Cornwall - Day 4

Theme of the Day? Nature!

I woke up this morning before 8 a.m., having had a restless night’s sleep. I don’t remember my dreams, but I do remember thinking, for the first time, that the flat I’m renting might be haunted for no other reason than it’s an old building. Once that lodged in my head, sleep became difficult as every little noise sent my eyelids flying open. But I eventually dozed off.

Because it was supposed to be warmer today, I decided to head out early. There is a quaint little garden on my route and today I stopped to explore. It’s called the Old Grammar School Garden, and it has a delightful array of flowers, including one of my favorite, fuchsia. They’re such pretty flowers and remind me of tiny dancers.

I’m not sure what this star-burst flower is (it looks like some kind of thistle?), but I had to snap a photo, of course.

Someone had also created this adorable miniature. Isn’t it cute?

I headed down to the town centre, ready to buy a new copy of Daphne du Maurier’s Frenchman’s Creek. Except . . .

Well. Friends, Fowey does not come alive until at least 10 a.m. or, as the bookstore put it on their hours placard, 10-30ish. So I decided to go and sit in the churchyard. I didn’t scroll through social media, didn’t try and distract myself. Instead, I sat there and listened to the birds singing, enjoyed saying hello to the people passing by, and relished in this moment of just being.

I had a little friend visit me several times. I wish I’d had some birdseed with me! This cute little European Robin came very near to jumping in my hand. He was quite curious, and kept hopping closer and closer. I put my hat on the bench beside me, and at one point, he hopped on it. What a joy it was to watch him. I talked to him, of course, and told him he was quite cute. I felt like a Disney princess!

I said goodbye to Sir Robin, as I dubbed him, and headed off. On a whim, I stopped into the Fowey Aquarium, a tiny little space originally opened in 1952. James greeted me at the door and introduced me to the residents: two octopuses, crabs, anemones, flat fish, and several others, all caught in Cornwall. We had a nice chat. He’d been a fisherman before he took over the aquarium in 2014, and he said he saw more Brits vacationing in Fowey than normal, perhaps confirming my suspicions that many were not traveling overseas (at least not to America). He has a friend in Wyoming, which was quite amazing, since I am originally from Nebraska and have been in Wyoming often.

I went into the delightfully quaint Shrew Books and bought my copy of Frenchman’s Creek. I forgot just how much I love this novel. The last time I read it, I was 13 years old.

After grabbing another Cornish pasty for my brunch, I went back to my apartment to wait for my fan. Yes, friends, I ordered a fan from the Amazon UK site because I am an absolute wimp when it comes to heat. Don’t get me wrong - it’s been very pleasant here in Cornwall, and it cools down very nicely in the evenings. But temps in the 80s later this week had me squirming, and my flat does not have a fan or A/C. So, I decided to spend the money on this fan, knowing it will stay behind in this flat to help the next poor woman who suffers from hot flashes or can’t deal with heat well like me. My daughter sent me an interesting TikTok video about how women do not handle heat in the same ways that men do, but of course, scientists haven’t studied this until recently because understanding women’s bodies has never been a priority. Sigh. Anyway, I was anxious for the fan to show up, and in the meantime, wrote over 1,000 words on the novel. It was a damn good thing I was paying attention because the Amazon delivery person left my fan at the wrong address. Luckily, I saw where he went, then hurried and grabbed it. DON’T MESS WITH MY FAN.

I decided to go “out on the town” tonight and check out a few of Fowey’s pubs. I ended up at The Ship’s Inn, the oldest pub in town, a “higgledy-piggeldy old building with nooks and crannies” as the website’s description states. I had a few glasses of my new favorite cider, Thatchers, read my book, and wrote in my journal. This pub has served patrons for over 500 years. That is mind-blowing. Just think of all the conversations and laughter shared in that space, not to mention arguments and fights. How many marriages were arranged there, or business deals struck? This is one of the reasons I love England so much. There’s so many of these buildings around. We in the United States tend to just bulldoze stuff and put up something new - and ugly - in its place.

I have to tell you, I’m having such a great time that I don’t want to go home. Oh, it’s been lovely to be off of work and away from the daily routine, yes, but my soul feels at home here. I’m hoping that I can somehow move here part-time or permanently at some point in the future.

The writing is going well. I’ve broken the 61k mark on the novel - and since I’m shooting for 75k, it feels like it’s within reach! I didn’t think I’d be able to write 20k words while here because I wanted to do more than just write. But I’m happy with my progress.

I’ll leave you with this picture of the sun setting over the sea I took while on my walk home to my flat.

Join me for the rest of the week as I write about my holiday in Cornwall!