June 16, 2000 -- Friday
You know, I'm finding that I would have just been better off booking just the flight and hotel through my travel agent then leaving everything else until I got here. The whole rail pass thing has been a mess. I just talked with the guy at the train station, who said that the cheapest way for me to do this was to buy a round trip ticket from London to Helston - 73 pounds. So the three-day pass my agent booked only took me to Salisbury & I could have gotten a much cheaper hotel room in Salisbury, too. Buses regularly went round trip to Stonehenge.
But I really did enjoy my hike. Lots of $$ wasted on this trip. Not that the trip is a waste, just much of the $$ spent for it.
Riding in the train, I'm seeing all sorts of houses and colors in the fields. Poppies are planted everywhere and can be seen from afar. I also see a lot of the English roses while I'm walking - it's a very, very pale pink. The English are in love with the Rose, I've seen gardens everywhere. [Elder flowers - white flowers on trees, like dogwoods]
There are many modern houses with modern roofs, but there are also many older houses with thatched roofs. Some of the Salisbury locals I spoke with on the train yesterday said that many of the yellow colors I see in the fields are seeds being raised for their tannin oils [oilseed grape]. Many of the crops are subsidized by the government.
I also met a guy - don't think I even got his name - from Australia, had been traveling in the Middle East & Egypt. His pictures were beautiful. I love how people will look straight at you here if they find you attractive. People's eyes are quite bold.
Every so often I will pass by a hill that looks unnaturally high and flat in comparison to the surroundings. Sometimes it is just a hill, but sometimes they are burial mounds or an old pre-Roman fort. What fun it is to guess!
Truro Cathedral - from Train
**********************************************************The train conductor is quite cute. His hair is ginger red and he's small-framed. I excused myself & asked him if he knew what time the train got to Exeter. He dimpled-up and said "Yes." very flirtatiously. I smiled back & asked "May I know?" At which point he did actually tell me.
I love their humor here. It's flirtatious, but subtle. Generally, our American humor is more outrageous, gregarious, and frequently lewd. You can't tease people without fearing threats that you're harassing them, so it's sort of an all-or-nothing society we've created. Such a shame, too.
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Tube Tube Tube - Train Train Bus Train Train Train Bus.
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The toilets here seem a bit temperamental to me. I'm not sure why, but you have to flush them just so, with a little bit of muscle, then let go quickly. Pubs all close at eleven in this country, so if you want to go out late at night there's not much out there for you. I was exhausted, but I went out for fish & chips before taking my nap. I'm very glad I did because it is 11pm now. Still no word about the baggage, though I have left several messages throughout the day. It is Friday, so perhaps it's just that no one works today. I'm very upset and I've indicated such in my message.
Apparently American Express issues traveller's checks through Lloyd's bank, so I can cash them no charge if I go to Lloyd's. First thing I'd heard of that today when I went to another bank & they were so kind as to tell me.
Being in Cornwall is a bit like being back in Virginia. People are still friendly but it takes a bit more effort than in London to actually get them talking to you. The accent feels more familiar, almost as if I'm talking to my Parrish grandparents. Funny thing, they've got a bit of North/South friendly animosity here, too. Funny to hear people referring to the 'North' as northern England instead of Northern U.S.
It's much quieter here, though I still hear a good number of cars through my window. I got some very good sleep in my nap - probably a combination of quiet & the first firm bed I've slept in all trip. I think Europeans must like soft mattresses.
Took a bus for the next leg of the trip into Helston, here. The whole ride down has been lovely. However, for future reference, the best way to book passage is round trip, straight through from London. I know my travel agent thought he was doing what was best by giving me a three day rail pass, but it helped not-at-all to get me back when it expires in 8 days and I need it for ten.
Got dinner at a pub here in town, where the cider cost 2 L and so did the fish and chips. Excellent cost on the dinner, not so excellent a cost on the cider. Guess that's not too different from the states, but I didn't expect to pay 3L for the drink. Ah well.
The people there were particularly friendly, as people are wont to be in a bar setting. Apparently the big talk was that the barkeep had gotten really drunk the week before when he got off his shift - was the first time his girlfriend & the others had seen him that bad. Woman named Sue invited me to come watch the England/Germany football (read: 'soccer') game tomorrow evening. She was very sweet, but had to run off to feed her kids tonight when I was talking to her.
I ran into Woolworth's (again, thank god for the Americanization of the world!) to pick up bottled water for my trip and another notebook, seeing that this is running out of paper. I ran across their luggage rack and fell in love with the prices. I picked up a small bag for 7 L since I'm tired of lugging around my souveniers in a paper department store bag. Really a great deal! I'm still pondering over whether to get one of the larger luggage bags, too. Only 13 L! It's only that it's a bit larger than I need. However, it'd be great to have something with wheels, where the wheels won't break. I need to invest in some appropriate luggage at some point. However, that doesn't have to be today. But, oh, those prices are hard to pass up! I could put everything from both my bags in there and still have some room left over.
