Weeknotes: 2026-W32 and 2026-W33 - Falmouth holiday and Mandolin concert

I figure I should probably title my weeknotes so that I can clearly tell at a glance what each weeknote is about. Also, this time I'm going to add a few photos! I don't normally take photos but have been bringing my Nikon D3300px DSLR camera about with me a lot, and taking some on the phone too, so I've got a few things to spruce up this old and tired (?) format. I've tried to avoid using photos with my friends in them so mostly it should be landscapes etc. or pictures of flowers I found pretty.

Saturday 8th - drive up

We drove up to Falmouth, picking up a friend along the way, and going along the A303 via Stonehenge etc. Not a terrible drive, but did take nine hours! Traffic and all.

When we got there, we had a night out. It was good fun, but me and the driver left early (as in, at about half one or two in the morning). The other two stayed out until god knows when.

Sunday 9th - inside day, then night out

Based on the prevalence of photos taken at the apartment, and the timings, I think we spent the entire day indoors.

Another friend was arriving late this day and around six we walked into town to go meet him.

Then ensued a night out, a second one, and I know I left around the same time as the first time, at about one, because I left again at about two in the morning to take some nighttime photos. I got a couple of good shots (below) but not many, because I'm not good with cameras.

I had a really nice chat with a chef called Hamza who was just passing by on all sorts of things, life, his work, the town, the universe, all the things you end up chatting to a passerby about at two in the morning. It's amazing how much of a conversation starter lying on the ground outside at half two in the morning can be.

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Monday 10th - Flushing

We had a breakfast at the Palacio Lounge in town, caught the ferry and went over to Flushing, and had a nice walk about there. After we'd finished up on Flushing, we walked back, stopped at a cafe for food, and stopped by a pub for a drink in the evening. It was another late night if I recall!

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We got chased by some sheep too and had to leg it away! ;; #[raw]#

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After some walking we got to the old shipyard with some abandoned ships. ;; #[raw]#

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There was a bit with lots of long ... bamboo? canes, which we played about it. ;; #[raw]#

Just on from the canes, a lovely view back to Falmouth. ;; #[raw]#

There was a graveyard with some absolutely stunning crocosmia, my favourite flower. ;; #[raw]#

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I'm not going to show the photos of my friends, but here's me at the food place. ;; #[raw]#

We went to a place called Chintz after, which is a great little alternative pub. Sometimes they have jazz on but not time sadly. There was a seagull flexing on us as usual... ;; #[raw]#

We then went on to another couple pubs and the night was long as usual.

Tuesday 11th - day at home for me

I spent the day at home, reading my book. The other lot went to the beach and did some kayaking, I didn't really feel up to doing it hence why I stayed at home to read.

In the evening we went out to a place called Boo Koos, an American themed diner, and had food. Mine was alright but the others' was not as great - shame as normally it's pretty good there. The portions are massive in American tradition.

Afterwards we went on the ferris wheel, which was alright! Some good views. ;; #[raw]#

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The others went home on the ebikes, but me and one friend decided to walk it instead. On the way we stopped back at Chintz for a pint, and mainly discussed music. He's big into his guitar and his music and of course I'm into my mandolin so it was a good chat.

Talking of, there's a mandolin as deco in Chintz! ;; #[raw]#

Wednesday 12th - Truro: Axe Throwing and Escape Room

We went for breakfast at the "Truro Lounge" in Truro, the most uninspired name of a lounge I've ever heard. Then, we went to do some axe throwing, which was the main activity of the day. It was good fun!

Afterwards we visited the cathedral for a little bit, and I did a bit of praying there which left me feeling a bit refreshed (fyi, I'm not a Christian).

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Then, we grabbed lunch at a place which had some lovely flowers outside it, and a nice little public garden with all sorts: kohl rabi, tomatoes, physalis, lettuce, beans, strawberries, carrots, parsnips, onions, maize, the whole nine yards. Particularly interesting to see kohl rabi in the UK!

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If anybody can identify the purple flower please let me know, it's very pretty.

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Then, we did the escape room, which was good fun. It was themed after Lovecraft.

In the evening, we went up to Pendennis Point to look at the eclipse. The traffic was chaotic as everybody had evidently had the same idea. We managed to borrow some eclipse googles off the girls next to us, and got a good view of the eclipse. For an event that only happens once in a lifetime, it was really quite underwhelming - basically a bit of orange in the sky changing shape. Still absolutely fascinating when you think about the true scale of it. Was strange to see everything go very dark of a sudden.

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Thursday 13th - boat trip

We had a boat trip, renting a boat and taking it out to Mylor and back. It's a bit of a yearly staple at this point. We had the boat for six hours so got to make a nice day of it. Lovely views, a pleasant meal at the Heron Inn at Mylor (I ate a very healthy falafel salad, which granted had a bit too much dressing for my liking but was otherwise good).

In the evening, we were going to go out and eat, but we ended up getting takeout after seeing the prices of the restaurant at Gylly beach. I didn't get the takeout as I'd already eaten some, and spent a bit of time sat on the beach alone reading my book (Beware of Pity) which was very enjoyable.

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Friday 14th - drive back

The entire day almost was spent driving back from Falmouth. It took almost 12 hours, because of a campervan that caught fire, and horrible traffic, etc.

Saturday 15th - Picking up eggs

On the Saturday morning, I went for the first bike ride in a long time to pick up eggs. The holiday, and spraining my ankle, made it a bit difficult but now I can go, and I got a good few - 12 hen eggs and 6 duck eggs. That'll see me through for the week. It was quite warm out and the animals (chickens, ducks and alpacas who sadly do not lay eggs) were all just conked out relaxing in the sun.

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On the way back I noticed that the plums along the trail had ripened. I tried two and both were delicious, sweet on the inside and bitter on the peel. Sadly there's not as many this year, I assume due to the harsh weather.

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The trail is also a little overgrown at this point, and there is a lovely bit of trying to navigate around brambles that have grown into the path. Yes I did get hit by them.

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Sunday 16th - St Albans concert

On the Sunday, I prepped a bit in the moring, made some avocado toast (very nice!) and went off to St Albans for our concert. It was in Clarence Park, at the bandstand, and we played for about two hours. A few people were sitting around and listening, clapping after each piece, but not too many. It was a very light day and was quite fun. We only played about ten pieces in all, many of which were old-hat, and the new ones weren't too difficult - I had barely practised them but managed okay!

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Later on, I went to visit Verulam Park, so did a bit of walking about. My legs were in absolute agony after, as the shoes I was wearing were not made for hours of walking. The cathedral is of course very pretty, and I need to tour around it again at some point! and the park was new to me and is massive.

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There were a lot of geese and swans about. ;; #[raw]#

A nice bit of Roman wall. ;; #[raw]#

There is a massive tree (actually, many massive trees) - this one I think is an oak. ;; #[raw]#

Also saw this bird, which ChatGPT tells me is a red kite (Milvus milvus) - I'm no ornithologist so no clue if that's right. ;; #[raw]#

Also passed by the clock tower on my walk back. ;; #[raw]#

With any luck I'll put this much effort into future weeknotes... Or, I'm considering abandoning the idea of weeknotes fully and just having, like, a blog.