Sunday stuff 14/3/20

Seemed like a good time to do something I’ve been meaning to do for ages – resurect an old series to share stuff I think is cool, helpful, interesting, entertaining.

Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem

Work your way down the river from Teddington to the Channel with Lara as she mudlarks. She forages the foreshore, sifting history as she goes. A fascinating and gentle book split into chapters by geographical location.

Professor Tanya Byron is a clinical psychologist who identifies struggles faced by individuals, often parents and family members, by hearing their story, in a one-time unscripted session. Claudia Winkleman listens in to discover how Tanya begins to unlock the story behind the issue and help find solutions. 

Insightful, and hopefully life-changing for people out there struggling wondering ‘how did we get here?’

Another cracking podcast. The first series was stupendous – tracking the last 13 minutes descent to landing on the moon and exploring everyone and everything that had to come together to make that happen. IT’ back for a second series looking at Apollo 13. Music by Hans Zimmer is incredible.

2019 in books

I’ve found myself doing that thing again where I rush books to hit a target so in 2020 I am not going to count books! I dropped a target for this year, but that wasn’t enough for self-competitive me so in 2020 I am going to visually record and review what I read but no more counting.

My top five recommendations for you are
Invisible Women: Caroline Criado Perez. A game changer. I’ve bought and gifted this book repeatedly – read it, be shocked, angry and start telling everyone you know about the danger/harm girls women face in this world because we are ignored and erased knowingly and deliberately because of our sex. Award-winning for writing and research, and richly deserved.
Wilding: Isabella Tree. Re-framing the conservation debate based on a fascinating experiment.
The Salt Path: Raynor Winn. I had put off reading this as I thought it would be sad, but it is brimming with hope. Read and be uplifted.
Meadowland: John Lewis-Stempel. This man’s writing is pure joy. And in this year where I made a concerted effort to get back to my nature-loving roots, I ploughed my way though most of his nature books. Superb prose. The kind of writer I’d like to be.
Wonderland: Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss. A couple of minutes every morning spent learning and re-learning about the wildlife our little island has to offer.

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Things to do in Cornwall – a week in photos

Rob and I have just returned from a week in Cornwall. It was his first trip but I’ve been many, many times as my grandparents lived there when I was young. Family holidays consisted of all 5 of us squishing into our red Rover and spending what seemed like half the week sat in traffic jams across the Tamar bridge then down the A30 as it took 8-10 hours to travel from Buckinghamshire to Falmouth.  I have even more admiration for Mum and Dad who managed to take themselves, 3 kids and all our associated paraphanalia South West for a week or two every summer without totally losing their minds. These were the days pre-rear seat seatbelts so my brother used to sleep on the parcel shelf – I guess that freed up some space.

It seems times have changed and we made the trip in 4 and a half hours with a stop. It was a relevation: Cornwall is now do-able in a weekend! No more being dragged out of bed like that one time when we were woek at 3am to miss the traffic and be in Penryn in time for a fish n chip breakfast. I kid you not.

Here are some photos from the week with a few reviews of our favourite places and tips for money saving.

We booked The Tannery Loft through Cottages for You and used our Tesco Points to reduce the cost by £100. The Loft was in a little linear village called Grampound which was perfectly centrally located, no more than 45min-1hr to all the major hotspots and only 10minutes from St Austell and Truro for supplies.

We pre-booked out tickets for the incredible Eden Project 2 weeks ahead online. Picking a day saved us 20% but picking a window saves you 10%. If you pay full price, you can convert your ticket into an annual pass at no extra cost. If I lived closer it would be a no brainer. What a boon for locals! Plans are to do a separate blog on the Eden Project.

Truro Cathedral is a must see. It’s a very young building, the foundations were laid in the 1880s. Entry is free.  Sweet gift shop and lovely cafe with homemade cakes.

Can the fact I asked people on Twitter what we should do on our last day and 2 people repsonded with the same answer mean I can call our activity CrowdSourced? Maybe? OK. We took the Falmouth to St Mawes ferry across the Carrick Roads, a 20 minute, blustery journey to a quintessential Cornish fishing village with a castle and shops to explore. Rob just loved the ferry ride – anything with a motor keeps him happy. The trip felt a bit pricey at £10 a head but that was return and you get glorious views of two castles, the working boatyard, harbour and if you’re lucky you can see seals and maybe even dolphins.

One of our favourite things to do on family trips to Cornwall was to disappear to the North Coast, to one of the seaside bay villages and eat our fish n chips off our laps in the car watching the sun go down from the car park. I’m sure we did sit on the beach to eat sometimes, but my memory is sitting in the car. We did the same in Perranporth and had probably the best fish n chips I’ve ever had from Haddock’s End chippy.

Mevagissy is the picture postcard fishing village you’ve probably see images of. It has the higgledy piggledy streets you’d expect and a plethora of great places to eat. I loved the fish of the day grill (4 types of fish and a fish cake) at the Wheelhouse and were entertained by the fusion of seafood and Americana at the Sharkfin.

I have to confess to not being dead keen on visiting the Cornish Seal Sanctuary at Gweek but it was top of Rob’s to do list. I was fighting memories of a cold, bleak, windy, fishy set of pools with nothing to see in them, a memory from way back when. So I was delighted to find a mouch more welcoming and informative animal sanctuary, with woods and wildflower meadows to stroll through as well as plenty of animals to watch and coo over. Oh yes, and tey have otters too before anyone queries the photo below! This is Starsky and Hutch, the resident otter pair. Discounts available online.

