Flora Day

The biggest day in Helston! You can click on the pictures to enlarge. Here's the blurb on the tradition...

"Flora Day is held every year on May 8th. This celebration is believed to be pre-Christian and at one time during the Victorian era was banned as being "a drunken revelry." The whole town is decorated with local greenery and bluebells which grow in millions in the surrounding countryside. Dancing occurs in the streets to the beat of the big base drum, elegant gentlemen and their ladies dance in and out of Churches, shops and houses. The day starts with the 7.00 am dance (originally for the servants of the gentry) with the Gentlemen wearing shirt and tie and the ladies wearing light summer dresses. Next to follow about 10.30am is the Children's Dance. The boys and girls are all dressed smartly and are decorated with flowers and lily of the valley. At noon the main dance of the day is started. This is the formal dance with the men wearing morning dress and the ladies magnificent ball gowns and hats that could be the envy of "Ascot." This dance is always led by a couple born in Helston. At the bottom of Coinagehall street are many stalls selling souvenirs, crafts and food, running all the way down to Coronation Park where a large fairground is set up. The celebrations last well into the evening with Helston's many public houses doing a roaring trade."

Simon and Damon met us at our place and we walked in to town for the 12 o'clock dance. It was insane with people. The streets were packed and everyone was in great cheer. After the dance, many of the people holding either a Cornish Pastie in their hand or a beer - so British! We walked through the streets and checked out all the vendors - food, clothes, jewelry, tarot readings, you name it, it was there. Very exciting to be a part of the tradition.

In the evening, Simon and Damon came back for a BBQ in the rain. Keith was soaked after cooking up a feast. We sat around the table and gabbed for hours. It was a great day minus the evening rain.

Dinner At The Sherar's

What a lazy day. I think we were all bagged from all the weekend fresh air and touring. In the afternoon we visited the pub that is about 5 doors down from Dale & Lauren's. How convenient! It is very small, quaint, and smoky. Quite a nice pub minus the smoking part. There are even a few dog dishes on the floor by the fire place for the local dogs that frequent with their owners. Very cool.

Please take note of the pictures of our little Newfie niece!










How cute is she! I believe Keith may have had something to do with this.

We were invited to Lauren's parents' home for dinner. And what a feast it was! Roast beef, chicken, potatoes, variety of several veggies, yorkshire pudding (such an English tradition and so good), gravy, wine and finished by a delicious apple crumble and ice cream. Fantastic! After our supper settled, Keith & I were on the road back home.

Our First English Cream Tea

Met up with Lauren's family and the 9 of us plus her parents' two dogs Pepsi and Max went for an hour walk via the walking trails in Exmoor Forest. During the walk Keith & I were surprised to learn from Terry (Lauren's Dad) that there is such thing as wild garlic and it grows in Exmoor Forest. Terry scoped some out for us and we picked handfuls. It's amazing - it looks like a medium thin/smooth green leaf and it smells and tastes like garlic - maybe even better. We put it to the test in the evening using it to make garlic bread - fantastic!

After the walk we ventured to a cafe where they serve the famous English Cream Tea. Everywhere you turn there are Cream Teas and I was anxious to try it out. The traditional cream tea consists of scones (tea biscuits) topped with clotted cream and jam and of course served with tea. It was delicious. The clotted cream is a thick cream (almost the consistancy of cream cheese) made by heating unpasteurized cow's milk and then leaving it in shallow pans for several hours. It is served with various desserts and would be sure to kill you if you ate it often as it cannot be anywhere close to healthy.

Girls Outing At Tarr Steps

Lauren, her twin sister Emma, Olivia, and I took off to a place called Tarr Steps.










The Tarr Steps are a prehistoric clapper bridge - which are huge stones that weigh up to 5 tonnes each - placed across the River Barle to make a bridge.

Walking trails surround the area and there is a small restaurant/pub. We took advantage of the trails and enjoyed a shandy (beer & 7up) when finished. Then Olivia played in the water. She loves the water just like her uncle Keith.

Saturday evening Dale & Lauren hosted a BBQ. Her parents, sister Emma, and her brother Sam all attended. We enjoyed listening to the boys play the guitars during the evening while sipping a few drinks.

Happy Birthday Karen!!!

Today is Karen's (one of my closest friends) 30th birthday. Wish I could be there to celebrate it with her as I'd make sure I was holding her hair (just like last summer K-Shea!). LOL. I will have a drink for her here instead.

