Another event I attended as a volunteer for the Air Ambulance charity last week was the annual 999 Emergency Services Day, coordinated by Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, which was on the 13th. In previous years it has been held on Par green, but it’s got too big, so this year it moved to the coach park at the Eden Project. This was also the first year the Air Ambulance attended. As well as the police, the RNLI, Coastguard, Lifeguards, St. John Ambulance and NHS Ambulance service, Fire service, Royal Navy and Bomb Disposal squad are all there. This year the money raised went to the Fowey Lifeboat which is celebrating 150 years of service this year, but next year I am pleased to say that the money will go to the Air Ambulance! The day is mostly to raise awareness of issues and promote the emergency and rescue services; there are numerous displays and demonstrations. The fire service spent the day setting fire to things and then putting them out, there were police dog demonstrations and the police, ambulance and fire service staged a car crash scene to show the different roles each service plays. The Air Ambulance landed at about 10am and stayed for around half an hour before it had to leave. It was due to come back in the afternoon, but of course it was subject to duties and it happened to be a busy afternoon so it never made it back. However, the most impressive display of the day was courtesy of the Royal Navy Sea King and the RNLI. An inshore lifeboat was lashed to the ground, and a crew was put in it as the Sea King arrived from Culdrose to perform a long-line winch from the lifeboat; they put down a winchman and winched up a “patient”,  flew a lap around the field and then repositioned to winch down the “patient” and reclaim the winchman! Needless to say the field had to be cleared of all loose material as the Sea King creates something like 70 tons of downdraft! It was certainly impressive to watch; even more so when you think that the real life situation they attend are usually in much more challenging conditions than a car park!

Anyway, here’s some photos;

The Air Ambulance has landed!

Gathered Emergency Services

Signalling wind direction and speed to the Sea King

Winching the "patient"

Staged car accident scene

They've cut the roof off!

And of course some videos!

Ok so I promised more frequent blog posts and then promptly neglected the blog for some weeks…..oops! I got so caught up in the show and all sorts of other things that I didn’t really give much thought to posting. However, a post about the show is long overdue and can no longer be pushed aside! What a show it was…. an epic, even for me. I was at the showground for six days and four nights, from Tuesday-Sunday with only one night at home in a real bed – the rest of the time we were camping on the showground – to babysit the terribly expensive and totally vital Air Ambulance helicopter! Here’s a picture of our stand on the first day;

Stand 702!

That was when the weather was still scorching – it turned a bit grey on Friday and rained on Saturday, but that didn’t seem to put people off. Hundreds came to see the helicopter over the course of the show, and it was a massive success for the charity, both in terms of publicity and money raised. It was really wonderful to see so many people supporting the work of the air ambulance, and how delighted people were that they could actually see and touch the aircraft itself. The paramedics did a great job of explaining their work and entertaining the kids! We did get a lot of people curious to know whether it would take off if there was an emergency….the answer was of course no! There are far too many hazards around when the show is in full swing for it to be able to take off from the stand, but we reassured people that Cornwall was not without its Air Ambulance completely; while the one and only was offline, we had an all-yellow EC-135 (the same model) on loan as the acting air ambulance, with the normal crew flying it.

As for all the other things going on at the show, well where do I start? There was plenty of livestock of course, as well as Rare Breeds (in the big white tent behind our stand), birds of prey, bees, rabbits, and even otters! All three radio stations; BBC Cornwall, Pirate and Atlantic, were present, as were BBC Spotlight TV. Main ring displays included Matt Coulther The Kangaroo Kid, the RAF Falcons Parachute display team, the RAF Police Dog display team, and Dave “The Bullet” Smith – the Human Cannonball. I managed to catch some of the displays but the problem with the main ring is that the morning equestrian classes always run late, which pushes the rest of the schedule out and meant that no matter how I tried to time my breaks from working on the stand with watching displays, I always missed them, or part of them!
There were also blacksmithing and forestry displays going on, and all sorts of other things. There’s too much to list really – you’ll just have to come along next year and see for yourself!
Here’s some of my best pictures from the show…

Proud owl

A pile of piglets

Adorable otters

Blacksmithing

Massed Parade of Hounds and Hunt

The Kangaroo Kid

Curious Chick

Art in the Flower Tent

And of course I took some videos too!