The hotel manager has been very kind. I wish I could have been more awake during his tour, but that train trip today took an awful lot out of me. Part of it has been carrying my luggage everywhere. I feel a bit like a pack-mule sometimes. From the bus station to the Salisbury train station is nearly a mile, so that was a bit of a trek with 20 lbs of bags on me. I should get that bag I saw. Would save me a world of backache with toting. All I could do today was to keep telling myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other & keep going.
I've been told by a couple of people that I should be asking Virgin & Delta to reimburse me generously for my baggage loss. I'm almost a bit grateful that I haven't had to lug one more bag across the country, though.
Tomorrow's supposed to be right toasty for down here - about 27 C. I'll go ahead & wear shorts, then pray I don't freeze. Today was the first bit of truly English weather I've had, I do believe. Cool, moist, and very overcast. It was misting a bit, without really raining. Others complained, but I thought it was very nice indeed.
Oh, funny thing, the guy at the railroad ticket counter reminded me an awful lot of the guy in the Canadian Embassy from the movie "French Kiss." Dark hair, bright blue eyes, all smiles, and somehow a bit out in space somewhere. I was amused. There are a lot of people here with that pale coloring that I've always been teased a bit for having. Actually, come to think of it, seems like a lot of the features of these Cornish people are a lot like my own. My skin's a bit darker even, since I've been outside the past week or so, but otherwise I look every bit like a local and the proprietor here resembles my grandpa Parrish an awful lot in height & basic features.
Oh, but it's hard to say. Just that the people here are a different looking English from those in London - this whole area is a bit like Tidewater, Va.
Another interesting thing. In Salisbury as well as here, they don't use two sheets for the bed. Only a comforter with a covering on the comforter. Reminds me of when I was a kid & never slept between my sheets, only on top of the sheets & under the comforter. I'm all sorts of trouble, aren't I?
The breeze is whipping through the leaves outside here. Only thing I wish was there wasn't a main road beside the hotel, here.
The people here are anything but backwater. They're earthy, real, and as intelligent as anyone else. Reminds me of Lynchburg and how it's also a small town with intelligent people. This village is probably about the size of Ashland, VA. I love how there are sidewalks so you can walk everywhere. The stores are right along the sidewalk so you can just pop in where you need - just like old downtowns in most US cities, except there everything's given way to mega-malls and Wal-marts. Here you have Walmart, but it's still your individual stores - except Woolworths, which is still small, but big enough to save my life.
It's interesting to me how this country is transfiguring for me from the mythological into the tangible. We passed through Plymouth today and saw the estuary where fishers were foraging for grubworm bait -- or perhaps that was Truro, where I saw another beautiful Cathedral from the distance. The whole peninsula down here is very small. Only ten miles across at the "lizard" and only thirty miles from the Lizard to Land's End. Looking at where the railroad goes on the map, I really would have needed a car, or taken another bus to get over to Tintagel. I'm sure it wouldn't be that difficult - they have a wonderful bus system here.
The entire building here smells like lavender. It's neat to be in a 'B&B' because I feel almost like I'm staying at my grandmother's house, except I have to call 200 to get help.
It was strange riding past either Plymouth or Truro. they are large towns really, but heavily isolated & seem to have the same professions at work that they did 500 years ago. In many ways England is sparsely populated, but where they do have towns the houses are built nearly on top of each other. The rows of townhouses look like replicas of each other and they'll have streets of them all connected. I tried to look from the perspective of street level & they really are quite quaint. They just look horrific from above.
Apparently American Express issues traveller's checks through Lloyd's bank, so I can cash them no charge if I go to Lloyd's. First thing I'd heard of that today when I went to another bank & they were so kind as to tell me.
Being in Cornwall is a bit like being back in Virginia. People are still friendly but it takes a bit more effort than in London to actually get them talking to you. The accent feels more familiar, almost as if I'm talking to my Parrish grandparents. Funny thing, they've got a bit of North/South friendly animosity here, too. Funny to hear people referring to the 'North' as northern England instead of Northern U.S.
It's much quieter here, though I still hear a good number of cars through my window. I got some very good sleep in my nap - probably a combination of quiet & the first firm bed I've slept in all trip. I think Europeans must like soft mattresses.
Took a bus for the next leg of the trip into Helston, here. The whole ride down has been lovely. However, for future reference, the best way to book passage is round trip, straight through from London. I know my travel agent thought he was doing what was best by giving me a three day rail pass, but it helped not-at-all to get me back when it expires in 8 days and I need it for ten.
