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First leg of our trip to Cornwall today, heading for a stopover at mum and dad’s in Cheddar. It was one of the smoothest journeys we’ve had to Somerset and the only really notable thing that happened was in Luton.
We became aware of the fact that a car a few vehicles ahead of us was belching out exhaust fumes. We drove through a big cloud of the stuff and it stunk out our car. As we approached a roundabout the spurting turned into more of a blanket. The white van behind the car disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. Was this actually exhaust fumes or was there a fire?
The car went right at the roundabout and a few seconds later we went straight on and roundabout looked like a 1980s pop video that had gone extra crazy on the dry ice. I watched the car responsible driving up the road, apparently not worried about the Whacky Races style smokescreen it was creating behind it.
Did the driver eventually pullover and maybe try to escape the smouldering automobile before it exploded? I didn’t hear a bang or read anything about it on the news. But it was Luton and if they reported all the crazy shit that happens here there would be no time for news from anywhere else.
Dad seemed in relatively good form today and luckily I’d rung mum to tell her of our progress as it turned out that she thought we were coming to see them tomorrow. She’d had time to get some salmon out of the freezer for dinner. And if her cooking for us all wasn’t enough, she also played Phoebe at badmington in the evening. Not for too long. But I hope that I am still nimble enough to play racquet sports when I am 89. Or that my children will be prepared to do a Weekend at Bernies with my corpse and make it appear that I am as active and fit as my incredible mum.
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Onwards to Cornwall and another suspiciously smooth and uncomplicated drive. We’re staying in a quiet village near St Austell. And when I say quiet that’s exactly what I mean. The minute I got out of the car I said, “Wow, listen, isn’t it quiet?”
It turns out we’re only about 3 miles away from the coastal village we stayed in in 2016, when Phoebe was one and a bit and we upset some old ladies in a restaurant when I was proud of her for blowing her own nose.
I tend to side more with them now than I did then.
We are going to all the same places again this year, but it’s OK because we’re all a decade older (and one of us didn’t exist back then) and luckily having a tiny baby with us meant that we can’t remember anything about the last time we were here.
There was a lovely pub in the village and we had dinner and a couple of drinks before walking back to our Air B n B. I noted there was a post office up the road, so even though it was about 7pm now we went to have a look. It was still open and we bought some basic supplies and wandered back to our temporary home. A cat who looked like he might not have a family came to say hello and Ernie hoped it would follow us home and that we could then take it back to Hitchin. Though, you know, it might have had a home here in Cornwall.
We played charades. Last time we played this Ernie didn’t quite grasp the concept and attempted to act out the whole plot of whatever book or film he’d chosen. This time he understood it better, making it slightly less funny, but we still laughed lots.
We then watched Blast From The Past, which I’d not seen before. Both kids, especially Ernie, were sceptical when they heard the concept: a family, mistakenly think that there has been a nuclear war in 1963 and hide away for 35 years, before the son emerges into “present day” America. But in a choice between going to bed and watching the film, he elected to face his fears and he really enjoyed it. Afterwards he asked for a safe zone and for no one to say, “I told you so” and said he’d thought it was good.
No one said “I told you so,” but Ernie, we did tell you so.
I thought that overall it was fun but that it got a bit distracted by elements of the romcom and didn’t have quite as much fun with the conceit as it might have done. I’d have like a bit more of Sissy Spacek and for Christopher Walken to get a bit more shit for his fairly devastating error (though to be fair to him, the family and all their friends would have been killed if he hadn’t been paranoid and sent them all home and then got into his shelter) It’s worth a look if you haven’t seen it.
I am hoping all the holiday blogs will be this boring. I had a lovely day. That’s all that matters.
RHLSTP with Bella Hull is up today. Another utterly charming and hilarious guest.
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