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Sometimes you don't double-check things and you attempt to be spontaneous and it may not work out how you imagined it, but it tends to work out all right in some fashion.
Saturday we got up and went out with the plan to go to Saint Michael's Mount. It's about two hours drive away. The further south we drove, the more... tropical the plants seemed to become. Oh sure there were plenty of hedgerows, and old tin mines, and so on, but you would come across round-abouts with assorted palms and tropical plants. "What sort of place is this?" (it was also a gorgeous day. The sort of day to make the rest of England hate you.) We arrived and it turned out the Castle is closed on Saturdays. That's life. I was a little wound up about it, but we found a playground and the kids played for awhile. I think it was good the kids got to play for awhile because it also gave me time to come down from a potential panic attack. (where I berate myself for thinking I could go off book for once in my life. And how the world will hate me because I fucked up.) The kids played for a good long while. (there was plenty to do, and other children to play with. Lots of levers and pulleys and sand to move around.) We walked along the beach admiring the island we couldn't get to. (the tide was still high) We went for lunch, which was quite pleasant and relaxed. The food was delightful and the service was swift. I had a pretty delicious crab sandwich, (as did Senor Onion, he likes crab, but his stomach was bothering him.) Mr. Jenner had the steak pasty, and Miss Biscuit had a ham sandwich. For once she ate most of her lunch. I did note some decent vegetarian options on the menu. Then we walked around the small village, picked up mints for Senor Onion's stomach...and of course later the kid ate a mint aero bar and was just fine, so who knows. We walked along the beach some more, walked out onto a bit of the causeway, and generally had a merry time. Senor Onion has discovered this point and shoot digital camera of ours, and has fallen in love with taking pictures and short videos. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the idea of a day trip until I pointed out he could bring his camera and snap away. He went to town. We posed for him, ("I will take an extra for luck.") and he took many pictures of the island. Then we went back for another play at the playground. Sand everywhere.
But were we done yet? No. No we were not. We drove to Land's End. Past Penzance to the end/beginning of the country. (depending on all sorts of factors) You pay five pounds to park your car (not a bad deal) and enter the visitor's complex. You can pay more money to see short films, including one that is 4-D (things jump out at you, your seat vibrates, there are smells, and if you are lucky you might come away pregnant.) and another that was narrated by Brian Blessed. (you have to bring your own ear plugs for that one.) We walked past that and had a look at the view -astounding, especially on such a bright beautiful day. Then we saw the sign-post that shows you how flipping far things are. You can pay 10 quid for the picture with the sign post and some kind of personalized message. "fuck all y'alls, we're in England." Might be a good one. We declined. Though it was popular with many. We went to the first/last house in England and had tea and ice cream. We also witnessed a pretty lengthy debacle involving the credit card machine not printing out a receipt for a family who bought some fudge. And it couldn't be voided out because it requires a merchant number or something to cancel it but there wasn't the receipt and a manager had to be called, as did the credit card company, and the lesson learned was that a person should stick to jewelry and chickens to pay for things. The ice cream was appreciated by the children. I looked at the tat that was being sold. I love some tat. You can buy a miniature version of the sign post, some crystals, and of course "Land's End" on everything. I mean EVERYTHING. I was tempted to buy a tea towel. (I did buy a tea towel earlier in Marazion. Two tea towels in one week. This might border on madness.) We wandered up the path and looked at the heath, noticed the first/last post box (put in during the reign of one of the George's. I think George V.) It originally stood all by its lonesome self but was later built into the side of a hotel or something. It isn't in use anymore, so you have to go into the visitor's center or something to have your special postcard mailed. Not quite the same thing is it? I should mention that being Land's End, it was still quite windy. I was also wearing a skirt. So to all those who might have caught a glimpse of my underwear, I am sorry about that. At least it was clean. There was a life boat that kids could play in. (Senor Onion enjoyed that. He and some other children were pretending to save drowning people. I could hear a number of kids call his name. I suspect that one day Senor Onion will be some kind of executive or something. For he ALWAYS immediately introduces himself to anyone. You will REMEMBER his name dammit. And within minutes I will hear children call him by his name. Senor Onion, you are pulling off stuff that people sometimes have to learn about in costly seminars.
