Well a good but pretty manic pulling together of all the bits and bobs related to going on holiday. The children were ready by just after 10am but Gill was still getting ready when the taxi came at 11am.
I suppose it didn't help that I really wanted to make sure that when we got back, the walnuts were still on the tree and hadn't been removed by the squirrels. We haven't seen any squirrels in the garden this year but they could come at any time and it wouldn't take them long to strip the tree. So yesterday I purchased 30 pence worth of hot chili powder from Tullivers, and this morning mixed a teaspoon of this with a teaspoon of Vaseline. I mixed this on a tin lid and then put a smudge on every walnut I could reach, about 200 of them. There are others higher up the tree but they'll have to chance it. Squirrels apparently don't like chili, and I spotted a chili spray in Barnitts yesterday which is supposed to repel them. I hope my cheaper, home made version does the job.
Anyway, a taxi to the station and we got the 11.45 to St Austell. We enjoyed the journey as we were all at a table and had quite a few laughs. I chatted with a nice guy between Bristol and Exeter who was keen on composting and even keener on knowing about Promession, which really fired his imagination. It was a pity he had to go so soon!
We then chatted with a local couple who live close to Mevagissey and admired the wonderful Cornwall countryside, particularly the places where the line goes right next to the sea, and over some wonderful bridges, including one by Brunel at Saltash. But we were soon at St Austell, on time, and none the worse for the 6 3/4 hour journey. Gill had ordered a 'Carls taxi' last night when in York, and the driver was there waiting for us. We thought that a taxi would be best as we didn't know quite where the bus would drop us, and we did have quite a bit of luggage, which we wouldn't appreciate dragging around trying to find the house.
I'd memorised the Googlemap of the village so I was able to direct Carl, the driver, with 100% accuracy, to the cottage, which is on a very steep hill called Cliff Street. We explained that we were going to go back to St Austell on Friday by bus, and then get the train to Truro and then the bus from there to St Just in Roseland, and he said, wow, that'll take ages and be quite expensive... why don't you take a taxi, it'll only take half an hour and cost £35. Well this sounded like a much better option, despite our love of taking timetabled public transport. So we booked him to come and take us to St Just in Roseland at 2pm on Friday.
Carl had to reverse back up the hill and he ran over a plastic clip on one of the rucksacks, which sent our youngest son into fits of laughter as it shattered into lots of pieces. All in all this was a very good natured and jolly trip down, really easy, and cheap, costing £77.40 for the four of us to go from York to St Austell, plus £17 for the two taxis door to door.
After we'd explored the cottage a bit we all went on a walk down to the harbour, and popped in to the Aquarium which has some impressive fish and other marine life, and came back via a fish and chip emporium which we found fries in veg oil, so we had a tray of chips each.
When back at the cottage we got our sleeping arrangements sorted, the boys in twin beds upstairs and us on the sofabed downstairs. A fairly early night!
I suppose it didn't help that I really wanted to make sure that when we got back, the walnuts were still on the tree and hadn't been removed by the squirrels. We haven't seen any squirrels in the garden this year but they could come at any time and it wouldn't take them long to strip the tree. So yesterday I purchased 30 pence worth of hot chili powder from Tullivers, and this morning mixed a teaspoon of this with a teaspoon of Vaseline. I mixed this on a tin lid and then put a smudge on every walnut I could reach, about 200 of them. There are others higher up the tree but they'll have to chance it. Squirrels apparently don't like chili, and I spotted a chili spray in Barnitts yesterday which is supposed to repel them. I hope my cheaper, home made version does the job.
Anyway, a taxi to the station and we got the 11.45 to St Austell. We enjoyed the journey as we were all at a table and had quite a few laughs. I chatted with a nice guy between Bristol and Exeter who was keen on composting and even keener on knowing about Promession, which really fired his imagination. It was a pity he had to go so soon!
We then chatted with a local couple who live close to Mevagissey and admired the wonderful Cornwall countryside, particularly the places where the line goes right next to the sea, and over some wonderful bridges, including one by Brunel at Saltash. But we were soon at St Austell, on time, and none the worse for the 6 3/4 hour journey. Gill had ordered a 'Carls taxi' last night when in York, and the driver was there waiting for us. We thought that a taxi would be best as we didn't know quite where the bus would drop us, and we did have quite a bit of luggage, which we wouldn't appreciate dragging around trying to find the house.
I'd memorised the Googlemap of the village so I was able to direct Carl, the driver, with 100% accuracy, to the cottage, which is on a very steep hill called Cliff Street. We explained that we were going to go back to St Austell on Friday by bus, and then get the train to Truro and then the bus from there to St Just in Roseland, and he said, wow, that'll take ages and be quite expensive... why don't you take a taxi, it'll only take half an hour and cost £35. Well this sounded like a much better option, despite our love of taking timetabled public transport. So we booked him to come and take us to St Just in Roseland at 2pm on Friday.
Carl had to reverse back up the hill and he ran over a plastic clip on one of the rucksacks, which sent our youngest son into fits of laughter as it shattered into lots of pieces. All in all this was a very good natured and jolly trip down, really easy, and cheap, costing £77.40 for the four of us to go from York to St Austell, plus £17 for the two taxis door to door.
After we'd explored the cottage a bit we all went on a walk down to the harbour, and popped in to the Aquarium which has some impressive fish and other marine life, and came back via a fish and chip emporium which we found fries in veg oil, so we had a tray of chips each.
When back at the cottage we got our sleeping arrangements sorted, the boys in twin beds upstairs and us on the sofabed downstairs. A fairly early night!
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