view from my window today
From my 2nd floor window I can hear the tourists. Some are laughing, others are directing ("Ivan, for heaven's sake do be quiet!"), but almost no one is unhappy - perhaps apart from Ivan's mother. I hear them arrive, unload the boot of their car and roll their bag along the bumpy cobblestone lane to wherever it is they will be for the next week. Is there anything more fun than arriving for a vacation in St Ives with 7 whole days ahead of you? No wonder they are happy.
I can even hear the people who are on the beach, from here. It is only half a block away, and they are clearly having gobs of fun. I know this first hand because yesterday, I joined them. It was an almost blistering Cornwall day, causing me to stop working and just be. The beach itself was enormous, because the tide was out and glistening sand stretched for a mile or more. My beach chair and umbrella held and comforted me as I read, munched, and watched the funny people around me. I think the funniest ones were the babies. I am partial to babies (missing one in particular, daily) and could find no fault in any of them. Don't get me wrong, the babies did cry and protest magnificently, as all babies probably do. But they were so darned cute while they did it. I laughed every time.I was shocked this morning when at breakfast, one of the guests sitting at the table had gone completely red. Dangerously red! She looked like a person-shaped fire sitting there and eating her Corn Flakes.
"Umm...beach?" I enquired gently.
She smiled and said, "How can you tell?" She paused a bit and then admitted, "Forgot me sunscreen." Well, of course.
The truth is that when it comes to a warm day, these Brits don't waste a minute of it. It may not happen again for a while. Case in point, the rain we were pelted with today. It's just as well, though, don't you think? Because if it had been another blistering Cornwall day, there'd be nothing left for her to burn.
See you along the way!
the SconeLady
I love the 'brogue' of the speech, when around the Brits. It is common to them, and we Yanks have our own 'tune' as we talk! The mix is not 'off-putting' but reminds us that we are close cousins, and makes it necessary for us to listen well to each other in order to understand. Would that we would 'listen well to each other' in our own personal lives--we would do better I think!
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