Monday 1st August 11, Holiday Day Three

A good day with not too late a start, Gill got up at 7am as she wanted to go to St Austell to do some shopping; stuff not easy to get in Mevagissey.  But she missed the 8.47 bus and got one an hour later.  I had a lazy morning, invited the boys to have breakfast but they didn't want any... weird, as breakfast is always really high on my agenda as soon as I wake up!

Anyway, they eventually had 'brunch' and then I got a call from Gill saying she'd be at the bus stop next to the ice cream shop at 11.43, so our eldest and I walked down to collect her... and the shopping.  We all stopped to get veggies in the only greengrocer in Mevagissey, and the woman in there is a composter, had quite a good little chat. I posted 5 of the postcards I'd written.

Then back up to Turnstone Cottage and before lunch, I went with our eldest down to the harbour where there's a nice little beach exposed at low tide, where we played diabolo and devilsticks for a while.  Then we had a few goes at skimming stones ('ducks and drakes') across the water's surface, and about 10 people then copied us.  We came back for a late lunch.  After this we all went down to the harbour, to show the other two the nice beach.  Towards the end of the day we had a look for the Fowey Ferry times, and decided to get the last one over there, and back... there's a deal on the last crossing of the day which means you can go over, and come back for the price of a single journey.

Gill didn't want to come so I made sandwiches for us to take on the boat, for if we were hungry, and we went down to the bottom of the harbour for the 17.40 sailing.  The three of us cost £15, which I thought was a good price for the three of us to have the experience of going across the bay.  The trip over there was nice but the trip back, heading into the wind and waves, was really exciting.  I've always loved bouncing about on boats; it brought back memories of one of the rare times I went on holiday to mainland Europe with my family... we went on a hovercraft, and the whole family were seasick apart from me who was just loving the way the vessel moved over the surface of the sea, in  a very responsive way to the rather large waves on that day.  Well the Fowey to Mevagissey leg wasn't exactly rough, but we powered ahead at 12 knots, using about 250 horsepower of the 500 hp engine.  An exciting thing for the boys was that as we left Fowey, but before we hit the open sea, the Captain allowed our youngest to pilot the boat, which was a huge treat, great fun.  We didn't see that much wildlife, although earlier in the day, on the 11am crossing, they'd seen some Basking Shark. 

We had a bit more to eat when we got in and had a peaceful evening. 

Wednesday 19th August 09

Got the Road Train into Bridlington so the boys could 'do' the fairground rides and I could go to the internet shop and get my emails. I'd taken my laptop with me as I thought that I might get a chance to do some writing (my book!) and as York Green Festival is looming, I knew I had to keep in touch with the other team members at least once during the week, so today I took the laptop to Icy Tea which for a small charge, allows access to the 'net. Whilst the family went shopping for books, I went to have one hour (£2) at Icy Tea. However my Thunderbird thing managed to let me send some email replies, but not all... and just before I came off, I clicked on 'Get Mail' and found that some of the more important stuff hadn't been sent, and had been returned. The Icy Tea server system and my AVG thingy were not playing ball... and the chap there, 'Angel' couldn't work out why. He did have a good think and tried changing some things on my computer... and finally suggested I came back later when the shop owner would be back, who might be able to sort the problem out.

So I met up with the family and we headed for the fairground. Our youngest wanted to do the flight simulator ride, a box on hydraulic rams containing a screen, projector and seats with seatbelts. He chose a ride called 'Glacier Ride', and I went in with them. It was excellent, very exciting, stomach-churning. I'd happily do more of these...

However, we went to have a go on the Dodgems... the boys did anyway, and they both had some difficulty steering and even keeping their feet on the accelerator... and this caused some distress and promises of 'never again' once it had finished.

Then, after some persuasion, we decided to go on 'The Yorkshire Belle', a boat trip of an hour's duration towards Flamborough Head and back. Gill opted not to go, and went to find some shade and a sit down. The boat trip was really good... good to see the cliffs we've walked along and played under from the sea. On the way back, we sailed (motored) close to the Patricia, a ship belonging to Trinity House, and one of three which services navigation buoys and other work. We all enjoyed this trip.

The family went home and I went back to Icy Tea and went on Tiscali Webmail, but as that doesn't have the useful address function, where when you type in the first letters of the email address or intended recipient's name, suggestions come up (available in Outlook and Thunderbird), I had to keep toggling between the Thunderbird address book and the Webmail window to copy people into various replies. BUT I managed to get the most important stuff done, I think.

I got the last 'land train' back... someone gave me a ticket so it was a free ride.

I did some foraging before tea, found mainly poppy seeds which I put in a paper bag inside a plastic bag, once I realised the seam on the paper bag wasn't very good!

Gill made tea... potato and veg croquettes from M+S, with new potatoes, our own green beans, carrot and pesto/tomato sauce. Delicious!

A quiet night in... well. reasonably quiet, despite the complete lack of soundproofing in this cottage. All vehicles on the road outside sound like they are in the living room, and conversations upstairs are audible downstairs, and the TV on the lowest volume disturbs the child trying to get to sleep upstairs.

Friday 19th June 09

Got up at a more normal time but Gill returned soon after taking out little one off to school... he cycles on the road with me, but on the pavement with Gill (I do not understand this) and as he was on the pavement, he crashed into a wall and banged his tummy on his handlebar stem and was quite traumatised and upset. So he didn't go to school today. I would have been a lot stricter, but Gill and I do have parenting differences and these days I usually back down instead of argue that my opinion is more valid or better.

I visited Country Fresh and picked up some fruit/veg shopping plus a good load of compostables.

A day or two ago, Ali had suggested that she might come to York today, so she got a train and arrived sometime after midday. I met her and her PA Kaisa off the train and spent the day as a tourist in York. We took a trip on one of the YorkBoats, two of which are wheelchair accessible, via a pontoon at Kings Staith. Kaisa didn't come on this, and had an hour free time (though still being paid!) but then came with us to a coffee shop which had WiFi, as Ali had some Uni work she had to send off, and hadn't had time back at home to do this. Then we went to find a place where we could meet again for tea (Slug and Lettuce) and Kaisa went again and Ali and I went to have a look at Artfulness on Goodramgate, but there was no access ramp available so we couldn't get in. The owner of the shop was very vague and not at all apologetic, and we had a similar response to the situation at Kyi-Po, the vegan shop where Ali would have bought some stuff, had it been easy to get in. I find this situation embarrassing and it makes me angry that shop owners don't think of wheelchair users who wish to get in 'under their own steam' as it were, and make a wooden ramp or have one made. Don't they realise that places with good access get more visits from the increasing numbers of people using wheelchairs (ageing population) and the shop makes more money? Duh! Is it rocket science? No, it's a £20 wooden ramp. And the lack of thought to provide a ramp is discrimination, and verging on illegal.

So we went to another shop which was lucky to have level access, and Ali bought herself something there. We met Jonathan and Charlotte in Kings Square, and chatted until it was time to go to the Slug and lettuce, where we ate for half price as Ali had found a coupon online, and printed it off. Filling and good company. I get on well with Kaisa too, despite her lack of English meaning some things go over her head or need explaining.

Then back to the station where they got the 8.30 train, and I was back home by 9, full and tired from lots of walking.