Cap'n Bex: 96. A Mars and a Twix

This is my desktop background wot I did make, yeah.

Aggggh… so busy! Though perhaps by the time I have finished typing this up the busy spell will be over with.
Leaves have definitely started falling off of trees (and into our courtyard), and swallows and such are starting to disappear off to their warmer winter homes abroad… but this does not mean that summer is not still here! After a month of autumn in August, summer has returned for the past two days with lovely foggy mornings to start it.
It is a warm night here in Golant (9pm), just like it was a warm day. Duncan, Rachel & I sat outside on the grass and ate BLT’s with slightly past it beans (resulting in GAS!!!) and jalapeño peppers. Mmm. Hula hooping was done, nattering was had, and some most excellent clouds were watched (the clouds which look like tigers with elephantitis of the leg, and skeletons reading books).

Now it is the 10^th September, which means I haven’t updated this blarg in a while… the weather has definitely changed since I wrote the bit above, it feels like autumn. Yesterday it was white fog all day with that moist stuff coming out of the sky; today the mist has cleared however there is a breeze and a certain chill to the air. There is only the occasional swallow who still nests by the catering kitchen door now, and due to the darker mornings I often pass it when going in at 6:55am on the breakfast shift (I insist on talking to it, and calling it a lazy bones as it is usually still there at 7:30am). I think Bruiser the cat has a bit of a cold – I hope it’s nothing worse! He’s been coming up to me on the path a fair lot recently, probably hoping I have some food on me (fat chance Bruiser, I’m opt out now!!) and demanding attention; I’ve then been stroking and tickling him and he’s been purring like a steam engine – prrrrrr prrrrrrrr prrrrr… but then afterwards he can’t seem to calm his purring down properly, and so ends up sneeze / coughing loads! Oh dear. Maybe he’s just got a rogue fur ball.

On my latest weekends I’ve been going away and sleeping in my van Hector. The “weekend” before last we took advantage of the sun and the fact that Treyarnon Bay YHA have a big camping field; co-worker & fellow lunatic Rachel and her bloke Paul were also there, but we didn’t see much of them. The now traditional weekend lunch of crusty (preferably sesame seed encased) French stick was eaten, complete with salted butter (naturally), yummy peppery rocket, and cold chicken breast… it was a relatively speedy lunch as we noticed that the tide was coming in at a rate of knots and our barnacle and mussel caked big lump of rock was most definitely turning into an island which would at some point be covered over by the big blue. As the sun set later than day we slurped on some of Mr Arnolds homemade elderflower wine and afterwards filled our bellies with asparagus, 3 bean salad with a minty dressing, tomato salsa and olive pork sausages, and some spinach; a most excellent meal indeed.

After a full nights undisturbed sleep, breakfast, and then a nap (I’m allowed to be lazy on my weekends!) Hector departed his pretty hedge side spot and skipped of to near Bedruthan Steps and went for a walk along the cliff and down the many rather steep steps to the beach where, yet again, we were almost consumed by the sea. Walking back up we giggled at large penises which people had drawn on the sand before the waves washed them away (the penises, that is… I don’t recall any screams of folks being dragged under by the Kraken) and passed by an island rock which looked very much indeed like the bust of a vaguely elderly gentleman with a bent nose. Almost back at the van we passed a field of cows that included a well-endowed bull that reminded me of further back in the year (all the way back in June!) when I had the most excellent time at the Royal Cornwall Show with Silje & Vera (as well as visiting the smelly blacksmiths).

In the week I made a speedy trip to Plymouth and back in-between shifts; although definitely a possible thing to do if only wishing to spend a short time in the “big southwest smoke”, it was made rather terrifying by the fact that A) it’s a city. I don’t like cities at the best of times, especially not when I have become accustomed to living in the middle of nowhere in Golant. B) I arrived by train as I decided this was the cheapest mode of travel (couldn’t find my broomstick). The train journey was pleasant enough, I’m pretty sure I snoozed most of it… upon getting OFF the train however I felt lost and worried by the things of the city, thankfully despite my concerns I managed to find the Relegacy gallery pretty easily on New Street (my sister tells me this is a very good place to have my work!) in the Barbican area (the only nice area in Plymouth, probably). The girl running the place (and her mum) were lovely though in a bit of a rush (probably my fault, for not sending much warning) and I’m happy to have my work up there… apparently I’ve sold a couple of pieces already and the opening night was only a couple of days ago on the 8^th September, blimey! I’ll send through the postcards I’ve just got printed soon, and I MUST remember to redo my website!

