enough toothpaste for about 3 uses. As usual Husband channel hopped, but I wanted to settle down and try to sleep.
The bed wasn't too uncomfortable, we had switched the air con off almost as soon as we had arrived, but whether it was that others were using their bathrooms, which have ventilating fans, I kept hearing a loud humming, which wound down with almost a loud sigh. Eventually I drifted off to sleep, and slept fairly well. I'm finding I can now sleep on my right side, the 'operated' shoulder for longer periods.
After getting up not too early and showering, we went down for our 'free' breakfast. This was all self service, but the cereal choice was all limited to one brand. I ended up with orange juice, a very sweet muesli and a banana. There was instant Decaff coffee, so all I had to do was add water and milk. Husband had something cooked, but there was no bacon, only sausage, and the scrambled egg had suffered a bit from standing for so long. Afterwards we quickly packed up again, handed in the key, and set off on the road again. We had a fairly clear run, the traffic going North was worse, as it was the end of the half term week.
We arrived in Penzance at about 11 am, wandered around our usual shops, then I headed for Lavender's. I decided against a salad instead having a ploughman's. I got a huge thick block of cheese. I ploughed my way through it, (pardon the pun), then had a meringue for dessert. Husband had gone off in search of a pasty. Lavender's also sell coffee, so I treated husband to half a pound of some of his favourite type.

Market Jew Street Penzance


Church, a building nearby has a plaque to say some of the Bronte relatives lived there

Weather wise it was quite sunny, but still very cold. We left Penzance, drove back to Loggans Moor and shopped in M&S for food for the weekend.
We arrived in St Ives just before the key pick up time. We were not staying in the usual flat, I had left booking late, and that flat was not available. I had found a 3 bed cottage, we had looked at before, when the family used to come with us. It was slightly cheaper, as there isn't such a good sea view, no central heating, and no washing machine. It does however have garage, as accommodation in St ives with parking is as rare as hen's teeth, the garage was a bonus. We had a trial run to get to the house, but took a wrong turning, so husband dropped me off outside the letting agents, I picked up the key, and he negotiated his way round the one way system, I opened the garage which was huge, and he drove straight in.
We unloaded the car, took everything indoors, then set about exploring. There was a door which led to a staircase down into the basement, this was the kitchen diner. On the ground floor there was a sitting room, and in what would have originally been the dining room, there were twin beds.
Upstairs was the master bedroom, a decent size room with a double and single bed, then a further bedroom with a single bed. The bathroom was between the 2 bedrooms and the toilet was tucked behind what would have been the bulkhead of the stairs. I'm not sure when the cottage was built but it is stone,and consequently the basement is very cold. The houses opposite were old sea Captain's houses.
There was a lean to, used for storage which led into a small yard with a clothes line, and what appeared to be a small shed, but when we investigated later in the week, we found it was an outside loo, quite handy if you don't mind the odd spider, and some very odd looking insects.
I went upstairs, unrolled the mattress topper which we take with us and made up the bed, many properties managed by Lanham's don't provide bed linen; it is possible to hire it, but we usually take out own.. I unpacked the shopping and found there was adequate storage space, sometimes self catering properties lack storage space.
We had our M&S ready meal, watched some TV, used our laptops, and then went to bed. I was surprised how well I slept.
It was going down into the basement the next morning to make tea that made me realise I should have packed a dressing gown. A stone cottage, with a floor to match under the vinyl, is not the warmest place to be. Husband was not feeling well at all, he had developed a really nasty cough. I had bought him some cough mixture in Penzance, but he didn't feel up to church. He would have coughed all the way through. I went alone to Zion, There were a few other holidaymakers there which bumped up the numbers. The new minister is very different from the one who was there when we first started going there about 22 years ago.Afterwards, I chatted to a lady we know fairly well, then another lady we know, they are always so friendly and interested in us.
After a steak lunch we dozed a bit then I said I would like to go and sit in the sun on the beach, and husband said he would come as the fresh air would do him good. So we headed down the hill and down the steps to Porthminster and spent a couple of hours sitting in the sun. I took a crossword and husband took his Kindle.
We didn't make it to the evening service as husband was still coughing badly, and I developed an upset tum. What a pair! I did manage to make it over to the island later to take some sunset pics. Later still the upset tum got worse and I was really late to bed.Will have to continue this later.