Miss Biscuit played in yet another playground. The only downside to this one was the tiny pebbles that covered the ground. I am sure it was a good idea at one point. But really the fucking stuff gets into one's shoes. You spend half your time removing them. Miss Biscuit made a friend and Mr. Jenner hung out and watched them while I checked out the tatty tat tat shop. You too can own a picture of One Direction if you so desire. Or some Jam! Or maybe some pencil that says Land's End. I bought a postcard. They also sold loads of fudge, scrumpy cider, Cornish beer, and more fudge. All the fudge. and if you felt a little more old school -seaside rock. Well it was reaching that point in the day where everyone is a bit tired but we hadn't started shrieking. We checked out the model village, which shows off significant Cornish listed buildings of note. Tinminer's cottages, the tintagel post office, etc. Small and an easy walk. Then we took the path down the farm and arts/crafts area. It was a farm. With animals. And it was attractive. And more heath. Loads of heath. From there we could also just spot the Scilly Isles. A tiny glimpse but they were there. But back to the heath -no trees of course, in a place that exposed. Miss Biscuit did spot a little rabbit hole. We talked about Peter Rabbit a bit and she looked around to see if she could spot him. She figured he went home. Wise rabbit. So should we.
We stopped to near Penzance to get more gas, and to get some food from Tesco, so I could cobble together dinner. I can say that Tesco does a pretty good peas, leeks, and pancetta medley that can be heated up in the microwave. Try that sometime if you want to cook up something fast and need a side dish that doesn't make you weep.
I drove home. We kept running across traction engines. (we got stuck behind a couple.) We would be driving along and then we would spot steam. I think they are all heading to the Royal Cornwall Show. (I admit, I wish we could go, but it doesn't to work out schedule-wise. Oh well. Next year or something. Apparently the Princess Royal will be there the opening day.) We came home, I put together dinner (Tesco does an okay frozen pizza that the kids liked.) and then put people to bed. Wore out everyone.
I am looking at other places within an hour or two of driving to try out for a day trip. We are getting pretty good at this. Though maybe next time I might double-check the website.
And of course snaps. (though not Senor Onion's. He is still sorting through his.)
Saturday we got up and went out with the plan to go to Saint Michael's Mount. It's about two hours drive away. The further south we drove, the more... tropical the plants seemed to become. Oh sure there were plenty of hedgerows, and old tin mines, and so on, but you would come across round-abouts with assorted palms and tropical plants. "What sort of place is this?" (it was also a gorgeous day. The sort of day to make the rest of England hate you.) We arrived and it turned out the Castle is closed on Saturdays. That's life. I was a little wound up about it, but we found a playground and the kids played for awhile. I think it was good the kids got to play for awhile because it also gave me time to come down from a potential panic attack. (where I berate myself for thinking I could go off book for once in my life. And how the world will hate me because I fucked up.) The kids played for a good long while. (there was plenty to do, and other children to play with. Lots of levers and pulleys and sand to move around.) We walked along the beach admiring the island we couldn't get to. (the tide was still high) We went for lunch, which was quite pleasant and relaxed. The food was delightful and the service was swift. I had a pretty delicious crab sandwich, (as did Senor Onion, he likes crab, but his stomach was bothering him.) Mr. Jenner had the steak pasty, and Miss Biscuit had a ham sandwich. For once she ate most of her lunch. I did note some decent vegetarian options on the menu. Then we walked around the small village, picked up mints for Senor Onion's stomach...and of course later the kid ate a mint aero bar and was just fine, so who knows. We walked along the beach some more, walked out onto a bit of the causeway, and generally had a merry time. Senor Onion has discovered this point and shoot digital camera of ours, and has fallen in love with taking pictures and short videos. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the idea of a day trip until I pointed out he could bring his camera and snap away. He went to town. We posed for him, ("I will take an extra for luck.") and he took many pictures of the island. Then we went back for another play at the playground. Sand everywhere.
