O Borth i Borthia (From Borth to St Ives).

The forecast was spot on today. We woke to torrential rain, lightning flashes and sustained rumbles of a thunderstorm overhead. Hopefully all that rain will soak into the ground rather than run off causing flooding. Since then it has rained on and off all day and been generally warm. I went out during a dry spell and dug up a couple of pounds of potatoes for tonight's supper. I planted a few potatoes some years ago and they keep reappearing as if by magic.

I was really tired at choir last night and though I've slept well since we got home I'm still pretty tired. Not surprising since I only slept for two hours on Monday night (too hot) and about four on Saturday night (too much excitement and thoughts going around my head). I've had a quiet day catching up on small jobs and wasn't too disappointed when I found that I was the only person booked in for tomorrow's riding lesson. Rather than have a private lesson, expensive and too much focus on me, I cancelled for this week. 

I did still manage to do some more work in the garage, mainly moving tiles around so that all the spares including a lot of roof tiles (not sure why we need 60 giant square roof tiles) are in one place.

Now for an account of our Saturday - 

It was yet another sunny day while the wind had dropped so the waves were more ripples than breakers suitable for bodyboarding.

Vytas and Sally came to our place in the morning and the three of us walked back into St Ives. It was already busy as we walked along Fore Street but we decided to save our serious shop browsing until after we had had a wander around Downalong and The Island. 

Naturally I had to show them my old home and took a photo of Vytas to match the one I have of my mother sitting outside the entrance into the Sail Loft Gallery that she ran. It looks like those are the exact same doors as in 1960.

It was on The Island that I found out that the Cornish name for St Ives is Porthia. In Cornish Porth means cove/gate/port (of St Ia) and like in Welsh Cornish words mutate so Porthia becomes Borthia after some prepositions. Borth used to be Y Borth which is the mutated form of Porth meaning gate, door or port. A nice little connection.

From the top of The Island we could see down to Porthmeor beach which was unsurprisingly busy,

and looking across Downalong we could see the harbour and Porthminster beach.

Walking back through Downalong I took a photo of Sally standing under an arch to match some postcards I have from 1911. This area which housed fishermen and port workers already existed in the 1600s.

Having enjoyed the views from The Island we then had a leisurely stroll along Fore Street where we browsed craft shops, thought we'd lost Sally in a bookshop but then found her engrossed in the local geology and history section, picked out handmade chocolates (thank you Vytas) and in the same shop were plied with sample after sample of local spirits, the spiced rum with honey was very nice but my favourite was Cornish Nevek, a cream liqueur similar to but nicer than Bailey's. Again thank you to Vytas who bought me a large bottle of Nevek. 

We also bought pasties which we took back to the apartment to have for lunch followed by chocolates for dessert with Pete who had been enjoying a well deserved rest after the previous day's drive.

But the youngsters are always full of energy and after lunch we walked down to Porthminster beach. Vytas and Sally did some snorkelling but saw no fish while I went in to above my knees and then decided the Atlantic was far too cold and beat a retreat to lay on the sand enjoying the sun.

Later we all met up to enjoy local ales and listen to some live music at the Mine Taproom. We were serenaded by a girl who sang very mellow slightly jazz covers of popular folk music accompanied by a guy playing a guitar who sometimes sang as well. One ale enjoyed by our little group was a very clever play on words. It was called FeS2 which if you were a scientist you would know is iron sulphide, iron pyrite aka fool's gold I guess if you drank too much of this yellow drink it would make you a fool too. Not being a beer drinker I had a delicious glass of home made lemonade.

And course we had to end the day with yet another meal, this time a Chinese take away. Rather than pick out individual dishes we settled on a 'meal for four' which turned out to be far more than even the youngsters could eat. Better too much than not enough I suppose.

And that was Saturday. I couldn't think of a nicer way to spend my 70th birthday.

Saturday. (and today.)

It's been very warm today with the temperature going up to 32C in the afternoon. While it is still dry I got on with some gardening, cutting back the knautia as its leaves are becoming mildewed and taking lots of cuttings of some of the grey leaved plants that have done well in the dry conditions. Hopefully enough will take for me to be able to start changing the raised beds to cope with the hot summers.

Now for our mini break - 

It felt very odd to be leaving Borth in the early hours of the morning and by the afternoon to be in St Ives which has always felt a world away.

We left at 6.30 and I drove the first 120 miles through Wales. All went well until we got stuck in a convoy of Italian motorhomes, eight in front of us and more behind. This was up in the mountains so there was no chance of getting past. Annoyingly they seemed to be obeying the many speed signs in kilometres rather than miles! which made for quite slow going.

