Saturday 2nd May 2009

Both of us have heavy colds, and don’t feel much like doing anything. We slept quite well at the YHA – even though they have turned off the heating in the rooms. We have a four bedded room which means we can use the duvets on the other two bunks for additional warmth.
We find out that the rail lines are out in a number of areas again due to maintenance schedules – so we head over to Surrey Quays by bus to post another parcel home, and pick up some supplies, including another bag for our gear – we are going to take our excess baggage to the YHA at St Pancras on Monday because we have planned on just taking the 2 suitcases on the next 2 legs (Cornwall and Isle of Wight) so that we only have to manage one pull-along each. I will pack the computer into one suitcase, and our clothes etc. into the other.
When we get to Surrey Quays we go to the big Tesco store and find what we are looking for. Deb has decided to go back to the YHA with the shopping and then rest for the remainder of the day, and I will continue on into the city to do some more sightseeing.
When I get into Waterloo station, I walk down to where the Florence Nightingale Museum is located behind St. Thomas’s Hospital – not easy to find either, as it is very poorly signposted.
I spend around an hour and a half looking at the exhibit, which is quite interesting, and naturally focuses on Nightingale’s early life as well as her time in the Crimea and later in setting up training schools for nurses. There was quite a lot of memorabilia on display which was good to see also.
As with all museums, you finish up in the shop, and there I purchased a book for Deb and a bookmark for her new hobby of collecting bookmarks from everywhere we go.
After visiting the museum, I decided to walk across Westminster Bridge again, and try to take some photos of Westminster Abbey from the front as there was lovely sunshine, not rain like the last time we visited it.
The city was full of tourists, and it was interesting to note that the majority spoke a foreign language rather than English – so it would appear that most of the visitors were from European countries like France, Italy, Spain and Germany.
When I got to the front of Westminster Abbey, I ran into a couple of Aussies who had been on the bus tour with us – talk about a coincidence – then I thought I might go inside the Abbey and have a look. There was the usual queue, and I noticed that the closing time for Saturday was 1.30pm and it was 1.20pm already – when I got nearly inside, I discovered that there was a ₤12.00 charge just to go in, and of course, no photography. So I decided that I really wasn’t that interested in going in, and headed off again. By now I was ravenous – so grabbed at hotdog – yuck – then found a Tesco store, and was able to buy a nice healthy sandwich and a bottle of water, and decided to head back to the YHA as I was getting very tired.
When I returned, Deb had been resting for most of the day, but had also done the washing for us, and said she was feeling a bit better.
We decided to have dinner over the road from the YHA at a pub called the Old Salts Quay at 7.00pm when it opened for dinner, so had a rest until it was time to get ready and go out for dinner.
The dinner we had was very nice, but as usual, the serves were enormous, and we couldn’t finish our main course, and didn’t even consider desert. Around 8.30pm we tottered back to the YHA for an early night.

Sunday 3rd May 2009
Well, I don’t know what happened to me during the night, but I woke around 1.30am, in absolute agony – every joint in my body screamed with pain – from my neck to my ankles and thumbs. The worst were my knees, and I found it hard to understand why these were causing pain due to them being artificial. Worse – I could barely move and found it extremely difficult to get out of bed and go to the bathroom, and even more difficult to get back into bed. I was very scared I can tell you, as I thought that I had some terrible disease, and maybe even the “swine flu’” – I didn’t wake Deb as she needed to sleep, but at 7.00am when she woke, I told her what had happened, and at that stage I was still in absolute agony and could barely move. Deb, gave me one of her powerful pain killers, and I increased the dosage of my anti-inflammatory drugs to see if that would help. I had visions of having to call an ambulance, and pay a visit to hospital to see what was wrong with me.
Deb looked after me all day, went down and brought me up some tea and toast at breakfast time – I had absolutely no appetite – in fact was quite nauseous. I spent the day in bed – unable to do anything except lie there, and try to sleep.
By the afternoon, Deb thought I should try to get up and take a hot shower with the hope that may ease the pain, and we decided that if I was no better by Monday – then we would have to see about finding a doctor. The shower helped a little, and I used some “heat rub” on all the joints to try to ease the pain, and along with double doses of Mobic, Panadol Osteo, and Glucosamine (and Deb’s pain killer) I was getting a little movement back in my joints. The knees were the worst – and I had to use Deb’s stick to get around.
Deb had bought some soup and supplies during the day while I rested, and she bought me up soup and bread for dinner, and then it was back to bed.
Sleep that night was still very painful, and it was still very difficult to turn over, but I managed to get some sleep.