But were we done yet? No. No we were not. We drove to Land's End. Past Penzance to the end/beginning of the country. (depending on all sorts of factors) You pay five pounds to park your car (not a bad deal) and enter the visitor's complex. You can pay more money to see short films, including one that is 4-D (things jump out at you, your seat vibrates, there are smells, and if you are lucky you might come away pregnant.) and another that was narrated by Brian Blessed. (you have to bring your own ear plugs for that one.) We walked past that and had a look at the view -astounding, especially on such a bright beautiful day. Then we saw the sign-post that shows you how flipping far things are. You can pay 10 quid for the picture with the sign post and some kind of personalized message. "fuck all y'alls, we're in England." Might be a good one. We declined. Though it was popular with many. We went to the first/last house in England and had tea and ice cream. We also witnessed a pretty lengthy debacle involving the credit card machine not printing out a receipt for a family who bought some fudge. And it couldn't be voided out because it requires a merchant number or something to cancel it but there wasn't the receipt and a manager had to be called, as did the credit card company, and the lesson learned was that a person should stick to jewelry and chickens to pay for things. The ice cream was appreciated by the children. I looked at the tat that was being sold. I love some tat. You can buy a miniature version of the sign post, some crystals, and of course "Land's End" on everything. I mean EVERYTHING. I was tempted to buy a tea towel. (I did buy a tea towel earlier in Marazion. Two tea towels in one week. This might border on madness.) We wandered up the path and looked at the heath, noticed the first/last post box (put in during the reign of one of the George's. I think George V.) It originally stood all by its lonesome self but was later built into the side of a hotel or something. It isn't in use anymore, so you have to go into the visitor's center or something to have your special postcard mailed. Not quite the same thing is it? I should mention that being Land's End, it was still quite windy. I was also wearing a skirt. So to all those who might have caught a glimpse of my underwear, I am sorry about that. At least it was clean. There was a life boat that kids could play in. (Senor Onion enjoyed that. He and some other children were pretending to save drowning people. I could hear a number of kids call his name. I suspect that one day Senor Onion will be some kind of executive or something. For he ALWAYS immediately introduces himself to anyone. You will REMEMBER his name dammit. And within minutes I will hear children call him by his name. Senor Onion, you are pulling off stuff that people sometimes have to learn about in costly seminars.
Miss Biscuit played in yet another playground. The only downside to this one was the tiny pebbles that covered the ground. I am sure it was a good idea at one point. But really the fucking stuff gets into one's shoes. You spend half your time removing them. Miss Biscuit made a friend and Mr. Jenner hung out and watched them while I checked out the tatty tat tat shop. You too can own a picture of One Direction if you so desire. Or some Jam! Or maybe some pencil that says Land's End. I bought a postcard. They also sold loads of fudge, scrumpy cider, Cornish beer, and more fudge. All the fudge. and if you felt a little more old school -seaside rock. Well it was reaching that point in the day where everyone is a bit tired but we hadn't started shrieking. We checked out the model village, which shows off significant Cornish listed buildings of note. Tinminer's cottages, the tintagel post office, etc. Small and an easy walk. Then we took the path down the farm and arts/crafts area. It was a farm. With animals. And it was attractive. And more heath. Loads of heath. From there we could also just spot the Scilly Isles. A tiny glimpse but they were there. But back to the heath -no trees of course, in a place that exposed. Miss Biscuit did spot a little rabbit hole. We talked about Peter Rabbit a bit and she looked around to see if she could spot him. She figured he went home. Wise rabbit. So should we.
We stopped to near Penzance to get more gas, and to get some food from Tesco, so I could cobble together dinner. I can say that Tesco does a pretty good peas, leeks, and pancetta medley that can be heated up in the microwave. Try that sometime if you want to cook up something fast and need a side dish that doesn't make you weep.
I drove home. We kept running across traction engines. (we got stuck behind a couple.) We would be driving along and then we would spot steam. I think they are all heading to the Royal Cornwall Show. (I admit, I wish we could go, but it doesn't to work out schedule-wise. Oh well. Next year or something. Apparently the Princess Royal will be there the opening day.) We came home, I put together dinner (Tesco does an okay frozen pizza that the kids liked.) and then put people to bed. Wore out everyone.
I am looking at other places within an hour or two of driving to try out for a day trip. We are getting pretty good at this. Though maybe next time I might double-check the website.
And of course snaps. (though not Senor Onion's. He is still sorting through his.)
