It's 7th October and I'm another year older!
I've been treated like royalty at work, and received such wonderful gifts from my friends and family.
Righto then..... Today the plan was to spend some birthday money that I was getting from Paul, and the best place for that in our neck of the woods is Truro, or Plymouth. With Plym being an hour and a half on the train to get to, we decided on Truro.
in the meantime we obliviously took little snaps of the inside and our little historical half hour
The place itself is really large and has some great interactive gadgets for the kids to play with, and a small Egyptian section which had our full attention
and so, despite not spending a single penny on my birthday bits, the day itself was well worthwhile, and the coffee shop at the museum will be a definite favourite for our next trip to Truro
Now it's time to get back and collapse after all that walking!
There were coffee bars, doughnut stands and crepes for sale outside, but I had come prepared with a ham salad wrap in my handbag for my lunch.
Inside it was heaving with people already, and my first task of the day was to wander up and down each aisle to establish what was on offer and which Companies were in attendance.
Whilst there he managed to get these lovely picture on his Blackberry Curve Smart Phone - not bad for 2 mega pixels if you ask me.
From Exeter, we drove across to Newton Abbott for the obligatory trip around Trago Mills 
We had an hours wander around, and then drove back to our varacan for some supper and a chill out in front of the TV.
Strictly Come Dancing is coming to our screens once more, however, Sally-Ann and Mike will be on a camp site up country, that does not have a great TV signal...... that's the reasoning behind buying a satellite dish - Yep! Strictly Come Dancing has a lot to answer for!
As we are away ourselves at the weekend, we all decided to pile down to the lock up, to try and set up the system and test it out, ensuring that it was working for their trip.
Talk about a black and white movie sketch! Have you seen those old Harold Lloyd or Laurel and Hardy movies where no-one has a clue what they are supposed to do, but they all have a go anyway, LOL!
Sally-Ann and I decided to make use of our special talents and sat in the RV chatting and calling out suggestions through the open door!
We all soon gave up, but luckily there is a TV repair bloke that lives in the same village as Sally-Ann and Mike, and he advised then that we had done it all correctly, we were just trying to link to the wrong satellite! We received the above picture after they had arrived on site and set up - just in time for Friday nights first show - Hooray!
It's the AGM for the MX-5 Owners Club today. Everyone is going for a convoy drive and then stopping at the Jubilee Inn, Pelynt for Sunday Lunch, followed by the AGM in the garden at the rear of the Inn.
My dilemma? Paul had already arranged to go to watch a hill climb up at St Austell, and as this one has not taken place for the last two years, did not want to miss it.
... and as you can see from the piccies, I did it! I was so very proud of myself. I know that an hours drive up the road is nothing to any 'normal' person, but this was a huge, huge achievement for me, and I am so glad that I went.
The Castle is set up high, in beautiful Cornish countryside, and the whole place has a fantastic and calming atmosphere about it.
The skies were a glorious blue, and the whole drive up was done with the lids down on our little sports cars, making the trip even more wonderful.
Having walked the upper walls and looked in on the rooms from above, we wandered back over the dry moat and sat at a picnic table to eat our lunch.
From here we headed over to Pelynt for the AGM, and then back home.
Where did the year go? It's Tide Race time again, and we arrived well into the race, when the castles were getting to the height that may save it's builders and ultimately win them the race.
The gentleman you can see above, was very busy tamping down the top of their castle with a heavy duty metal spade - no plastic beach spades for this team!
There were plenty of people on the beach watching, and despite the fact that we arrived having timed our arrival with the incoming tide, it still seemed to take it's time to come in, and, as the wind picked up, and the chill cut through us, Sally-Ann and I gave up and headed on back for a warming cup of tea, leaving Paul to tell us who had won......
It's Harbour Fun Day once more in Portreath, and I wanted to have a go at selling some cards on Sally-Ann and Mikes front balcony/porch area.
Whilst Paul and Mike relaxed and watched the goings on from their birds eye view on the balcony, Sally-Ann and I had a wander around and checked out all of the festivities.JPG)
We were lucky enough to see the animals from Gwen-an-Mor and Feadon Farm. There were many birds of prey, voles, toads, and snakes.
I was fascinated with the snakes, and although Sally-Ann has a terrible phobia of them, she was very brave and got close enough for the zoom on her camera to work, and she got a few pictures of me holding one.
Along with the live animals, were bones of long since dead ones, it was great to see, as it gave us an idea of how large some of these beasts got.
As we returned to the safety and relative relaxed atmosphere of the balcony, the competitions began, firstly with the swimming race
and then the raft race
everyone headed off with great enthusiasm..... I ran along the harbour to intersect them at the cut and spotted an old fashioned Punch and Judy show, which the kids were in awe of....
and finally returned to the harbour head once more, to see who won the race
The guys with the two bath tubs and kitchen sink strapped together just made it to the finish before they sank!
All in all it was a great day, and it wasn't until we started to pack up that the rain started to spot. Well done Mother Nature, you timed it right for once!
