Dogs In Church (Cornwall Day 9)

 

There was a Food Festival going on just down the road, but I did not want to be at a food festival when I could be sitting inside the St Ia Church on a Sunday morning. St Ia Church is key to my stays in St Ives. It is filled with lovely and interesting people who automatically show an interest in the American lady as she tip toes in. The hymn book, the pew sheet, and the booklet (I never bring it home because they ask us kindly not to) are duly handed out, the Processional begins, and we are off.

Notice the doggie! Her name is Tess, and she is very interested in the Processional. This is because any minute her Mistress will come round the bend. When she does, Tess tries to join in. It happens every week.

Tess is so nice and well bred that she listens quietly all the way through the service, then lets absolute strangers pat her head. This kind of thing makes people glad they live in England where dogs of all sorts are allowed in. Tess's Mistress told me she has had all of her dogs come with her to church, for years. I mentioned sadly that this is not the case, in California. If I tried to take a dog into a church service, or a grocery store, or restaurant, the creature - unless it were a seeing-eye-dog - would be utterly rejected as if the dog were a second class citizen. 

The lady said she had heard this about America, but had never been able to quite believe it.

In the photo below, you can see part of the reason I would not want to be at a food festival on a Sunday morning:

The weather was spectacular, but - just LOOK AT THE CROWDS! Sure, they are consuming splendid delicacies and learning how to cook them from famous chefs on the sands of Porthminster. But the lines are long, especially at the Greek Gyro tent where consumers wait simply AGES to get a lamb, chicken, or pork Gyro. 

Lest you think I did not go to the Food Festival, I did actually go, wandering around the crowds and thinking I would really like a Gyro if only the line weren't so long. Perhaps some ice cream... but just then I saw two seagulls dive-bombing some poor, innocent people who had just taken their first tastes of ice cream. I felt TERRIBLE for the people, and absolutely MURDEROUS toward the gulls. I could see that the surrounding hordes felt the same.

(Seagulls are not an endangered species, but is it hate speech if I say something perfectly ghastly about them?) 

See you along the way!

the SconeLady