I’m back home for summer having finished my year abroad in France! As soon as I got back on Friday I started moving house from Truro to Fowey, so it’s been a bit manic. From next week I start work at Royal Cornwall Show (4th, 5th and 6th of June at Wadebridge, see link on the right hand side), volunteering on the Air Ambulance stand, so I’ll have plenty to write up about on the blog after that. I’ve already got lots more events and things planned in the diary for the summer, including Fowey regatta week, so expect more frequent blog posts over the coming months!

Image from BBC News Cornwall

Regrettably I can’t be at Flora Day this year; indeed I haven’t made it for a few years now since it always fall in my university exam period! It takes place every year in Helston on May 8th, unless that would be a Sunday or Monday in which case it’s on the Saturday before. The day’s festivities include four dance processions through the town; the Morning, Children’s, Midday and Evening dances, and the Hal-an-Tow ceremony. Flora Day is one of the oldest traditional celebrations still practised in the whole of the UK, let alone Cornwall. As with all celebrations of this kind there are street stalls, fortune tellers and a fairground and the bars and pubs are open all hours; although I notice this year there is apparently a ban on drinking in public (i.e in the street, which is usually the norm at Flora Day!), due to some drunken violence in previous years. It’s a shame that measures like this have to be enforced but as always it will be a great day, I’m sure.

There are various traditions associated with the dance; known as the Furry or Flora Dance. The midday dance was traditionally the gentry’s dance; with gentlemen in top hats and tails and the ladies in their finest dresses. It is also tradition to wear Lily of the Valley; Helston’s flower; the gentlemen wear it on their left side, while the ladies wear it on their right, and upside-down. The Children’s dance has it’s traditions also; the children wear their school colours in the form of a tie for the boys and flowers for the girls. Helston Town Band provides the music to accompany the dances, and claim ownership of the Furry Dance tune; it is passed down through the generations of the band and has reportedly never been written on manuscript to prevent it being stolen by other bands!

As with all old festivals, the origins of Flora Day are uncertain. One theory goes that it originated after a large fiery stone fell out of the sky and landed in the town. The townsfolk celebrated the fact that it did not destroy the town by dancing through each other’s houses. A more likely origin is that it was a day of observance for Helston’s patron saint; St. Michael, whose anniversary of apparition was recorded in the church calendar as May 8th.
The Hal-an-Tow ceremony is a series of re-enactments of famous and locally significant “good versus evil” legends; Robin Hood, George & the dragon; St. Michael & the devil, the Spaniards rousted from Newlyn. It was dropped from the celebrations during the 19th century but was resurrected in 1930. The good vs. evil theme ties in with pre-Christianity celebrations welcoming the arrival of spring (good) and the departure of winter (the vanquishing of evil).

Hal-an-Tow enactment, from Helston History pages

The Hal-an-Tow has it’s own song too; also courtesy of the Helston History pages (linked below) here is an image of the lyrics;

Hal-an-Tow lyrics

For more information about Helston’s history or Flora Day, visit the Flora Day Association site or the Helston History pages.

I’m back in France now for the last 3 weeks of my year abroad, so until I get back and throw myself entirely into the Cornish summer season I will leave you with some nice pictures I took over the last couple of weeks and a soothing video for those of you who can’t get to the sea for real.

Evening from the Blue Bar at Porthtowan

Pirate Ship in St. Ives Harbour

Beautiful Sea Colours

Steam engine at Trevithick Day

Trevithick Day takes place annually in Camborne, on the last Saturday in April. It is a celebration of the life and work of Richard Trevithick, one of the few Cornishmen well-known outside the county. He was born near Camborne and Redruth in the heart of the Cornish mining industry, into a mining family. In adult life, Trevithick pioneered the “strong” steam engine; or an engine which is powered by high pressure steam rather than the low pressure engines which had previously been used. His first successes came in 1799, and allowed for the steam engines to become smaller, more compact and lighter.

On Christmas Eve 1801, Trevithick demonstrated the power of his first full-size engine “The Puffing Devil”, by carrying four men up Camborne hill on it. This gave rise to the song and dance which is now performed every year at Trevithick Day;  “Camborne Hill“. Trevithick’s engineering successes continued year on year; you can read more about him here. There is also a wealth of information about Trevithick and more about Cornwall’s industrial heritage at the Trevithick Society pages.

