Chopsticks

I have talked before about walking in the footsteps of giants, although the quote was actually from Isaac Newton, who said he could see further than others by standing on the shoulders of giants. Anyway lets not lets good blog entry be spoiled when poetic licence is at play!!

So as I was saying, I have talked before about walking in the footsteps of giants, be it on the same sports fields or golf courses as the worlds greats, or through commercial or business opportunities I was lucky to experience, but now I learn of the opportunity that the giants have of walking in my footsteps, albeit that they will be small ones!

In June of this year the UK, probably still lead by Boris, will be hosting the G7 conference. The location which has been chosen is the Carbis Bay Hotel complex just outside St Ives in Cornwall. Now it was not exactly a 'Cider with Rosie' experience for me, but it was the regular Summer holiday location to which I went with my mother and father for a number of years.Mum was in her late 30's  and Dad in his 40's and we went in the same week each year. 

Now I always thought it a co-incidence that the same families were there each year, but of course I now know that's what people did in those days. That way the same children were there to play with and the parents could have  a cracking time after we had all gone to bed. The hotel always put on a theme night for them and they took all the gear they needed to dress up for it. I remember them as beatniks one year and I think pirates another.

The hotel has back stairs for the staff to use for room service and house keeping and we used to play in and around those stairs all the time. It also had a piano on which we all learnt Chopsticks.

During the day we would be almost exclusively on the beach where the cricket battles were hugely competitive and surprisingly low scoring. If you lasted an over you were doing really well. The surf was often up and we had great fun in the sea when the red flags were not flying

We stopped going in the early sixties as I went to Senior school and the kit list and other expenses meant we could not afford both. Such were the sacrifices parents made even in those days.

So to see the resort put on the map in such a high profile manner is a real surprise, lets hope the World leaders appreciate the facilities as much as I did! 

Oink like a pig!

It was my sister-in-laws special birthday last weekend so we all decamped to Swindon for a bit of a 'do' It was a good craic and gave me a chance to catch up with my young nephew Matthew. he has recently started at a new school a good way from where he lives, and he went there knowing nobody from his junior school. Its a scenario I can relate to as it happened to me.

He is a pretty reasonable footie player and the school is a rugger and hockey place so he has fallen back on his natural running ability and has just qualified to represent Wiltshire in the U14 National cross country championships. Now for a 12 year old that's pretty good. He indicated the national championships might be held in Truro, at at that point I was aghast.

I had to point out to him that the average Cornish person had an extra leg, much like a Manxman and could, therefore, run quicker, they were partial to high sixes,not high fives, and the extra eye they had also gave them a sight advantage, and a real problem for the optician if they needed glasses. He laughed and suggested I was joking, but I assured him that being a man of Plymouth I knew a thing or two about those imbreds from across the Tamar valley.

Now SWMBO over heard this, and confirmed that I had always maintained that if we heard duelling banjo's as we swung over the Saltash road bridge, then we were in real trouble. She did feel though that my comments, albeit in jest could be construed as racist.

Image my delight yesterday then, when it was ruled in court that Cornish people were not an ethnic group and could not, therefore, be racially abused. They are not really a part of England anyway, being a Duchy rather than a county, and now it is legit to make fun of them as they press their noses against Dingles window, wishing they could afford to buy something.......ogi ogi ogi.......