Monday 4th May 2009
Today we had planned to take the extra luggage to the YHA at St Pancras for storage, so it was important for me to be able to help Deb get the bags over to St Pancras – I felt a little better in the morning, and managed to get down to breakfast, although didn’t feel much like eating.
Deb had packed all the excess stuff in the bags, and had distributed it between the 2 small handbags and the new larger bag. We decided that, to hell with the cost, we would go by taxi, and drop of the bags, and then, have lunch at St Pancras station, check out our access etc. for the morning that we would be taking the Eurostar to France, and then return to YHA for the night.
We did all this, and the people at the YHA were great, and advised us to go and purloin a trolley from the railway before we go to the YHA on the 14th so that we can wheel everything to the station – it is really only a couple of hundred metres to where the station is, but with the number of bags we have, it would be difficult to carry them on our own – so we found out where the trolleys are kept, and how much they cost (₤1.00) – so that we have coins when we get back from the Isle of Wight.
We returned to the YHA by public transport – which was interesting for me, as I found it difficult to sit and stand with my knees, and had to keep refusing offers of seats by the kind public on the trains, as it was easier to stand rather than go through the agony of sitting and trying to stand again.
Back at the YHA, we rested, packed up the remainder of our gear, then had a nice dinner than Deb had organised from the Tesco take home range, and watched TV until around 8.00p.m. in the lounge before going to bed.
I was on the improve, but still not 100%.

Tuesday 5th May 2009
When I woke, I was feeling a lot better, although the knees were still quite sore, but not so stiff. We had breakfast, checked out, and waited for the taxi we had booked to pick us up at 8.30am to take us to Paddington station.
At 8.30 the taxi had not arrived, so I got the YHA staff to telephone the driver to find out whether he was on the way or not – he was 15 minutes away – at 8.45 he still was there, and we were getting pretty agitated, as we had to catch to 10.06am train from Paddington to St Erth and it was right across London from where we were to the station.
Anyway, he finally arrived, just as we were about to try and hail one outside. Then we were taken literally “for a ride” – this guy took us, on what seemed to us, to really be a circuitous route to the station it was 9.30am by the time we got there, and we were nearly beside ourselves with anxiety at the prospect of the missing the train. I might add that the fare was ₤30.00 – but we didn’t quibble and paid up – this was a famous London Taxi and was on the meter but we still think we were had.
Anyway – we successfully caught our train to St Erth.
While we were travelling first class – the seating was not great for Deb’s back – even with her cushions and back pillows. But it was a quick and scenic trip from Paddington to St Erth via the following stops: Reading; Newton Potter; Exeter St David’s; Plymouth; Liskeard; Bodmin Parkway; Par; St Austell; Truro; Redruth; Camborne; Hayle; to St Erth.
We had been advised by the conductor that the Station at St Erth was a short one, and that we would have to move all our luggage and ourselves up two carriages towards the front of the train so that we would be in a carriage that opened onto the platform.
When we got to St Erth, we found that we had to go up a flight of overhead stairs to get out of the station – fortunately for us the taxi driver we had arranged to pick us up was waiting for us, and carried Deb’s case up the stairs and over the bridge – I dragged the other case over, and hoped that the wheels wouldn’t fall off in the process.
The taxi driver was a woman by the way, and had indicated that she would come back for the second case if I left it for her, but I didn’t think that was fair on her.
Anyway, around 3.15pm and after a reasonably short drive we arrived in Lelant at our accommodation for the next few days – Badger Inn.
The manager carried the suitcases up the stairs – many – to our room (number 5). The room seemed small, but the bathroom was nice with a shower, etc. and it wasn’t long before I had unpacked the suitcases and put our gear into the wardrobes, so that I could put the empty case on top of the wardrobe and out of the way.
Deb needed to lie down after the long train journey, so I decided to go out and explore a bit.
The barmaid told me that the Uny Lelant church was just down the road, and as this was one of the places that I wanted to visit for family history, I set off. It was really cold, my knees were working a lot better than a few days ago, and the walk was down hill for about a kilometre.
The village of Lelant is really quaint, the streets very narrow, and the houses built on the sides of the hills. I wasn’t able to find any evidence of any shops, but did find the church, and took some photos, then had a wander around the church graveyard – I had hoped to find someone who could tell me whether there were any records available, but unfortunately, the church closed at 5.00pm, and when I looked at my watch it was 5.15pm – damn just missed it. Anyway I will try to get down again when it is opened.
Wandering around the graveyard was a bit hazardous, as the graves were very close together, and not a lot of path to walk on, so I had to be really careful not to trip over. Most of the headstones were illegible due to the weathering and the amount of lichen growing on them.
I returned to the Inn, and bought a couple of drinks to take up to our room, asked the manager whether he could turn the heat back on in our room as we were freezing, he said he would, then it was back up to the room to wake Deb up.
We went down for dinner at 7.00pm. The menu was quite extensive, so we decided to have a starter and a main course – bad decision – once again the food was delicious but the servings enormous – neither of us could finish the main course which was a shame as it was delicious, but tomorrow we will know better.
After dinner, we went back to the room, watched TV, before going to sleep. I crashed around 8.30pm – Deb watched TV a while longer.
During the night I woke up because I could feel and hear bubbling noises in my left ear – then I had a bit of pain in the ear, and noticed that there was a lot of fluid leaking out – a perforated ear drum!! I found some Panadol Osteo to take for the pain, and tried to go back to sleep.

