Christmas in Cornwall

I had hoped to be able to spend Christmas with the family in St Agnes, and, for once, it wasn't me disorganisation, but rather not knowing whether I had to work after christmas that stopped me booking travel a reasonable time in advance when it wouldn't've been ridiculously expensive. When I finally convinced the boss to tell me that he didn't want me to work over the break, I went online to look for transport as quickly as I could.. then I baulked at the price.., then I thought about the cost of airfares from NZ, and not knowing when I'll next be in the uk and have a chance to see them, I decided that it was worth it. After too much fear of missing my flight, and the resultant long period of hanging around in the airport waiting for the flight, I arrived in Newquay at about 6pm, and found Ian and Jenny waiting for me. Half an hour later, We showed up at The Croft, where a glass of G'n'T appeared in my hand, and shortly later I was sitting at the table enjoying a delicous meal (prepared by means of argument between Rob and Richard)... and the wonderful company of 16 relatives.., (of varying distance)

After a night of fun, drinking too much, games (articulate) and catching up, I crawled off to bed for a good night's sleep, ready to explore an abandoned mine the next morning... morning came and went, and by mid afternoon, we were walking along to road to a location I probably shouldn't name, which was renamed to “another name I probably shouldn't mention” during the course of our exploration. Unfortunately, before leaving, I was warned that I would return caked in mud so I left my camera behind.., The mine was quite an experience... far more expansive than anything I've had the opportunity to explore in New Zealand. Lots of branching tunnels, some short drives with dead ends, and large caverns in other places where seems of Ore had been found. Pockets of foul smelling (and sometimes dizzying) air, clayey cave-ins, old propping and shoring, some of it intact, and some quite definitely collapsed.

After about 4 hours of wandering around underground, we climbed about 35m of steel ladders (some recent work had been carried out in the 90's) and emerged in the yard behind a factory, lights were turned off and stealthy progress made to the driveway, followed by ducking through a hole under the wire fence, and a scramble down the hill. After a couple of quiets at the local pub, we headed back to a hungry and slightly impatient crew at The Croft. We ate, drank, and headed into the village for a few more drinks at the pub before midnight mass at the church, across the road. High Church (or “bells and smells” as I fondly know it) is quite an experience to have whilst rather tipsy and carrying an over-inflated bladder.

Christmas Day started around 10am.., with a glass of Buck's fizz (bubbly mixed with orange juice), breakfast, and a quick trip to the beach for the local Christmas traditional swim... keeping up the Doble tradition of arriving pretty much when everyone else is getting out of the water. ...............

Boxing day saw us heading out to Gwethian to fly kites...trivial pursuit

the 27th was a bit of a detox day with less drinking and 3 hours of walking along the cliffs, althoguh we didn't make it as far as porthowan before, stopping for a picnic lunch, then returning via the beacon.

Sunday the 28th was my last day, and luckily I managed to squeeze in a quick bit of kiting before catching the coach from newquay to London at 3pm.

Edinburgh.., the lead up to Christmas.

After a few more weeks of blogging silence, I figure it's about time to post again. Things have been relatively busy.., possibly not especially interesting, but exciting none the less. Work's been a little slow coming into Christmas, although we did spend a couple of days delivering Christmas trees 35 one day and 46 the next.., ranging in height from 6 feet to 12. It's amazing to see the look of joy on the faces of a hall full of school kids when you bring their tree in, set it up, and cut the wrapping so it unfolds dramatically in front of them. Although, surprisingly, the looks of joy aren't too dissimilar to those on the faces of receptionists in offices and hotels.

Because Work's been slow, I have been able to spend quite a bit of time at the church/building site in Georgie. It's kinda surreal during the week, there's mess, painting, wiring, sawdust everywhere, but come Sunday morning, you'd never know, and it looks almost like a complete building. In the last couple of weeks, we've managed to transform an unpainted room with no running water, a few kitchen appliances and some bench space in it, into a relatively functional kitchen... (there's still work to be done as always seems to be the way, but we feel a lot closer to completion).., we've installed a pretty flash PA system, and continued the ongoing task of patching up all the holes here and there. The fact that the place has been able to function whilst still being built, is due to a lot of hard work by many parties., but in particular, Brian and Anne, he makes mess., (and we all help with this endevour) and she is the unsung hero who somehow manages to ensure that the place is spotless.

So, apart from swinging from scaffolding, knocking holes in walls, running round ceilings with reels of cable, and other such enjoyable pastimes, I've been enjoying the beautiful spectacle that Edinburgh becomes during winter. Because it's so dark for so long, people have a good chance to see the lights strung up in trees.., so, a lot of effort has been put into putting lights in trees. A walk down Princes St at night time is a pretty beautiful sight... if you can avoid the crowds in the winter wonderland..., (the whole of princes st gardens has been turned into a fairground, with an open air ice skating rink, ferris wheel, and other amusement rides, along with lots of stalls selling various foods, mulled wine, and I even spotted a fortune teller last time I was around there.

Chloe (from AURAC) dropped into Edinburgh for a couple of weeks, but I'm ashamed to say, I failed in responsibility to go climbing with her. We tried., and if it hadn't been for a terribly delayed bus, we would have managed a Sunday afternoon at ratho, but alas, it wasn't to be. we did, however manage to share a couple of good nights at the pub, and a great sunset atop Arthur's seat.., (the hill that overlooks the centre of town)

I've been trying (and failing) to climb once a week.., bouldering at alien rock 2 is pretty good, and easy to reach...., Ratho, on the other hand is unfortunately some distance out of town, and pretty hard to access without a car. but it is amazingly huge!!!, I think it's the bigest indoor wall in the world.., and they've just opened a new tilting wall, so the place now has a wee bit of real roof climbing.., (I didn't particularly like the routes on it, but that may be simply due to the fact that I've been eating too much, cycling rather a bit and not climbing nearly enough.