Today, the celebrations at Trevithick Day take several forms. There are two dance parades to the tune of Camborne Hill; one by the children of Camborne in the morning and one by the adults in the afternoon. Both are accompanied by Camborne Town Band. There are also parades of small steam engines and then the large ones in the afternoon which spend most of the day parked on one of the roads into town. The centre of town has a funfair and the usual sort of street stands. You can find out more information about Trevithick Day activities at the official site; Trevithick Day. I couldn’t find a recording of Camborne Hill being sung but here are the lyrics;

Goin’ up Camborne Hill, coming down
Goin’ up Camborne Hill, coming down
The horses stood still;
The wheels went around;
Going up Camborne Hill coming down

White stockings, white stockings she wore (she wore)
White stockings, white stockings she wore
White stockings she wore:
The same as before;
Going up Camborne Hill coming down

I knowed her old father old man (old man)
I knowed her old father old man
I knowed her old man:
He played in the band;
Going up Camborne Hill coming down

I ‘ad ‘er, I ‘ad ‘er, I did
I ‘ad ‘er, I ‘ad ‘er, I did
I ‘ad ‘er, I did:
It cost me a quid
Going up Camborne Hill coming down

He heaved in the coal, in the steam (the steam)
He heaved in the coal, in the steam
He heaved in the coal:
The steam hit the beam
Going up Camborne Hill coming down

Goin’ up Camborne Hill, coming down
Goin’ up Camborne Hill, coming down
The horses stood still;
The wheels went around;
Going up Camborne Hill coming down

I took some film yesterday so here it is:

The Mannekin-Pis, an icon of Brussels

Well this is supposed to be a blog about travel and life around the world as well as in Cornwall, so here is the first travel post! I am looking forward to heading back to Cornwall at the end of this week, but this weekend just gone I took the chance for a quick city break to Brussels. In two days I feel you can see most of what this city has to offer, certainly in the centre without trekking further out. I already wrote a detailed post of what we did on my other blog, A Year in Amiens; Brussels : City of a Thousand Languages, so here I’m instead going to offer a bit more of an overview of the features and character of the city. Some of it will overlap, but hopefully not much.

Firstly, a small introduction in case you know nothing about the city; Brussels is the capital city of Belgium, and also of the European Union, although of course the presidency of the EU rotates around the member states and the French city of Strasbourg houses many EU institutions as well. Brussels is also home to the headquarters of NATO, so it is a very international city. French and Dutch are the two official languages, although English and German are also widely spoken amongst most other languages. Tourist landmarks include the Mannekin-Pis, the Grand Place (a World Heritage site), the EU buildings and the Atomium; a huge futuristic structure built for the Brussels World Fair in 1958 which provides a panoramic viewing point for the city.

Brussels is well known for food and drink; it is supposedly widely recognised as a culinary centre of excellence, but to be honest I mostly saw evidence of the less healthy side! The top items are of course; chocolate, waffles (gaufres), beer and french fries (frites). Now, I don’t normally drink beer; I’m more of a cider person and I’ve never found any kind of beer I could stomach for more than a few sips. So in Belgium, homeland of beer, I hoped to change that – and I did! In fact I found two beers that met with approval from my tastebuds. One was Kriek Premium cherry, and the other was Lindemann’s Framboise (raspberry). I bought a bottle of each back with me. Of course, for any true beer connoisseur, the must-go place is Delirium Café, to be found in Impasse de la Fidelité and offering over 2000 beers. Its neighbours also have impressive menus, with some specialising in spirits and others in cocktails. The bar itself is worth visiting even if you hate beer; every inch of wall and ceiling is covered in beer trays, mats, mugs, bottles and signs, even umbrellas! It is a mind-boggling place.

Delirium Café

Of course, it was necessary to sample  chocolate, waffles and frites as well! The chips came with steak at dinner (accompanied of course by a bottle of beer!), while the chocolate came in the form of a museum with demonstration and tasting and waffle as an afternoon snack. The museum is the Musée du Cacao et du Chocolat, on Rue de la Tête d’Or, just off Grand Place. Entry costs around €4, and you immediately get a tasting! The museum is on three floors and features displays on the horticulture, processing, manufacture, history and uses of chocolate, as well as a short film and a kitchen where they do demonstrations and more tastings. A perfect blend of cooking class and museum education, and totally multilingual. As for my waffle, I chose one with chantilly cream and strawberries; but the choice is endless really. You can have everything from the plain warm waffle with just a touch of sugar, to adding cream, chocolate, various fruits, syrups…basically anything you can think off. It’s well worth it and for the best experience buy from one of the small kiosks in the streets around the Grand Place and eat it standing on a street corner, taking in the multitude of cultures and languages washing past you.