We stopped at Magor services from where Pete took over the driving. The motorway and then A30 traffic was heavy but kept moving for the most part. We stopped once more following service station signs that took us to a retail village. We ended up parking in a McD's car park next to a row of Teslas being charged where a helpful chap cleaning the car park suggested the toilets in the M&S across the road were a better choice. Off I went and of course had to have a quick browse through the active wear section. I just had to buy some lovely looking blue and black leggings but sadly when I tried them on later the fabric wasn't quite right. The ankles were tight and the upper part of the legs were a bit baggy (my legs are not skinny). So I'll take them back to our local M&S.

We did some shopping at the Tesco's just outside St Ives before arriving at our apartment. It was up on the hill above Porthminster beach with good views across the bay to Godrevy lighthouse off the North Cornwall coast. From there it was a good 10 mins walk into town and coming back up the steep roads was quite challenging especially for Pete. The apartment was much as we'd seen in the listing and as many reviewers had said some of the sitting room furniture was shoddy and uncomfortable. Luckily the bed was fine and everywhere was as clean as it could be. Unfortunately the doors to the Juliet balcony couldn't be opened which was a shame in the hot weather. The apartment was an attic conversion with only a strip about 2ft wide down the centre of the rooms at full height. The rest of the ceilings sloped down and after a number of hard knocks we learnt to bend down when moving around. 

After unpacking we walked down to The Sloop Inn by the harbour where I left Pete enjoying a beer while I went out for a walk.

Fore Street, the main street in the old part of St Ives, At times it would be completely packed (more than in the photo) and cars and vans drove down it as well. Pete hates walking in crowds especially when people are ambling from one side to another and then stopping to look in the many very nice craft/ clothing/ gift shops and numerous bakeries selling similar cakes and different varieties of pasties. My mantra was 'be like a fish' where like a fish in a shoal I slowly slid my way through the people weaving around any obstruction in a relaxed manner. It may sound strange but it worked and the crowded conditions didn't bother me. Maybe being engrossed in the many memories that came flooding in also helped.

St Ives is surrounded by beaches which were also crowded with people enjoying the sun. I couldn't resist walking barefoot through the harbour beach which had been my playground when I was little. I do miss having a soft sandy beach. 

It may sound that St Ives was a heaving mass of people and in places it was but a few minutes into the narrow streets and courtyards of Downalong and it got much quieter.

(Below) The black arrow points to what used to be my home right by the harbour.

After a walk around some of my old haunts I joined Pete in The Sloop and it wasn't long before Vytas and Sally arrived. Later we moved to The Captain's Table, some very low ceilinged rooms above the pub where we had an excellent meal. Pete and Vytas had catch of the day which was fresh sea bass, Sally had crab linguini and I had a fish chowder with mussels and other shellfish. There might have been some puddings too. Eventually we went back down into the pub and listened to a guy singing and playing a guitar while we waited for a cab. It was a bit loud but he played a range of music. I sang along to Dylan and Donovan songs and Vytas and Sally sang along to REM numbers.

And that was the first day of our weekend.

Back Home.

 We've just got back from three nights in St Ives with Vytas and Sally.

More soon.

Halen & Pupur.

The weather has been much like yesterday's with bright sunshine and sudden heavy showers.

At least it was a lot cooler and better conditions for riding. We (horses and riders) weren't all dripping with sweat by the end. The horses were a bit antsy because they had only been given hay when they were brought in from the field. Because the grass had been burnt to a crisp they had been getting some hard feed on the days they were going to be ridden and they weren't very pleased when this had suddenly stopped.  

No surprise to find I had Betsi again. The lesson was mostly about getting the horses to bend along their bodies and then some leg yielding. Starting from the inner track and moving towards the centre of the school. Of course by the time we got to the end of the long side Betsi had almost reached the centre line. She's such a star. 

Then there was much chatter when T arrived to watch the lesson. It's been less than three weeks since her hip replacement but you can't keep a horse girl away. She was thrilled to be there and is already talking about coming to practise mounting and dismounting and riding but only at a walk and only for a short while.

 

Of course afterwards we had to go and find the kittens.

Halen (Salt) is the black and white one and Pupur (Pepper) is the tabby trying to catch the tassel at the end of a schooling whip I found lying around.

No sooner had L jokingly told them to catch each other's tails then to our amazement that's exactly what they did.

After lots of cooing at these very cute kittens it was time to head into town. First stop the dump, then Toolstation to pick up the bits for the recycling store, Hahav for a look around before Morrison's and the usual round of shops. 

The traffic in town was horrendous with queues of car into and out of every carpark. I needed to go to Charlie's and B&M which are near Morrison's and hoping that the traffic might clear or at least to avoid two lots of queueing up I walked. A good plan until the heavens opened while I was in Charlie's. I could hear the rain thundering down on the metal roof as I bought myself a pair of light blue (think Wedgewood blue) jodhpurs reduced from £58 to £22 and a pair of riding socks made from some sort of breathable silky fabric which were reduced from £6 to £3.50. I mooched around as long as I could in Charlie's but eventually had to brave the rain and protected only by a light bodywarmer got nicely soaked on the walk back to the car. 