The “weekend” after that of the north coast my good friend Imy came down to visit. On the Monday we bundled into Hector again and drove off down to Penzance where there was a little sunshine and again a breeze. We had a pretty much spontaneous (only slightly planned spontaneity!) to the piercing shop DV8 (highly recommended to anyone wanting more piercings with not much pain) and got more metal shoved through ourselves. The piercing chap there is really good, he tells you to leave for half an hour whilst he sterilizes the specially picked jewellery, makes sure you sign forms properly, talks you through everything, and makes you feel entirely safe and comfortable. After Penzance we trawled a short distance along the coast, past the aesthetically pleasing Newlyn harbour (dozens and dozens of little fishing boats and such bundled together in one place, with flashes of bright coral where there were buoys) to Mousehole. I told Imy all about the tale of the Mousehole Cat – a wonderfully illustrated children’s book, and we meandered along the harbour beach (for once not getting eaten up by the sea) finding crabs heads and small fragments of pottery in pleasing colours. I loved seeing stacks of lobster pots lined up on the harbour wall, and of course the beautiful colours of yellow lichen and red rusted metal work.
Arriving at Lands End YHA later that evening – we took the scenic route – we said our hello’s to Richard and Chris and then walked out into the darkening evening to St Just… the Star Inn, of course! Folk night was in full swing and it seemed busier than usual (I wouldn’t have noticed myself, but I heard a bunch of locals “where’s all these people come from! Arr, yup! Arr! Righton!”. I am glad it was folk night, I enjoyed showing Imy the sort of music I prefer to indulge in down here in the nutty toe of Britain, she seemed to enjoy it enough and so we sat outside on the benches where it was less crowded, drinking our pints of apple Rattler (cider). Finished off the night with a rum and shrub, to which an old man with a red pimpled nose said “I ‘ent seen nobody order one o’ those in 20 years! And I ‘ent had one since I was jus’ 21 years old! Drank too much, see… ‘ere, lemme have a sniff, tha’s not rum and shrub!” It was indeed rum and shrub, the silly fool, perhaps his senses had failed him in his old age… locals are excellent, sometimes, do you not agree? We walked back down the hill to the hostel in the dark (only really needing the torch for the footpath which has a rock in the middle of it – it hurts to walk into that), and then climbed into Hector for a good nights sleep (only really disturbed by the 5am thunderous heavy rain on the metal van roof, it got LOUD).

Come the REAL morning we climbed out of the van, breakfasted ourselves and set out on a tour of half of the north coast starting with St Just again (getting in the pasties for the lunch! Om nom). From St Just I took the normal road – the beautiful one which goes from St Just to St Ives, first stop being Pendeen lighthouse. The cliffs by the beacon of light are most wonderful, you can stand back from them and not hear a thing but the wind, then just by moving forwards a few metres you’ll hear the noisy crash of waves on the rocks below and see oodles of white spray swooshing about. It was still quite misty at this point, so the view along the coast towards Lands End was very dramatic, and it felt really rather daring to even stand up on the rocks on the cliff due to the wind!
On from the lighthouse we passed the roadside decrepit engine houses where we walked down to the coast to see the jagged rocks; two buzzards called and circled above us as we walked.
Onwards! Zennor! Quick look at the church (Imy makes a GREAT preacher), and then a walk down to the sea to eat our pasties on a rock (on the bench a couple of bee’s took too much of an interest in us).
After a delightful pasty and a meeting with a cute little field mouse we then zoomed off, past St Ives, got caught in REALLY BORING traffic jams in Hayle, and then on to Perranporth where we vaguely “explored” the mining hole caves before having tea and biscuits with Phil (Perranporth YHA manager). Fennell and peppermint tea – nom. Good natter about Iceland and such. Driving back to Golant, and home. Ahhh… that was a lot of driving… but it was good, as LISA HARRISON appeared! It was lovely to have both her and Imy there… after they left the house felt very quiet.

Anyhoo, since then we have just had a fair load of rain. I’ve heard that I’ve already sold stuff at the gallery, and I’m VERY MUCH looking forwards to the arrival of my beloved Norwegians Silje & Vera on Tuesday morning. WAHOOOOOO!!
As you can see, the quality of this blog post has deteriorated as I am super duper tired and still got 25 minutes left here. Ahh… bonne nuite!

Have some pictures:
I love that Peter Rabbit's bum looks so saggy, like a beanbag. Ahhhh Beatrix Potter...

By Vienna Textiles, it just took my liking...

LolaGC on Flickr. Looks a tad like Eva Green. Mmmmm.

Joe Waldron, you are most excellent. Especially your subtle colour difference for the mountain vs sky.