Christmas Eve in Fowey

last night - Christmas Eve Eve - we went to a local pub for pizza.. we are getting over stodgy pub food.. and while we were sitting there - a local [David], came up and asked Joe if his hair was real. ha!   we got talking to him.. i had noticed him earlier, wandering around.. he looked like a mix between Merlin, Jesus and a wandering minstrel, carrying a guitar on his back and dressed in a very long coat, silvery grey hair.
As he talked, I noticed his eyes were an odd colour, grey/blue... he was on for a chat so we asked him to join us... he asked us where we were from, why were we here and talked all over the place... sometimes jumping up and wandering off.. then returning saying 'ahhh the australians'... it seemed he was a little off the planet from too much Christmas cheer.. he was Cornish and told us some history of Cornwall and then Sally his partner joined us. She was a petite woman, about my height.. but smaller in weight.. obviously she does not par take of scones and Victorian sponge as I have been doing.. she introduced herself and started talking to me about family genealogy.. and told me that she had just recently moved from Wales but her heritage was from Cornwall - I think somehow we were related.. no evidence, just a feeling that i had because her whole stature reminded me of my Pa.. small, wiry and dark in complexion.. and just how we clicked immediately... we talked about my great grandparents moving to Australia and she said  'those people were tough, the ones who went to other places in the world... look at Cornwall, it was a harsh place to live for those back then... so they had the toughness to move and start again.. and they made it'... she kept saying this throughout our conversation, reinforcing the fact that Cornwall had been a harsh place to live... making sure i would not forget that.... David wandered off once again and she took her leave saying 'must love you and leave you... nice to chat'......were they angels? I am sure. This was a funny night, a funny meeting, it seems like a dream...

Christmas Eve morning.. drizzle.. we had breakfast and headed to town.. a short two minute walk.. went to the post office, i had a hair cut, bought some shoes and we bought a few more bits that we needed..and then back to get ready for our Christmas Eve at The Fowey Hotel...

which started with afternoon tea - a true cornish tea.. scones, jam and cream. Cream that is so thick that you can cut it like butter..

'is this the way that I am supposed to drink tea while staying at the Fowey?'

we are having fun.. I am just enjoying myself now.. of course, i do wish I were at home.. having drinks with friends.. but I am here.. so I laugh at myself.. after having a cry on Joe's shoulder..

after one scone.. yes only one! we went for a walk along the Esplanade.. near the sea.. the wild woolly sea that I have come to know of Cornwall..

and then back to the hotel for an hour with the Sea Shanties..

a group of male, local singers.. who sang traditional Cornish sea shanties. they were brilliant.. and I thought of my Pa who was a singer.. a tenor actually... and i could actually feel a proud stirring in my heart as these men sang of the tough cornish miners and the fishermen.. I thought to myself 'I am part of this'...
[and yes, I am.. I just don't live here. I am starting to love Cornwall.. but know that I won't come back.]

and then it was time to get ready for dinner...

but first canapes and Kir Royale cocktails in the Lookout Bar

then to our table..

a three course meal.. I had onion and thyme soup, chicken with broccoli, cabbage and onion.. and a selection of Cornish icecream.. very delish...

then a short wait until we went to Christmas Carols at St. Fimbarrus in Fowey.. an anglican church that really should be catholic.. then back to our room - up the hill in the cold.. the stars were glittering and the moon was shining.. a first!!

now we go to sleep, with the wind howling outside and the waves beating against the rocks.. lulled to sleep by Mother Nature

tomorrow is Christmas Day.. our first alone in another country without family and friends...