8662/21581
To Porthpean Beach today for a proper day by the sea, which to be fair is all the kids want. It was busy but there was space for us. Ernie quickly made friends with some kids with a dinghy and attempted to take it out to sea, before their mum intervened and they all came back to navigate the small river. I had wanted my parents to get me a blow up dinghy when I was a kid and they had wisely refused. No way would I let Ernie have one of these either, so I was impressed that he'd managed to wangle his way into one and so quickly. He also pretty much took charge of the thing.
Phoebe and me (mainly me) collected shells for a school project (she already has homework for the school she hasn't even been to yet). In the rush to get going I had forgotten to bring a book, but also was wearing jeans and not brought any shorts or trunks, which limited my options a bit.
But I played Scrabble against Catie on my phone (I got three bingos in a row in the first four goes because I am a genius and it's a delight to play against me as you can imagine) and Phoebe attempted to bury Ernie in the sand, but as he was standing she only got up to his tummy. He said it was the best day he's ever had at the beach. Though it took him some effort to get out of the trap. Especially as Phoebe kept on filling in more sand every time he moved.
Catie went to buy some lunch from a local village cafe. We are used to the pacey life of cosmopolitan Hitchin but in Porthpean things move a bit more slowly and it took over an hour for our four toasties to be ready. I was waiting on the beach and really needing a wee and worried about leaving the kids alone, but in the end I had to make them promise not to move off of our blanket or to go off with strangers and I went to find a loo. To be fair the greatest danger they were in was from each other. There was every chance I'd come back to find one of them in a shallow grave.
Amazingly they seemed to be sitting in the same place with no noticeable wounds when I got back.
The toasties were really lovely so were maybe worth the wait, but with the kids now a bit wet and with sand in their pockets and shoes, we decided to go back to the house for dinner. I went to Tescos to pick up some pasta and some treats and filled the car with lovely cheap Cornish petrol made by piskies (with an extra 8p a litre off thanks to a voucher from our last visit). A young woman in Tescos told me that she loved me in Taskmaster, so maybe the Taskmaster bounce has finally begun. Or maybe she just recognised me from Taskmaster and thought it was more polite to say she loved me in it, rather than she had just seen me in it. I guess we'll find out if I ever play St Austell Arts Centre.