Well enough about food! Certain areas of Brussels, such as the Sablon and Marolles, are well known for antique shops and flea markets. Whilst the shops are open all year round, the markets usually run on weekends only. One of the more popular ones takes place in Place Sablon, in the shade of Sablon Church. Being a bit of a bargain hunter, I went to this on Saturday. I had heard it was good for books but unfortunately there were no extensive book stalls there this weekend. However I did come away with five early 1900s postcards (one of which is written on although I haven’t deciphered the handwriting yet), and two pieces of jewellery. There was all sorts of other things on sale; doorknobs, books, paintings, fur, furniture and general brick-a-brack, all of it ranging from junk to really expensive antique pieces. Here were my finds; a flower brooch and a blue-and-silver pendant necklace, and the postcards: top; a fishing boat scene, left; the Gros Horloge in Rouen, middle; a scene from the gardens of Versailles, right; the Mannekin-Pis, bottom; the Grand Place. All of this for just €12!

Another feature of Brussels which I found very interesting is its street art; quite apart from the many whimsical statues and fountatins to be found on street corners, there is a raft of excellent and thoughtful graffiti; among my favourites was a mural of four pigs; one on its own and the other three stacked on top of each other, and the casual figures adorning a 2nd hand music shop. However, we came across a lot of this graffiti in the process of looking out for another street art feature put in place this year; comic strip murals. As well the architecture and food, Brussels and Belgium in general is also known for producing many comic strip characters and artists. As part of a celebration of this “ninth art”, 34 murals were painted throughout the city. We managed to see 16 of them; mostly the ones in the true centre of town. Of these, my favourite is probably l’Ange; the Angel that watches over the city, with existential graffiti tags added at the bottom of the wall.  I also liked the one depicting a street corner with a tram and brasserie as for me that really embodies the european city.

Three little piggies...

L'Ange

Street corner

It is a strange experience crossing a border by train; no one checked our passports and it didn’t really feel like we had gone to another country! Part of this I’m sure is to do with the fact that Belgium is also majority French speaking, so travelling from one francophone country to another meant I didn’t have that usual, most obvious sign of change. Another factor is that even in Lille, just within the French border and an international hub with trains running between Belgium, France and the UK, the three languages (French, Dutch, English) begin to appear on signs, so already the cultures are being mixed and you begin to feel like you’re in an international place rather than one particular country. I titled the post on my other blog “Brussels: City of thousand languages” because I swear I heard every language known to man and more besides in two days there. Apart from the three “biggies”; French, English and Dutch, there were also German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Greek, Chinese and many other Arabic and Asian languages I couldn’t begin to identify. Evidence of cultural migration was everywhere; in shops, restaurants, services and just in the people walking down the street. It really is a completely international city, and somewhere I would definitely consider spending some time in if ever I needed to improve a particular language. I would say French and English were the two languages I heard most; and even though I spoke to people in French I was often answered in English, at least after a couple of sentences. This irritated me a bit because I don’t think I sound obviously English when I’m speaking French now; indeed I was always either asked “do you speak English?” or the person in question had heard me speaking English to my friend before the language was switched. I can understand that, just as I try to always improve my French, the people I was speaking to may have been trying to improve their English, but I can’t help feeling that it was the “default-to-English” syndrome again and assumption about my level of French. One incident has stuck in my mind and that was when I was buying my waffle; there were no prices listed so when I got mine I had to wait until the vendor told me how much, which she did whilst turning away into the kitchen so I only caught 4… and not what came after. So I got four euros out and gave that to her, so she repeated how much more was needed. I heard “five”, in English (she’d heard me speaking to my friend), so I gave her 5 cents, she shook her head and repeated herself; this time I heard what sounded like “five teen”, very badly pronounced, so I queried her; “fifteen? quinze?” in English then French, and she shook her head again, finally giving up on English and told me “cinquante”; fifty. At last! If she had just stuck to French, we would have understood each other perfectly and she could have moved on to the next customer already. The default to English syndrome really annoys me sometimes, especially in cases like this. I realise that for people who can’t speak French (or any other language) well, it is necessary, and I’m sure that I will need it in Dresden later this year; since I don’t speak a word of German. But when you have started speaking to someone in perfectly good French (or any other language) and it’s just a simple transaction why on earth must you switch to English!!