It's another beautiful sunny day - 16C at 10:30am. Keith & I are off to Chumleigh this afternoon to spend the weekend with Dale & Lauren. Their sea shipment arrived on Tuesday so they've been quite busy and could use some help. Especially since Lauren is 7 months pregnant and is unable to move much. We'll be there until Monday as Monday is a bank holiday here.

Keith is hoping to finish work early today so we can get on the road sooner than later. His course is still quite boring to date as it's mostly computer based training, so he spends most of his day sitting in front of a computer reading. He's hoping by July they'll be in the helo doing some flying for a change.

Exercise

I had an urge to attempt running this morning. It's been a year and I thought it's time to try. I always put it off when I want to start back up because I'm scared to see how bad I'll be after so long. So I did it anyway. And sure enough I didn't get far, but atleast I tried and the next time will be easier. I hope! I'd love to find a forest trail as that's where I enjoy running most, but seeing there's not really forests here I guess I'll just have to run through farmers fields!

Had my new patient health check today. I got weighed, height measured, blood pressure taken and finally a prescription for this damn sinus infection. It's a bit different here for prescriptions it seems as you hand the pharmacist the prescription and they fill it for you without asking any questions. No paperwork to fill out with your first one or anything. I thought that was bizarre. It must be beacuse a lot of your info is already on the prescription when you give it to them. Who knows.

Keith was a bit sore today as he started back to the gym yesterday. It's been over a month and he's been anxious to go - but not so anxious for the pain. He misses having Kwas as his CrossFit partner to share the pain and glory with. Hopefully he'll find someone here who will be as interested in the program as he is.

The Surgery & Drugs Tutorial

Woke up to a beautiful warm, sunny day. But man, can it blow a gale here! The wind has been blowing for days and I swear it will be like this for the next 4 years. Hopefully that is not the case. Spending my days on the fabulous job hunt. I love looking for a job. It's one of my favorite things to do. Kidding! I absolutely hate job hunting. It's not even the job hunt, it's the cover letter and CV writing. You know, I am the most wonderful, fabulous person you could have to work for you and I even do backflips! LOL. It's hard to toot your own horn and not feel like a knob trying to entice the reader to interview you. Good times!

Walked into town this afternoon (only 7 min walk) to run some errands. Everything we need is so close - post office, bank, drug store, butcher, liquor store, bakeries, convenience store and pubs, pubs, and more pubs. As you walk down the narrow streets of old stone buildings (they have such character) you can smell the bakeries with their Cornish Pasties and other traditional wares. I am definitely a fan of the Cornish Pasties and it's a good thing because they're everywhere. Between the breads, sweets, pasties, and beer it's no wonder the Brits are jolly people. Hopefully I don't become just as jolly!

The most interesting experience today was visiting the Surgery. Sounds scary doesn't it? It's actually the doctor's office - Meneage Street Surgery. Yes, here they are called surgeries. If you weren't already scared to go to the doctor, this would finish you off. It looks just like a doctor's office inside so the only scary part is the name...hopefully. I had to register with a doctor while we're here and that involves registering with the NHS. The NHS is the National Health System. From what I gather it is somewhat like our MSI. I completed a bit of paperwork and I go back tomorrow for a 'New Patient Health Check' where they check my blood pressure and stuff and oh yeah, I get to take them a urine sample! How nice! Once that's complete, I'm good to go to book appointments and see the doctor when needed. Here they have nurses that do the basic stuff like this appointment and do the ladies yearly checkups. And apparently, you call in the morning after 8:30am and try to book an appt for that day. Otherwise they'll pre-book you and that's atleast a week away. Guess I'll learn the system in time.

Visited the 2 drug stores (right next to each other??) to check things out. So many things are similar to home, but not the variety we have at home. In my observations, rollon deodarant seems to be the thing here, they have shower products, condoms, tampons, shave products, and make-up the same as we do. No I wasn't purchasing these items, just browsing the store! The biggest difference is over-the-counter drugs. Everything looks different. They do have Ibuprofen which I discovered today, but only for pain, they do not have sinus/cold meds with Ibuprofen in them, nor do they have any with Acetaminophen. Here it's called Paracetamol. Apparently it's the same drug, just different names. This was my drug tutorial for today.

It was such a nice day/evening that Keith and I BBQ'd and had supper on the patio. He's now busy collecting all the stuff he needs to get the motorbike registered/insured. He's anxious to get it out and enjoy these windy, narrow roads.