Summer lovin', had me a blaa-aa-aast

As alluded to in my cryptic Cliff Richard song-a-ma-post, I went on my much-awaited holiday to... the UK! (for obvious reasons). I managed to redeem my dad's frequent flyer miles AND get myself on an A380 for the leg there - economy class isn't much different from the usual but the in-flight entertainment is really good. Of course, as everyone was boarding, many passengers tried to sneak a peak at the business class cabin. which naturally led to envy... and 13hrs of it...

Thanks to the great in-flight entertainment, I managed to pass the time by watching several movies I didn't get to catch in the cinemas, and listening to complete music albums to drown the screams from the toddlers sitting a few rows in front. Despite the anticipation, I did get a few hours sleep that thankfully adjusted my body clock to fit European time. Through some nifty maneuvering, I cleared customs really quickly and grabbed my suitcase and ran walked swiftly out to the arrivals terminal. :)

It felt really comforting being back - and I was enjoying just being in the car together as Josh drove back to Birmingham from Heathrow. :) Once back and after a quick nap and lunch, I settled into one of my favourite roles - GROUPIE! Yes! I have actually missed being a groupie, carrying drum and cymbal bags and loading them into the car, helping unload, setting up for rehearsal... I did get to watch the sound check for Big Band's gig from the wings and wander backstage at the Warwick Arts Centre - it brought back loads of fond memories.
While they were doing sound check on stage, I ran off to meet my film buff ex-classmates! And they really are film buffs, considering they are still in Warwick because they are all MA students (and Hannah has already gotten funding for her PhD!) We had a blast in the Learning Grid (yes, i know!) as they had taken part in the Warwick Shootout, a 24hr film competition, and were rushing to finish editing the 4min entry. funny how even though we haven't seen each other for a year or kept in contact much, the banter went on for hours. it felt great talking about film stuff again with people who know exactly what you mean and actually take your suggestions into consideration (hey guys, do I get a claim to the award you guys won? hehe...)
As it happened, Sports Fed Ball was also on that evening and I got to catch up with some of the Tap people at the pre-Ball drinks (i.e. on the Piazza)!

Trying to squeeze in as much "reunion time" with Uni friends as possible, I had lunch with some of the lovely Tap girls the next day in Leamington Spa -Pizza Express! mmm... The weather was lovely so we decided to sit in Jephson Garden and enjoy some ice creams.
Perhaps it was the fact that all of us were rather tired, but somehow the time together felt more mellow than I thought it would be. We were all in a rather pensive mood - talking about "the next step" and how life after Uni is filled with possibility and is so... different. and a tad bit scary. and all so... grown-up.

Maybe it's a good thing - you know how one always looks back and wishes one is able to go back to relive the fun times of one's youth? In a way, I've gotten some closure from this trip back. Everyone has moved on in their own different ways and its time to not cling on too much to the memories...

After the frenzy of the weekend spent largely on campus, Josh and I finally got to spend loads of time with each other. Which naturally led to lots of hilarious self-portraits...

We had planned to go on a road trip to Cornwall (something we've wanted to do for a long time but never got around to while I was still a student) so in preparation for it, we got the car cleaned inside and out at the nearby car wash.
Our bags packed, we set off on our 5 1/2hr drive down down down southwest.Along the way, we stopped for lunch at a pub in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, that Josh knew of from the time he was working at a client's office in the area. I decided to do the full shebang and have a mixed grill, while Josh got one of the specials - a rack of ribs. All I can say is, "mmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." Great mixed grill, though the steak was a bit overdone, and the ribs... oh the ribs... I should also mention how much I miss drinking shandy... The pub had a nice bright, airy feel and pretty good menus. I was particularly impressed by their kid's menu - kid-sized portions of the adult mains and desserts for only 4quid. Now THAT is what children's menus should be. Not rubbish like chicken nuggets and chips. I think that's the first step to getting children to eat proper meals - when kids eat the same food as adults!

As we still had a long way ahead (not to mention, we had left Birmingham late AND taken a longer than expected lunch), we stepped on it a bit down the M5. That didn't stop us from taking pictures while driving... In fact, after a few tries and placing the camera on timer on the dashboard, we got some pretty good ones.
As I could not drive due to insurance problems, I amused myself documenting the journey (and the changes in landscapes)...
At the halfway point of the journey, we turned off the M5 and got onto A-road...
As we approached the B&B (which involved driving on some very winding B-road), the weather got a bit British. :)
The view from the edge of the B&B, Tregiffian Farm, which is actually a working farm (!) - the coast is covered by the fog.