An absolute delight and unexpected highlight of the week were the Lost Gardens of Heligan. As the name suggests, these formal and informal gardens were left to ruin until the early 1990s when they were brought back to life. Visit the the pigs, look for natural sculptures and cross the rope bridge over the Jungle floor.

St Michael’s Mount was our first National Trust property and another boat ride. Look for the giant’s heart and steel yourselves if you’re not good with heights – the castle at the top is worth the climb but our nerves were certainly tested. We would have loved to have walked the causeway to and from the island but the tide times were against us.

Next National Trust was Trerice, a very small but sweet house and garden on the way to Padstow.

Fistral Beach at Newquay, with a lunch stop at Rick Stein’s: Fistral for Thai. Yummy, and much better than his famous chips from the take away in Padstow which we were both underwhelmed by.

Last National Trust was another blast from my childhood past – Trellisick Gardens. A few weeks late for the rhodedenron blooms but bang on for the wisteria.

Other highlights and tips:

• Padstow and a walk from the centre to the war memorial overlooking the River Camel to Rock.
• Porthtowan, another north coast bay town with rough seas and great for surfing.
• Falmouth Town, a town of two halves, one the perfunctory high street with WH Smiths and the banks and another half full of gift shops, local artists and crafts, pasty and bakeries and cafes. We loved the tea and cake at Ragamuffins and had a feisty, cheap lunch at Cribbs, where you go for Caribbean food in the south!
• The App for Cornwall is useful, with links to vouchers and discount codes for entry.

Books I loved in 2014

I use Goodreads to record the books I read and rate them, but I don’t tend to write reviews. I struggle to explain to someone else why I have or haven’t enjoyed a book, because I would have to describe myself and that’s a long story and generally impossible! But here are a few books I read and loved in 2014. Perhaps you’ll find something to enjoy and I’d like to hear any recommendations of books you think I might like.

The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaraonvitch. The Rivers of London series was recommended to me by a friend as we were discussing Harry Potter and how the underhand division found in that universe between the magic world and the muggle world was always a bit hard to believe and stomach. These books work the other way round; magic exists in the world I live in which as a reader makes for much fun. The series details the adventures of Police Constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant, intelligent, witty, and dangerously brave. The 5th book was released in November 2014 and the next should be out in 2015. Adult content – not for kids! Find out more at The Folly.

“Knowing your limits is not an aspiration in magic – it’ a survival strategy.”

“The night might be dark and full of terrors, I thought, but I’ve got a big stick.”

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch at Foyles.

Clare Balding’s Walking Home.

Clare Balding presents a show on Radio 4 called Ramblings in which she joins interesting people on walks through the British countryside. I’m a long distance walker, but a frustrated one following a knee injury this year, ironically sustained by walking across the Lake District in six days. Walking for me an exercise that produces health, both physical and mental so while I was unable to ramble much myself, I enjoyed listening to the show and reading this book which is autobiographical as well as a record of some of the most moving and fun encounters and adventures Clare has had on the series. Her insights will ring true with anyone who likes people, the outdoors and walking:

“Day three of a long-distance walk, it starts to hurt. You are over the feeling of invincibility and the novelty has worn off.”

“Walking. It can be a medicine for grief, a key to love, a therapy for illness. It can lift your spirits from the depths.”

Clare Balding. Walking Home: My family and other rambles at Waterstones.

A Director’s Cut: An Abbot Peter mystery by Simon Parke

I came across Abbot Peter in Desert Ascent and was overjoyed when I heard Simon was writing more of the Abbot’s adventures. Simon Parke is one of my favourite author’s and his trilogy (so far) of murder mystery novels are no exception. Abbot Peter used to run a monastery in the desert in Middle Egypt but moved to Stormhaven, a coastal town in Southern England. In 2014’s thrid installment, A Director’s Cut, he joins again with his niece, DI Tamsin Shah to investigate the murder of the director of a local theatre group. Abbot Peter views the world in a way very few people do. You can also follow Abbot Peter on Twitter.

“It seemed unlikely to the Abbot there was comedy in heaven. He wouldn’t be telling Reggie’s family this, but how could there be? Most jokes arise out of sadness, anger, self-importance or the misfortune of another – this is the stuff of comedy, yet not the stuff of paradise.”

Simon Parke: A Director’s Cut at Waterstones.

Sane New World: taming the mind by Ruby Wax

I was unaware that comedian Ruby Wax had given up stand up and retrained at Oxford University in a field that helped her tackle her severe depression. In Sane New World she thoughtfully her education, her experiences of poor mental health and the benefits and methods of mindfulness based cognitive therapy. To use a cliché, I laughed and cried while reading this book. Mindfulness is gaining importance in mental health care. If you’ve ever suffered from any mental health condition, I highly recommend this. If you know someone who has, I also recommend it.

“There is a big difference between experiencing something and being aware.”

“Another reason [paying] attention is the road to freedom is that it allows you to see things as if for the first time, and novelty is a component of happiness.”

“The opposite of self-criticism is self-compassion and this can be cultivated.”

“On the toilet, no one is a star. Remember that and you will go far in life.”

Sane New World by Ruby Wax at Foyles.

Other books I really enjoyed in 2014:

Fathomless Riches: Or how I went from pop to pulpit by Richard Coles

Walking Backwards to Christmas: Stephen Cottrell

The Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbø