Mutterings and Musings

Double Challenge

Challenge: Pretend that you have found a four-leaf clover that will bring you extraordinary good luck for exactly one day. Write about your lucky day.

Work has been rather intense recently, so I'll settle for an unexpected day off.

But if I were to describe a remarkable day, where everything goes with supernatural perfection, I guess it would look something like this;
I'd wake up nice and early - quite naturally and full of energy for a change - but Best Beloved would still be deeply asleep and not stir as I get up (did I mention I get up because I want to....). The sun is just creeping over the horizon and I'm torn between an early morning walk around the village and doing some yoga/pilates/stretches in the living room with some music (I'm fantasising, this would never normally happen). I'd then settle down on the garden sofa with a fresh coffee and my book, it's warm enough to do that today.
After a few chapters I'm starting to feel hungry, and wouldn't you believe it - there's bacon in the fridge and I had the foresight buy croissants too.I start to cook breakfast and the aroma awakens Best Beloved who only takes half an aeon in the shower this morning, because wouldn't y'know, he doesn't need yelling down the stairs (we have an upside-down house and our garden is the garage roof). I don't even need to roll my eyes.

We breakfast outside and Best Beloved points out the birds at the feeders because today he's interested in nature. He's in one of his infectious, energetic moods and he's thought of a new place for us to go hiking today. It's a longer route than we normally do, but my ankle has been much better recently, so we're going to risk it. BB hands me my book and tells me to read other chapter whilst he clears away breakfast. I suggest making a picnic, but the route he has in mind takes us past a really good gastro-pub (there is no covid, lock-down, or quarantine rules today) and he wants to treat me.*

The hike is fabulous. It's a beautiful day; sunny, but cool. My ankle is absolutely fine and although we go over some rough terrain and end up clambering across some boulders and a river (we got a little lost, don't ask), it holds up just fine. We stop at the pub for lunch and the food is great, but by the time we get back to the car we're both thinking about dinner. Best Beloved surprises me with dinner out - apparently he was going to cook, but he's changed his mind and we end up at another pub (full of hikers and people with dogs, so it doesn't matter that we're both a bit hot and sticky after our walk).
I've lucked out as the pub has a well stocked gin bar and since it's BB's idea to eat out, he's driving. Oh, and I nearly forgot, the local band that we both love - the one that doesn't play in pubs any more - is just setting up. And since they recognise us (and they should, they played our wedding) they don't just take the usual cover-requests, they play a couple of their own songs.

BB and I play their CD at full blast all the way home.

* I should probably point out that this isn't actually that unusual; we both like hiking and food. But it's my perfect day, so he's paying

Challenge: If you were hired to show tourists what life is really like where you live, what would you show them or have them do?

Best Beloved and I get this a lot anyway - we live in west Cornwall, UK, and it's a very touristy area.
You are tripping over beautiful beaches, fishing villages, picturesque coves, and wild moorland. Britain doesn't do seafood very well on the whole, but Cornwall has Newlyn, Falmouth, St Ives, and Padstow - we have celebrity chiefs and award-winning microbreweries and gin distilleries in every direction.

My favourite recommendations are a number of the local beaches (along with the ones to avoid) - there's Kynance Cove with its breathtaking rock formations; Godrevy has an island lighthouse and several inaccessible covelets that seals just love; Gwithian looks across the bay to St Ives, and has a fantastic little cafe-surf shop.
Cornwall is famous for its pasties (a heavy, but freakin' awesome, pastry meal filled with meat, potato and veg that miners used to eat) and three to the biggest names happen to be our town.
The Eden Project is only a few miles up the road for those that want to wander around the biomes; they have a Mediterranean biome where they do weddings and a tropical biome were you can get baobab ice-cream. They do concerts during the summer - we had tickets to see Bryan Adams this summer, but well covid...... and it's one of the best venues I've ever been to because it's so small and laid back.
If you drive in the opposite direction, you get to Lands End and you can meander back via the Minack Theatre* which is built into the side of the cliff over. Again, a perfect location of entertainment - I've known artists stop half way through a set because the audience is watching dolphins out to sea and even the singer wanted to watch for a bit! I saw a performance of based on the Titanic and it was truly surreal; it was late at night in October, crystal-clear skies littered with stars, waves crashing against the cliff-face, enough of a chill in the air that you could see your breath. A more fitting setting for the centenary remembrance you could not imagine.




*Google it. Words cannot and will not do it justice.