Got dinner at a pub here in town, where the cider cost 2 L and so did the fish and chips. Excellent cost on the dinner, not so excellent a cost on the cider. Guess that's not too different from the states, but I didn't expect to pay 3L for the drink. Ah well.
The people there were particularly friendly, as people are wont to be in a bar setting. Apparently the big talk was that the barkeep had gotten really drunk the week before when he got off his shift - was the first time his girlfriend & the others had seen him that bad. Woman named Sue invited me to come watch the England/Germany football (read: 'soccer') game tomorrow evening. She was very sweet, but had to run off to feed her kids tonight when I was talking to her.
I ran into Woolworth's (again, thank god for the Americanization of the world!) to pick up bottled water for my trip and another notebook, seeing that this is running out of paper. I ran across their luggage rack and fell in love with the prices. I picked up a small bag for 7 L since I'm tired of lugging around my souveniers in a paper department store bag. Really a great deal! I'm still pondering over whether to get one of the larger luggage bags, too. Only 13 L! It's only that it's a bit larger than I need. However, it'd be great to have something with wheels, where the wheels won't break. I need to invest in some appropriate luggage at some point. However, that doesn't have to be today. But, oh, those prices are hard to pass up! I could put everything from both my bags in there and still have some room left over.
The hotel manager has been very kind. I wish I could have been more awake during his tour, but that train trip today took an awful lot out of me. Part of it has been carrying my luggage everywhere. I feel a bit like a pack-mule sometimes. From the bus station to the Salisbury train station is nearly a mile, so that was a bit of a trek with 20 lbs of bags on me. I should get that bag I saw. Would save me a world of backache with toting. All I could do today was to keep telling myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other & keep going.
I've been told by a couple of people that I should be asking Virgin & Delta to reimburse me generously for my baggage loss. I'm almost a bit grateful that I haven't had to lug one more bag across the country, though.
Tomorrow's supposed to be right toasty for down here - about 27 C. I'll go ahead & wear shorts, then pray I don't freeze. Today was the first bit of truly English weather I've had, I do believe. Cool, moist, and very overcast. It was misting a bit, without really raining. Others complained, but I thought it was very nice indeed.
Oh, funny thing, the guy at the railroad ticket counter reminded me an awful lot of the guy in the Canadian Embassy from the movie "French Kiss." Dark hair, bright blue eyes, all smiles, and somehow a bit out in space somewhere. I was amused. There are a lot of people here with that pale coloring that I've always been teased a bit for having. Actually, come to think of it, seems like a lot of the features of these Cornish people are a lot like my own. My skin's a bit darker even, since I've been outside the past week or so, but otherwise I look every bit like a local and the proprietor here resembles my grandpa Parrish an awful lot in height & basic features.
Oh, but it's hard to say. Just that the people here are a different looking English from those in London - this whole area is a bit like Tidewater, Va.
Another interesting thing. In Salisbury as well as here, they don't use two sheets for the bed. Only a comforter with a covering on the comforter. Reminds me of when I was a kid & never slept between my sheets, only on top of the sheets & under the comforter. I'm all sorts of trouble, aren't I?
The breeze is whipping through the leaves outside here. Only thing I wish was there wasn't a main road beside the hotel, here.
The people here are anything but backwater. They're earthy, real, and as intelligent as anyone else. Reminds me of Lynchburg and how it's also a small town with intelligent people. This village is probably about the size of Ashland, VA. I love how there are sidewalks so you can walk everywhere. The stores are right along the sidewalk so you can just pop in where you need - just like old downtowns in most US cities, except there everything's given way to mega-malls and Wal-marts. Here you have Walmart, but it's still your individual stores - except Woolworths, which is still small, but big enough to save my life.
It's interesting to me how this country is transfiguring for me from the mythological into the tangible. We passed through Plymouth today and saw the estuary where fishers were foraging for grubworm bait -- or perhaps that was Truro, where I saw another beautiful Cathedral from the distance. The whole peninsula down here is very small. Only ten miles across at the "lizard" and only thirty miles from the Lizard to Land's End. Looking at where the railroad goes on the map, I really would have needed a car, or taken another bus to get over to Tintagel. I'm sure it wouldn't be that difficult - they have a wonderful bus system here.
The entire building here smells like lavender. It's neat to be in a 'B&B' because I feel almost like I'm staying at my grandmother's house, except I have to call 200 to get help.
It was strange riding past either Plymouth or Truro. they are large towns really, but heavily isolated & seem to have the same professions at work that they did 500 years ago. In many ways England is sparsely populated, but where they do have towns the houses are built nearly on top of each other. The rows of townhouses look like replicas of each other and they'll have streets of them all connected. I tried to look from the perspective of street level & they really are quite quaint. They just look horrific from above.
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