We came together for breakfast this morning. Mom and Dad managed to get lost on their way to us. Not hard to do that when you are wandering through a 72 acre estate to find another cottage. A little bit like finding a needle in a haystack especially when you don’t have a map. There was a little moan session over breakfast about the beds.  Lara started it when she said that her bed was noisy – every time she turned she woke herself up with the noise. That was quickly followed by Daniel complaining about the duvet which was as wide as the bed only and so he spent the whole night trying to stay under it. Helen and I could top that because our duvet was also only as wide as the bed and there were 2 of us sharing it. It became a tug of war. Whoever turned gave it a pull and held on tight. By the time Mom and Dad arrived they couldn’t add any additional complaints about the bed.

What is also really amusing is the bathroom set up.  Helen keeps on selfishly flushing when she goes to the loo. And that means it won’t refill for about 30 minutes. She just cannot restrain herself – ridiculous. And if you shower then it takes about an hour to refill the toilet. Helen was showering and I used the basin this morning and that stopped the water flowing the shower. Water can only be directed to one thing at a time it seems.  British plumbing! And the bathroom is so small that when Helen climbed out of the shower I was using the basin and there wasn’t space for both of us. She got back into the shower to make space for me to leave.

After breakfast we decided to walk into St Ives. Only 5 of us went (P, H, S, L & C).  D & M wanted to go and play tennis (which they did). Tregenna Castle is above St Ives – it is about 100 meters above the town.  As we were walking down we knew we would regret having to walk back up again. It is a very quaint town. You can just imagine pirates smuggling in their goods. The houses are built together and town planning obviously wasn’t an issue. The roads are ridiculous narrow and you wonder how a car can even fit down them. The seafront is basically restaurants, Cornish ice cream shops and Cornish Pastie shops. I said it was too early for ice cream – Lara said it is never too early for ice cream. We did resist her though. Of course because the sun was out (even though it was about 16 degrees), all the British were heading for the beach in their baggies. We did also pass one guy in a suit heading for the beach.

We got back just before lunch. We had booked at the Carbis Bay Hotel for lunch. It is about a mile from the hotel we are staying at. They have a massive restaurant and serve the usual traditional Sunday lunch choices – Roast Lamb; Roast Beef and even had Salmon and some vegetarian option (who eats that?). (Quick break while I got a beer and chips – when in England do as the English do.) The beef came with the biggest Yorkshire pudding I have ever seen. And then the vegetables were mashed potato, roast potato and boiled potato.  I was quite surprised we didn’t get chips as well. As there was a very large party (about 50 people) celebrating a baptism, we didn’t get the food quickly but then we didn’t really have anywhere to go anyway. As we got back at about 3:30pm it was time for a Sunday pm sleep. Lara must think we are crazy – we come on holiday overseas and have a Sunday pm sleep! C, S & L watched TV for the afternoon (hopefully not the adult channel – Sharon is no doubt panicking again – actually maybe it is Bryan that is worrying more this time).

We decided to head for ice creams instead of dinner (Lara’s pleas eventually won out). As it had just started to rain lightly we drove down. Michael and my Mom stayed behind. The problem with St Ives (besides the width of the roads) is that there are only limited parking spots.  My Dad made the mistake of trying a parking place which was full and then we were stuck going in one direction only. We eventually had to down a road which we had walked down earlier in the day and Stephen had remarked “I would not want to drive the R-class (my Dad’s car) down that road”.  I said it wouldn’t fit. But we had no option. I have never seen anyone get so close to hitting the walls of the houses – on the LHS my Dad has about 5mm (not exaggerating). By the time we parked (and paid £5.70 for the parking!) it was windy and raining much harder. Probably around 12 degrees and we were going for ice creams. The things we do for Lara. And we couldn’t just go to any ice cream place (I was keen for the first one we found), we had to go to the one on the other side of the town. Admittedly the ice cream was quite unique and good. I had Apple Pie and Clotted Cream (one flavour) and chunky Chocolate. We rushed back to the car to get dry and keep warm. Lovely ice cream weather.

The rain looks set in.  The weather prediction varies for tomorrow.  From cold and rain to cold and rain to cold and some rain. One thing is certain is that it is going to be cold. It is July – it is summer – someone should tell the English though.  It is 9pm and we are watching Spain destroy Italy in the Euro 2012 final. It is now lashing down rain outside.  I doubt we will be in a hurry to get up tomorrow.

P, H, S, L, M & C

PS: We have photos but the connection is so bad that we cannot upload anything right now.  Check back at www.templetravels.co.za (probably tomorrow) and you can see some pics.  And while you are there, as only 7 of you have registered so far, please register.  You will get the email directly into your email and I don’t have to remember to send it to you.