Wednesday 6th May 2009
I woke around 7.00am – Deb had had a dreadful night – the bed was way too soft for her back and she was in agony, so we decided that we would need to put her mattress on the floor tonight so that she could get better support for her back.
We went down to breakfast at 8.00am, and had a really nice breakfast of porridge, toast and jam and tea – Deb had scrambled eggs with hers – I’m still not very hungry with this cold, etc.
After breakfast we ask how to find a doctor, and are told there is a medical centre in St Ives where we should be able to see one. So we take a taxi to St Ives where the medical centre is located, check in, and are told that my appointment will be at 11.30am, as it is only just after 10.00am we go for a walk down to St Ives to see what’s what. We walk along the promenade, take some photos, as the tide is out, and check out where we might have lunch later on. We also found the tourist information centre and picked up some brochures of where we might explore over the next few days.
We walk back to the medical centre by 11.30, and I see the nurse practitioner – who checks my ear, says she can’t see anything because of the bubbling fluid in my ear, and then has to consult with a MD – this takes some time, but eventually he makes himself available, and says that it probably isn’t much point in prescribing antibiotics as my ear isn’t infected – no pus coming out. Anyway they suggest coming back if the pain gets worse, or pus appears. Deb and I go back down to the town, and decided to check the library to see what family history records they might have – nothing, but they suggested going to the St Ives Historical Society – which is quite nearby – so we do so.
The historical society has quite a lot of information about St Ives and Lelant, and we delve into the information trying to find relevant stuff for my family history.
I found one binder or really relevant information – which has just over a 100 pages – so I ask if it can be photocopied for me – and yes they can do it today. So we go out and have lunch – a Cornish pasty which actually tasted like the one’s Mum used to make, and a berry crumble with Cornish ice-cream – and coffee – all really delicious.
We go back to the Archives, and continue researching but don’t find anything else that is relevant, but I collect all their internet addresses as they will do research for on-line requests and I will check out their on-line resources from home.
The Archives closes at 4.00pm, so we leave at 3.30pm, and take a taxi back to Badger Inn.
We spend the rest of the afternoon resting, and Deb organises her mattress so that it is on the floor, and has an afternoon nap while I write up this blog.
We go down for dinner at 7.30pm, and just have soup and a desert, as we don’t want much to eat. There is a very nice couple at the next table who we get chatting with, as they recognised the accents and wanted to know more about Australia as they plan to visit next year.
Tomorrow we plan to either take the scenic train ride around the coast to St Ives, then do some walks around St Ives, or we will take a bus ride around the coast to Lands End and then Penzance before returning to Lelant – depends on the weather. We well then do the other trip on Friday – then it is pack up and get ready for an early train ride to Southampton, and the Isle of Wight by ferry on Saturday.