Love, Poetry and Revolution - Wednesday 5th to Thursday 6th April 2023

There's really very little to say about Wednesday.  It rained.  Then it rained some more, until eventually Q and I headed out into Bude.

Our plan was to go for a trip to a coffee shop, maybe grab some lunch and then to a bookshop we'd seen earlier in the week. (My idea, though Q was happy to indulge me.)

In the end, we went to a café called 'Life's A Beach' overlooking Summerleaze Beach and had lunch and coffee.  I had a superbly cooked whole Bream, with Samphire and new potatoes.  It was rather excellent.

Off to the bookshop next where, much against the odds, I came out with a couple of books. Big surprise!

On the way back we stopped off to buy some food for the evening.  Q was cooking jacket potatoes whilst I joined the 'Sirens' episode of 'Ulysses For All'.  'Sirens' is an episode whose theme is music and is structured like a symphony in words, and borrows Wagner's idea of the Leitmotif, in written form.  It's a wonderful episode - one of my favourites.

I left after about an hour (no guest speaker this week), gleaning all I could.

This is another combined entry as we've been busy doing things rather than having time to write about them. It's now Thursday, and the weather has returned to sunshine with some added clouds.  We're all off to meet up with another school friend and his wife who have a house on Bodmin Moor.

It's an interesting journey inland, via some of the narrowest roads I've been on in England (I have driven on some pretty hairy roads in the Republic of Ireland and also in Italy), but we make it in time and head inside for coffee before some mini-local walks.  Q's knee is really playing up so we have opted for some gentler routes, taking in stone circles, copper mines (with Arsenic-addled landscapes), and fast-running rapids via a pub lunch at a wonderful pub called 'The Crow's Nest'.

I had a pint of local cider called 'Rattler' which was more-ish, but equally strong.  I felt a little tired afterwards, then later a little off-colour.

After a visit to Golitha Falls, we returned to our new base on the moors where our hosts treated us to games and an impromptu supper.  In between times, we played some games including 'Marrakech' and 'Say What'.  Great fun and much laughter.

A late-night drive back to Poughill brought a wonderful day to a close.

Vendredi sur Mer / 'Écoute Chérie' / 'Premiers émois'


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