Tuesday 18 August 2015

Angie the Emmet

The Cornish (some of them, that is... well actually, quite a lot of them) have a none-too-endearing name for visitors; they call them emmets.  'Emmet' is a Cornish dialect word that means 'ant'. If you've even seen Newquay's Tolcarne Beach on a warm summer day, densely populated by visitors who are turning lobster-red in the sunshine, you'll understand the term perfectly.

In a little over a fortnight's time I will be a visitor in Cornwall — yes, an emmet.  To add to the ignominy, I shall be staying in a hotel in Newquay.  "What's wrong with that?" I hear all two of my regular readers exclaim.  Well, I grew up in a hotel on the outskirts of Newquay and for many years S- managed one. Now I'm going to pay someone else to stay in one. Oh the shame of it! 

Except that I'm actually looking forward to it. In my humble opinion, Newquay has descended from being a top-class holiday resort to a bit of a dump since my childhood, but towns rarely stay the same for long, and it a trait of the elderly to hanker after the past.  The beaches, I know, will be as spectacular as ever and it will be fun to seek out headlands and caves where I once played, and where my children played after me.



Sadly, I have very few photos of Newquay. This one, rescued from a fading colour slide, dates from my teenage years. Until digital photography came along, cameras were for holidays, so there are far more photos in my collection of North Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Austria and Crete, than of my home town. That's something that I'm definitely going to correct on this holiday.

Sunday 16 August 2015

Ukeing for a very good cause

Wow! What a lovely day.  My favourite pub, here in the Forest of Dean, opened their grounds for a special fundraising event to help a young lady who is suffering from a very painful disease. The aim was to raise money for an electric power chair so she can get some sort of independence back into her life.

Our ukulele group were invited to be one of the star attractions and here we are, strumming our ukes, singing our hearts out and having a fabulous time.I'm 4th from the left, giving my denim trousers their first public outing and singing
Hello Mary Lou, goodbye heart,
sweet Mary Lou I'm so in love with you...

I hope Mary Lou was suitably impressed!



One small problem I had was that the three ladies to my right had lovely, strong soprano voices so finding the alto harmonies in my own range wasn't easy.  Next time I'll try to sidle up to the other two who always seem to harmonise beautifully.  Believe me, on occasions like these uke playing is the easy bit, though I think I'm improving.