 By the time I had marched around town looking for one thing and another I didn't get home until 5.00 which was pretty late for a Friday and yes I was exhausted.

Can you spot all seven sparrows sitting on the top of our hedge?

Thinking Alike.

It has been a day of bright sun and sudden heavy showers. Just the conditions to change the sea colour to green ( much brighter than in the photos).

This morning (because I really can't cope with surprise plans) Peter told me what he had planned for my 70th. We were going for a short break to ....... St Ives! While for his birthday (and our 50th anniversary) I had booked a holiday in St Ives as well but that will be in the autumn.

This break will be different because Vytas and Sally are also joining us and we will be staying on the other side of the town nearer Porthminster beach. It will be lovely to show them around the place where I spent my early years and with any luck we will get some bodyboarding in. 

Although I later moved to London, St Ives holds a place in my heart, much like the Welsh feeling of hiraeth. We went there for our honeymoon and the year after but then life, children and the very high cost meant we didn't return until 2019 and that was in the motorhome. 

 

In the meantime I've had a day of diy, starting my latest project. After the seagulls started ripping open the recycling bags I began using a large plastic storage tub to put the recycling bag in on collection days. But being outside the UV rays have made the plastic brittle and it has now begun to shatter.

However there is a perfect gap by the side of the porch in which I can build a small wooden store for the recycling. My plan was to use some of the small wooden pallets which are left in the car park in Tal Y Bont by the hall where we sing. They are put there by the printing firm, whose car park we use, and they are happy for anyone to take them. Last night there were a dozen to choose from and after careful consideration I brought home these three.. 

So far I have prised off the blocks from two (not easy when they are nailed together with 4 inch nails)  and already cut one to the right size to make the side of the store. Two of the pallets have heavy polythene under the slats which will keep the rain out and the third with solid wood will be the top. 

I've worked out how I'm going to put it all together and have a list of hinges etc to pick up from Toolstation tomorrow.

In these times when the actions of wars and warmongers are so depressing not to mention the damage we are doing to the planet I came across this uplifting video on FB telling of how the actions of one man started a grass roots movement that has brought written off lands that had turned to desert back to life once more.

Job Done.

In the morning the sky was filled with grey clouds but thankfully the strong wind was blowing them inland. The rain held off and by afternoon the sun was shining brightly.

Hoping that it would stay dry, after breakfast I went straight out to give the garage door a second coat of that lovely bright blue.

 

Using a paint kettle kept the drips to a minimum and this is the result. While Peter was in town I took the opportunity to clean up the drive. Over the years various builders had used that space as a work area and there were a number of small blobs of cement and some white stuff on the rather nice tiles. I know that the car is usually there and it is just a drive but why not have it looking at its best for the times when there isn't a car there?

Afterwards I did a bit more towards the garage tidying, a last wall mirror is out in the garden and a few other things moved around. 

I finished off with some genteel deadheading in the front garden and then sat outside enjoying the sun and considering some changes in the garden now that I see the result of a long hot summer. 

I will be off to choir tonight so I'd better practise some song parts which came by email.

Well Behaved Pigs.

It was windy and I wasn't too sure if it was going to rain again which was my excuse for driving rather than cycling to the zoo though in the end it stayed dry.

It was very busy at the zoo, a combination of peak holiday season and being a bit cool to be on the beach all day.

Most of my regular weeding areas are more or less under control so it didn't take long to get them weed free. It was when I began clearing the moat around some empty enclosures that I found great masses of bindweed roots that needed digging out. Before doing that I broke off all the stinging nettles coming through the wire fencing so that I didn't get stung as I worked. Good plan but now my fingers are stinging where the nettle stings got me through my work gloves.

During the hot weather when it would have stressed the small animals (guinea pigs, rabbits and rats) to be picked up for the animal handling sessions the staff began bring out Otis and Truffle for 'meet the pigs' on the grassy area by the ponies. They are both well behaved (I mean the pigs though the staff are well behaved too) and have learnt to sit down which looks so comical. They can also spin and will come running and follow the sound of a squeaky pig. (The same one we had at Christmas). 

Apart from entertaining the visitors it's good to keep them socialised and to stimulate what are very intelligent animals. Plus it's good to be able to move them around or to be handled by a vet without stress.

Out in the car park as I was leaving a young lad maybe 7 years old said to his mum "I love animals, I can't understand why people hurt them." They might have been a vegetarian family but even if not this shows the benefit of children seeing animals in real life. So many people live in cities with little or no contact with animals or nature in general.

 

I didn't do much once I got home. I attempted to mend Peter's surfer necklace but I've had to order some leather cord as the cord I had was too thick.

Hopefully it will stay dry tomorrow so that I can finish off painting the garage door.