Another Country.

Well, it's nice to be home. I did have a lovely visit with my Cornwall Best Friend (who reminded me that she is my oldest BF - we have known each other for 40 years!)
but it was a very long way to go. I drove down, or rather across, on Friday and it took something like 7 hours because there were two dreadful accidents on the way. The first involved three cars which were in pieces by the time I crawled by - it made me feel sick, and I simply felt glad to be alive. The second had traffic inching along for about an hour, and the red sports car that was stuck under the rear of a truck looked like a crushed toy. That was the journey down, so I was both pleased and relieved to arrive in one piece, however late.

Cornwall is a strange place - not just a foreign country but almost another planet.
Where my BF is living with her bloke is a development of what was once a farm with outbuildings, near the sea. They are built of stone, very solid and old, but are strangely new-looking too. And they're very smart - with enough bathrooms and shower rooms to float a cruise ship. BF's house, well really her bloke's - is stuffed with things. It looks like a beautiful, beamed warehouse full of props waiting to be used on a film set. I have never (and I mean never) seen so much furniture, so many pictures, and so many just things in one place. They are all very stylish, grand and rather wonderful, but it's impossible to make any sense of it. The garden has probably 40 full-grown olive trees which are planted in huge tubs above ground (the house is called Olive Tree Barn), and apparently there is still lots to be done. And they are going to build outside to provide more storage for the things they haven't got room for at the moment! There are full-sized painted figures, lifelike cats, owls and other animals standing around all over the place, there's a larger than life cockerel (probably 6 feet tall) outside the kitchen door and altogether it's like nothing I have ever seen in my life. On the plus side, it's very luxurious too -with wonderful bedrooms. I slept in a four-poster and had my own superb bathroom. We drank lovely wine and ate gorgeous food.

On Saturday, BF and I went to a painting course in Truro, at the Art College. I was really looking forward to learning how to paint with oils, and it was very instructive. The teacher, a mature lady called Ann, was very professional and such a good teacher. We were all very enthusiastic and didn't want to take breaks. By the time we finished, at 3 o'clock, we had all completed a painting and more or less knew what we were doing. I have brought my painting home and am going to continue with it - the great thing about oils is that you can do that. BF and I also had an afternoon painting yesterday, this time with watercolour, so I've brought another effort back with me. I also brought back some clotted cream...