A detour to the South West

So early on and already the excuses start I hear you say, and indeed there is an excuse. The last few days have been taken up with a trip to Cornwall to see my daughter Fiona. I did give genuine consideration to taking my running stuff with me, but then the memory of the steepness of the hills in Falmouth made me decide that discretion was the better part of valour and indeed, cowardice was the better part of discretion. So on Thursday morning I set off to drive the 433 miles to Cornwall in glorious sunshine and sure enough on the edge of Bodmin Moor the heavens opened. Now I have been driving to and from Cornwall since the 80's and I can probably count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've driven across the Moor when it's not been raining! That said it eased off as I travelled West and by the time I reached Falmouth it was dry albeit overcast.

I stayed at the most splendid guest house I have ever come across (discovered on a previous visit). It's called the Moonlight Guest House, situated a few minutes from the harbour and run by Celia, a delightfully eccentric Spanish(?) lady who gives all the profit to children's educational charities and animal charities. I have been there twice now and I have never seen Celia wearing anything other than pyjamas, she is unfailingly helpful and friendly and an absolute delight!

My main reason for going down was to see my daughter perform in her final school production before she starts Uni, the production was called Our Town, by Thornton Wilder - a 1937 play set in a fictional New Hampshire town. Fiona had two small parts - "Artistic Lady" and "Dead Woman" - both speaking parts (yes the dead speak in this play) and the first role destined to gain the biggest laugh of the night and the only individual round of applause. As you can imagine I did the bursting with pride fatherly bit throughout, made all the better after the production by meeting a number of other parents who were fulsome in their praise of my little girl, not just regards to her acting but of her as a person too. Drinks with the cast after the play just ended the day perfectly, a midnight finish but well worth the tiredness.

Friday dawned beautifully sunny and the morning was spent wandering around Falmouth, enjoying the sunshine and admiring the boats. My daughter informs me I should buy one, get a parrot and become a pirate so she can come and spend holidays with me on the boat, not that bad an idea apart from the parrot to be fair. The afternoon was spent with Fiona, talking and catching up and then in the evening going for a very lovely meal. Sadly the end of Friday brought with it the end of my short break and Saturday morning brought the drive home... Ah well, back down to see her soon.

Oh btw, the running starts again tomorrow!

In the mean time this boat would make a very good Pirate's boat!