Anyway here are the photo albums: Brussels 1, Brussels 2, Comic strips, statues & other street art. There are 60 photos in each of the first two albums and about 40 in the third. It is hard to pick a favourite, but I think if I had to pick one which I felt represented the city of Brussels, it would be this; the ornate architecture on the corner of the street where the Mannekin-Pis stands, coupled with the flags representing the total multiculturality of this city:

~600 yr old Mermaid carved bench in Zennor church

I had the fortune to live in the small village of Zennor for the first few years after I moved to Cornwall. It is located on the north coast, between St. Ives and Land’s End, in West Penwith. The village is made up of a few farms and cottages, a church, pub (The Tinner’s Arms), youth hostel and The Wayside Folk Museum. Like most of Cornwall, Zennor is full of history ranging from the celtic burial quoit on top of the hill to the carved wooden Mermaid bench in this picture. There is a legend to go with the bench; that of the Mermaid of Zennor. Like all legends it varies, but the usual version goes something like this…

Long ago there was a young man by the name of Mathew Trewhella who lived in the village of Zennor. Mathew had the finest voice in the village, and every evening sang the closing hymn at church, solo. His voice was so wonderful that it attracted the mermaid of Zennor cove; Morvoren, and every evening she disguised her tail, covered her hair and crept up the cliff path to church to sit and listen to Mathew’s singing. One evening, their eyes met and Mathew instantly fell in love with her; he followed her down to the cove after church and vowed never to be parted from her, vanishing beneath the waves. For many years, the villagers never knew what became of Mathew and imagined the mermaid had bewitched him and he had drowned, until one year they heard news from a sea captain. The captain had anchored in Zennor cove for shelter, but was called upon by the mermaid Morvoren; his anchor was blocking the entrance to her home, she said, and she needed to return to her husband and children; would he kindly raise it? He did so, fearing the mermaid’s enchantments if he did not. When he later returned to the village he told his tale, and so the villagers knew Mathew’s fate at last. The bench that still stands in the church was carved to remember Mathew and Morvoren.  It is said that the fishermen listened for Mathew’s singing below the waves; if it was high and clear, they were safe to go out, but if he sang deep and low they knew it was a warning that a storm was brewing, and they stayed in port.

Zennor cove

Image from www.evocativecornwall.co.uk

Or, in English – Happy St. Piran’s Day! It’s a shame I can’t be in Cornwall today to take part in the many festivities, but I can write a bit on here about St. Piran and his day. St. Piran is the patron saint of Cornwall, and celebrations to mark him take place on March 5th every year. He is also the patron saint of tin miners, and shares Cornwall with St. Michael and St. Petroch in some respects. However it is St. Piran’s flag which Cornwall takes as it’s emblem; the white cross on black that can be seen in the photo above. St. Piran was believed to be a 6th century abbot of Irish origins; legend has it that Irish heathens tied him to a millstone and pushed him off a cliff into the stormy sea – but that the sea became immediately calm and St. Piran floated safely aboard the millstone to Cornwall, washing up on the beach at Perranzabuloe. As with any legend, there are many variations and many place names in Cornwall claim to have their origins in the name Piran. St. Piran is often credited with rediscovering tin-smelting in Cornwall, when the tin was smelted out of his black hearthstone and rose to the top to form a white cross – hence the flag. St. Piran’s original resting place was meant to be Perranzabuloe but as with most saints, other burial sites and reliquaries holding parts of him have been claimed. St. Piran’s day is not yet nationally recognised as is for example St. David’s day, but there is progress being made. This year Cornwall’s 5 MP’s again renewed their petition to the government for it to be recognised as a public holiday in the county, although several councils and many other businesses already give their staff the day off. As the Cornish language was recently declared extinct by the EU (which it is not), efforts to revitalise interest in the language and Cornish heritage have been renewed in general, to great effect. St. Piran’s day celebrations are widespread and the Cornish culture remains strong!

Welcome everyone, this is my blog about life in Cornwall and elsewhere as I travel around and reflect on many different things. I decided to start this blog because I spend quite a bit of time trying to get people to appreciate Cornwall and telling my stories of the life I’ve had there so far, and I thought it might be a good idea to start putting this out on the internet as well! It won’t just be all about Cornwall however, because for the time being I spend quite a bit of time in other parts of the country while at university, and also I hope to increase the travel to many trips abroad over the coming years. In the meantime I can write about what I’ve already done over the last few years. Posts on this blog may not be terribly frequent for the immediate future because in fact I am currently on a study abroad programme in France, and I have another blog dedicated entirely to this year and the experiences I’m having. It’s called A Year in Amiens and you can follow it by clicking the link on the right hand side of this page.