Living the Dream

So, today I've been surfing on Fistral Beach, Newquay. Never thought I'd get to do that. Am so chuffed. And knackered! I rewarded myself for all my hard work in the beach front Animal store hehe.

Up early again to find a geocache while the others were still asleep.

Would you Adam and Eve it?!

Surfing lesson one on one trev got pics.
Eden project boiling in rainforest biome baobab smoothie impact of plant products
Giant bee wee man mouse teeth tractor train seed missed sunset again

As I was going to St Ives..

Up early for some caching before breakfast. Was one really close but it was such a lovely morning that I wanted to stay out longer. Can you tell where it is?

What can I say.. I have a soft spot for little red sports cars..

View from the second cache..

Back to the bay..

So worth the climb. But then I got chased back down by a digger! Portreath is expanding up the sides of the valley, kind of a shame but inevitable. Stopped to take another pic of the beautiful curves..

 Today was Nan's choice first. She was desperate to go to St Ives ro do some reminiscing. On the way in we got told every Pub her and grandad had frequented, and assertions that 'there's nothing in Hale' etc. She wasn't happy her bus pass didn't work down here either!

The town itself is just dangerous! Too many surf shops! I limited myself to just one animal tee, Chalkie got himself a whole outfit.. as he had thrown away his only pair of shorts some time ago. I had an accident in a charity shop (which is allowable) ended up with board shorts, 3/4 shorts and a tee, and a towel cause no-one else had brought one. Mum chose the purple Ralph Lauren one.. so I now have a posh bathroom! Thought I'd be able to persuade Ems to come and join us when I spotted this shop for her..

The China Cat (or the Black Cat, I can never remember) that David (Daphne's son) used to own is now a v expensive modern jewellery shop. I can vaguely remember that. I don't really remember the bay though..

Left Nan and Pops on a bench while the rest of us went exploring/photographing. Went round the harbour..

Which didn't look much like the English Coast!

Chalkie again proved that nowhere is safe from his zoom lens..

Walked round to the next bay. Via a car park. Wouldn't be a Cornwall car park without a Dub Van, and these two were rather nice..

 Mum swears she remembers the 'huts' and some story about the tide coming in and Frank getting "me feet wet".

The next bay round was the surfing bay (Porthmeor I believe).. one day I'll look this good..

Back through the town to the bench where we had left the old people. Ice cream for dinner. Ten minutes sunbathing on the beach (making sure the new towel works), then bored. Left Mum toasting there and dragged Pops off to find his first Geocache, which was on top of the hill overlooking the surf beach, where I had been earlier. D'oh!

Back to collect the others, then back to the car as we wanted to do Lands End too that day. Not before having a real Cornish Pasty. And getting poo-ed on by one of the evil seagulls.

Only just remembered to stop and take a photo for Nan Leggett's postcard. First was so laughably terrible I tried again.

And we're off!!

The Tour has officially begun. Writing this from the cottage in Cornwall having already scoffed a
Cream tea with real Cornish cream!

Stopped off for a cuppa at Mumsy's (via a useless sat nav induced detour). They were as hilarious as ever. We also finished 'pimping my ride'.. (Bee a gift from Ma, Lego Man from Emsy)

Turns out that the boot is a bit roomier than Moby's.. I told Chalkie I was all packed and ready to go when I sent him this photo...

But actually I had packed this little lot! Was quite proud of how well I had 'lashed' it all down.

As usual the Rich's were lovely, and gave me an Easter Egg for the family to squeeze in and also a new mascot..

Anyway. Bumble was brilliant! About 325 miles on half a tank. Comfy to drive. Am loving cruise control. Only complaint is the music.. Had to borrow a old Now tape from Emma's bro. S club 7 not my fave to be honest, but was cheesy fun hehe. Just glad to make it after all the stress with the stuck key.

The cake arrived kinda ok. Looked that bad before the trip to be honest..

And I bagged top bunk.. but someone got there first..

Monday. Hmm. Writing this a couple of weeks later so can't remember now! I know we started off with Bacon and Egg butties hehe. Then we went to see Daphne and Frank. Me and Chalkie amused ourselves by texting each other the phrases that Frank had come out with repeatedly over the first 2 hours! (where have you parked, spread out, don't wait to be asked, if I owe you any money, and ... who are you again). We checked out the bath lift for Nan (who has photos of bath lift barcodes and instruction manuals on their iPhone?? rock n roll me!!) and sunbathed in the garden for a bit while the olds shouted at each other. Mum got a red chest to go with the red legs she would get later in the week lol.

When we finally escaped (via morrisons so I could cook tea) we went to the beach at Portreath. Nan had mocked the amount of stuff I had brought in the van, but was happy to make use of it. Not quite complete... missing the obligatory tarpaulin!

Me and Ma played with my new velcro catch game. Until Mum broke it. That had cost me the pricey slum of thirty whole pence!! Went for a paddle. Left Pops clutching a mobile phone and praying. Ten minutes later he came sprinting down to the sea (well, sprinted first 5 metres, but was stumbling and gasping for breath by the time he got to us) to tell us that Norwich had won. Was a critical game for gaining promotion to the premiership. He was just a tad pleased. Not sure anything warrants kissing Nan though, but hey.


Nowhere is safe these days from mobile phones..

