Long overdue Christmas ramblings

[cybermule]

Cybermule's Christmas Odyssey


Christmas Eve: work finished indecently early, so I packed the cat and S into
the car, along with S's rather large sack of trail mix ingredients, and headed
down to Cornwall to spend the week in Tintagel. Shared the driving with S - it
took about 5 hours. Note this figure, gentle reader, for the return journey.
Holiday home was nice, and they left me us a nice bottle of
white wine.

Christmas Day: opened my pressies and they rocked! Most notable was an MP3
player and a Gameboy Advance from S, but my brother gave me Donnie Darko on
DVD, and I got some other nice bits and bobs. Compulsively played Mario vs
Donkey Kong for a while, then went out walking along the coast path. Luckily,
the horizontal hail turned into snow, which was dead Christmassy :) Took many
good photos, came home, thawed my feet and ate Christmas dinner.

Boxing Day: more walking, more Gameboy, more eating. Walked the coastpath
south, which was amazing, as the weather was bright and windy, so good
Atlantic waves. Ate out at the King Arthur's Arms, which was every bit as
tacky as the name suggested :) The vegetable curry was reasonable, though.

Monday: went to Boscastle, froze my arse off and decided not to do any walking.
Came back to the holiday flat and played Gameboy, and got all my photos ready
to put online.

Tuesday: dropped S off in Crackington Haven. I used to go there as a kid, and
it hasn't changed a bit. That was where I learned to swim, and I was going to
relive the experience but for the perishing cold. Visited a couple of
churches, tried to visit the witchcraft museum at Boscastle, but it was
devastated in the summer floods, along with quite a lot of the rest of
Boscastle, it seems. Went to pick D up from Bodmin train station, went for a
short walk on Tintagel beach.

Wednesday: visited Newquay Aquarium with D, which absolutely rocked. they have
the usual stuff, plus cuttlefish and an octopus. Watched the octopus being
fed, took many photos (bought myself a new memory card, in fact :)).

Thursday: pottering and walking.

Friday: drove back. Took three and a half hours, including a couple of breaks.
Heh. Go me and my driving. Headed over to Cardiff for a couple of hours, ate
wicked food at a restaurant called Bali, then walked along the riverside.
Caught the train back, and spent a while sat waiting in the linking bus,
listening to signalmen tell horror stories of trains losing their
way/mind/carriages. Signalmen then realise I'm sat on the bus with them, and
we all pretend they never said anything. Bus conks out repeatedly on the short
journey home, driver swears at it repeatedly. Puts this down to driving the
same 1 mile route repeatedly all day long. Get home, get stoned and see in the
New Year watching Pink Panther cartoons :)

New Year's Day: bit of a blank spot really - it was cold and wet, and we mainly
stayed in watching films.

Sunday: went walking in the Horsley valley. Ate yummy fried cheese, walked
around Ruskin Mill , took lots of photos.

Monday: headed down to Yate to give the cat back to S. Played Gameboy, messed
with computers, got cooked yummy noodles :) Watched The House of Sand and Fog,
which was supremely depressing, but nonetheless quite good. Refused to believe
in the concept of returning to work the next day :(

Comments

[weemadharold.livejournal.com]

I miss Cornwall...

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Did you used to live there?

[weemadharold.livejournal.com]

Only for about twelve years :o) I grew up in Cornwall - moved there when I was about eight, left when I was about twenty - and I'll almost definitely move back there someday (assuming I don't move abroad anyway), but I don't feel quite old enough yet, I figure if I don't get the hustle and bustle of city living in the next few years then I never will, and I'll more than likely regret it forever. But a nice granite house near a clifftop (not too near, obviously, I saw more than one house fall into the sea while I was down there) where I can spend my days writing novels with no sound but that of the waves and the gulls sounds like a pretty nice way to live.

I've never been to Wales, but I've heard that that's very similar to Cornwall in many ways, and it's probably easier to avoid the emmets (tourists) there, so maybe that would be a better choice. But definitely clifftops and solitude anyway :o)

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

But a nice granite house near a clifftop (not too near, obviously, I saw more than one house fall into the sea while I was down there) where I can spend my days writing novels with no sound but that of the waves and the gulls sounds like a pretty nice way to live.

Wow - you stole my plan! ;)

It must have been great growing up somewhere like Cornwall. I'm not a city person myself - tried it a few times, but found it grinding. I grew up in the country, most of my friends couldn't wait to leave, but I just moved back :D I like the peace and quiet.

Wales is great. I tend to visit it out of season, but it's beautiful and maybe feasible to live in with a small income :P