Armed with recommendations for good fresh seafood restaurants in the area from the hostess, we set off to the nearby town of Mousehole (pronounced mao-s'hol).
We initially tried to get a table at the second-choice restaurant and fortunately they had no empty tables. Wandering around, we found The Cornish Range, the B&B's top recommendation.
Josh, who is rather seafood (esp. fish)-deprived, couldn't wait for the food to arrive...I had a really nice locally-produced cider while Josh enjoyed his extremely refreshing elderflower presse.
The meal was fantastic, starting with the hearty bread and olive platter served as we waited for our appetisers to arrive.
The seared scallops with chorizo, served with asparagus spears, packed a punch,
while the avacado and lobster salad saw the deliciously creamy avacado and dressing, the succulent pieces of lobster and the crunchy salad leaves harmoniously balancing each other.
In our excitement, we forgot to take pictures of our mains - pan-friend sea bass served on top of ratatouille, with asparagus spears, and trio of lemon sole, halibut and skate with a hollandaise sauce. The ratatouille was flavourful and matched the sea bass very well while the lemon sole was clearly the best fish of the trio as the halibut was a bit too fishy and the skate a rather bland.

Despite being stuffed, we HAD to have dessert - creme brulee. It was heavenly, and the cornish cream on the side, on which sits the fish biscuit, was divine.

The next morning was glorious - from our room window you can see the coast!
This is how cut off from the world we were...
I was very tickled by how lazy the farm dog is... she remained in that position as we reversed out...
We set off for St Ives, a popular seaside town. The B-road to Penzance is incredibly beautiful albeit single-lane at some points so we had to be a bit careful and look out for vehicles coming in the opposite direction.
We drove through Penzance..and got onto the B-road to St Ives...
Finding a parking space took almost an hour because many of the roads in town are one-way so we kept going in circles trying to find a lot as near to the town centre as possible. We finally parked at one of the bigger car parks up a hill.
St Ives from above.
The gorgeous views from the pier...
Side note: everyone in St Ives seems to own at least 1 dog.
There were lots of little shops to peer into - this one was selling very funky cufflinks!

We stopped for lunch at Seafood Cafe where we shared a blended seafood soup served with garlic bread,
Cornish crab cakes on a bed of leaves with a sweet chilli dipping sauce
and classic fish and chips
Overall it was a good meal but Josh was not too pleased at the end when the waitress clearing our plates accidentally caused the spoon in the ketchup ramekin to somersault and splatter some sauce on his shirt. She wasn't very apologetic so we decided not to tip.

(I do miss the practice of tipping - the idea of showing your appreciation/displeasure makes you feel like you have more say in how good the service is)

There were quite a lot of menacing seagulls out that day - stealing Cornish ice cream cones off defenseless little children. And Josh.
St Ives looks like a Agatha Christie-Hercule Poirot set! *hums the tune song* :)
People were out in full force surfing (there are a few surf schools on the beach) and enjoying the sun.
After a relaxing day in St Ives, we trooped back to the Farm feeling very well-holiday-ed.
On the road back we passed a ruin - breathtaking...

Since we were in the area, we planned to watch a show at the Minack Theatre, an open-air amphitheatre cut into the cliff at Porthcurno. The view at the car park was already beautiful...
but the view as we walked towards the theatre was even better!
The stunning (and rather scary) theatre - as you can see, we were perched rather precariously on "box"-like seat. I was a bit freaked out for the first fifteen minutes.
Each seat had a name of a performance carved into the rock.
Breathtaking...
If you zoom in, you can see our seat - we were sitting on the small two-seater just below the top "box" with the "railings", where the blue blanket is.
The show that evening was family-friendly Pinocchio - very pantomime-ish. I was cringing slightly at the beginning but it got better as the night progressed.It was actually pretty cold and we had to clamour up to the car park to grab reinforcements in the form of extra jackets during the intermission. Most of the people seemed seasoned regulars - they came with their ice boxes of sandwiches and pasties and wine/champagne with strawberries. And almost everyone had a portable seat-cushion! It's basically two square cushions joined by two strips of fabric on the sides and it can be zipped up and carried by the fabric handles.
Our seat was 'A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968)'
The Minack Theatre swimming in post-sunset light.

On our last morning in Cornwall, after checking out of the B&B, we set off to the famous Land's End, only to find out when we got there that we had to pay 3quid for parking because apparently the tourist destination is also home to a shopping village!
So we snapped some pictures from the car and turned around. hehe...
Remember Mousehole? We had seen some funny names of towns and villages along the way so we decided to drive around and take pictures of all the other amusing road signs.
Like Drift. By the way, what is up with the chilli and the lightning bolts?
And Sheffield. Imagine our surprise seeing this sign when we were clearly driving in the opposite direction to the other Sheffield...
This, though, takes the cake -
We got very excited looking for funny Paul signage. HAHA...

Driving down the steep and narrow road to Penzance one last time (the car's clutch worked really hard on our road trip...)

We made a quick stop at Marazion on our way back to admire St Michael's Mount.
It was cold, windy and the sky was beginning to look overcast...
Yes, it was THAT cold. And I wasn't kidding when I said windy.

While in the car we realised we hadn't had cream tea yet! We could not let the opportunity for cream tea IN CORNWALL slip so we turned off at Bodmin and found a quaint tea shop to have some scones, local jam and CLOTTED CREAM.


At some point along the way back, we crossed the 1,000th mile (since Josh drove to Heathrow to pick me up). YIKES!

I had a great time, and as always, it was so hard to say goodbye.

But with each passing day, we inch closer to the future...