Away from home

I’m obviously not at home. This is our daughter’s cottage in Cornwall . . . and we’re here on our own . . . for a week.

The reason for this picture is that exactly two years ago we made our first visit to the cottage and I was measuring up for the blinds and window seats I was going to make for them. So much has happened since - to the house and to our lives. We had no idea then just how things would change with the pandemic and, through it all, our daughter and her husband oversaw a transformation of their cottage. (The building across the road was a church and for some reason the windows were all lit up as we arrived.)

And yes we flew here - just over an hour’s flight from Newcastle to Newquay. We then picked up a rental car and made our way here. It doesn’t seem right to be flying now but, at this time of year, to come any other way was really out of the question and we very much wanted to come. We have for a long time limited flights overall to a maximum of one a year, but we are really going to have to look more at alternative ways to travel. How I wish there was a much better train service throughout the country - more efficient, more reliable and cheaper. Travelling by train in France the equivalent of Cumbria to Cornwall is not the problem it is here.