Holiday Update: Part 1

It's been a awhile since I wrote anything so I owe you and update on what's happening. The main thing that I have not been doing is working. I have now had two weeks off and I have a third to go before I must reapply my nose to the grindstone. Last week I spent a couple of days in Cornwall, the same hotel I stayed in last year. I arrived at about half past five on the Wednesday and had a leisurely dinner and an early night. I had two full days in St. Ives and I'd decided, even before I travelled, that I would spend one day pottering around the town and one doing a major walk. So Thursday was spent in the Tate art gallery which had an exhibition of Ben Nicholson paintings which, for me, got better the more abstract they became. On Friday I walked to Zennor, as I did last year. It's a good solid 7 miles of serious hill walking and very rocky underfoot. Here's one of the few photos I took: me on Zennor Head:

I took a little over three hours to make it to the village centre and spent a happy hour and half having a couple of ales and a ham sandwich before getting the bus back to St. Ives. I did a few sketches instead of taking photos. Here's my view of the Tinner's Arms bar in Zennor:

Having returned to my hotel room at around half past three I took a shower and changed out of my muddy clothing. My walking boots and trousers seemed to have accumulated quite a quantity of rural Cornwall on them by the time I was done walking. Once I was clean and changed I ordered a cream tea from room service, put the commentary for the cricket test match on the radio (actually through the TV, but it was just sound) and relaxed with my view of St. Ives' through my room window.

Friday night's dinner was the gastronomic highlight of the trip. The Porthminster Café gets very good write-ups and T's mum, who had visited St.Ives last year, also recommended it. My starter was a very tasty fish soup but the main course was the highlight. Pan cooked local pollock was served with a tomato salsa, chorizo and beautiful, big prawns. The combination of flavours was superb, really interesting and all the ingredients were of top quality as was the cooking. I finished my last evening in Cornwall with a wander along the beach followed by watching a great game of rugby on the TV in my room.

On Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast, I had another uneventful five and half hour train journey back to London. I arrived feeling relaxed and ready to do a day's lecturing in Sheffield on the Monday. I'll write about that tomorrow if I get time.