Or Chalkie and his zoom lens!

Yeah, not really warm enough for board shorts yet! Tea and wandering down to the front for photos.

Catch Up: Bath

!st April (no joke) Moby's last adventure. Drove down to Emma's. Felt rough, coughing for Britain. Easier drive than last time due to the absence of ice on the roads, and the cottage was warm!
Chips and a chat when I got there. Then into my Spiderman jammies and sleeps in my Toy Story second bedroom!

Saturday we were up early to drop Mags off at Nursery for the day while we went to Bath. Started off with the Mayor's Honorary Guides Tour, which lasted a good 2 hours, and was fascinating. Stuff we'd never have spotted or known otherwise. Only stopped to take one photo on the tour. The crescent didn't seem quite as picturesque as we were expecting but we posed anyway..

I think The Circus was the coolest part, especially with all of the guide's Da Vinci Code-esque conspiracy theories! After the tour we hung around the Abbey and Roman Baths. The Angels are climbing up Jacob's Ladder, something to do with the vision/dream the designer of the Abbey had. Or something. Wish I could remember everything I hear or read.

Banana and Chocolate pasty for dinner (yum) then listening to this groovy band. I so wanted to be the drummer! Em's lost interest after a while.

We wandered past this guy several times (loo hunting). When we had seen him earlier he asked if we had a gun. We were almost relieved when he explained it was to shoot the warbly opera singer. In the end Em made him a deal. She would buy a Big Issue if he would let us take a picture. He had asked every passer by for a high five.

Roman Baths. Couldn't afford to go in!

Pulteney Bridge. One of only 3 in the world with shops built into them. I like the Star Trek insignia shaped weir.

And the submarine..

Stressssss

Key stuck in the ignition. If it breaks I am stuffed. Will be Tuesday before I can even leave for Cornwall. Am praying.

Wave No 2: White T4 at Tescos.

Eek. Nearly a hundred quid for a tank of diesel. Eek.

Go.. Oops!

Forgot how expensive outdoors kit is. TGF I saved my stuff from my former life. Went to Go Outdoors to get some useful bit for the upcoming Cornwall trip.. somehow spent nearly 50 quid.. arrgghhh!

Don't yet know if my idea with the groundsheet and clips is a 'cunning plan' or yet another stupid Harley idea. .. in Mum's words.. "we'll see".

Spent about 3 quid the other day on the Animal Outlet site.. pimping the van.. even their packaging is cool!

Keys look cool. Have left the seller's keyring on there for now.. cos it describes it as Harley's Van :-)

So am I cool now?

Just got my first wave!!!! From a guy with white spiky hair (hmmm I detect a pattern here) in an orange T5. Made my day!! Obviously B+Q is where all the surf dudes hang out in Lufbra!

Decisions...decisions

Bit of a dull day, but may pay off in the end. Jobs around the flat, plus putting together a list of choices for everyone for the Olympics Tickets lottery. Seem to have spent the whole of the holidays so far getting jobs done. Still... chillout in Cornwall soon :-)

Monster Cache!

Huge day of Geocaching. Well. I thought so. Found out later chatting to other cachers that actually 25-50 constitutes a good day!

Had an email last night informing me of two new caches in Loughborough. Thought I had a good chance of a FTF so got up on the school alarm, which I had forgotten to turn off, and got straight on me bike.

Turns out I wasn't up quite early enough...

gorse covered, paradise? then sorting tbs photo lock m1 right by pub. event night cache

Cool Dubvans

Just a couple I have seen around.. the first was at the Quorn car boot a few weeks ago. The owner said she would have made more money charging for photos of the van than by selling stuff!

Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine

Then I saw this T5 at Tescos 2 days after paying for my yellow van. Rob said I would see them everywhere once I owned one, but I hadn't believed him.

The animal decals are v cool. Exactly what I want if I don't go for the Transformers ones. This chrome plate may also go on the wanted list..

..as may a rear spoiler..

Bumble's First Mini Trip

Bumblebee didn't even make it home on Saturday before having his first trip out. It was such a lovely day I had to go somewhere for a bit. So I started small and safe and went to the Outwoods.

I hope the limo windows are as opaque from the outside as I think they are... changed into my shorts in the back (impossible in previous car!) and got settled down to read one of Scott's bike magazines.

Instead I phoned Ma to let her know I'd got the van and spoke to Pops about changing the stereo. This is one of the first things I need to change. The standard VW one in it is only tape, and the scummy Skoda at my last cassette... Now 8. I was hoping to get the CD changer one from Moby put in while I was at Wills this morning, but he didn't have time. Will see if me and Pops can do it ourselves next week. Ideally I will get a new stereo with remote control and iphone/pod compatability. Have still got my Christmas money, so will blow that on the stereo.

Am also in a state of major indecision over the rock and roll bed that Will showed me. Its cool, perfect for the van...

But its also £690 quid and I have spent all my budget already. I had planned to get exactly this, but in about a years time, or however long it took to save the money. Hmmm.

Anyway. Munched my bagel whilst chatting through stuff with parents, then was ready for a walk. Gutted there was no ice cream van at Outwoods... would have been perfect with a 99 flake!

Outwoods even more lovely than usual with the bluebells out..

Just needed one thing to make it perfect.. but thats up to God.