Paul Vincent
23 July 2003 09:11
Crowds? What crowds?
Hi VJ,
well, the annual pilgrimage to St.Eia is over now - meself and wife (Janet
Bentley, another of your correspondents) are now back at the Uni, wondering
where all the students have gone, but not complaining. Hope you enjoyed the pint
of Doom Bar we left on your tab behing the bar at the Sloop. We certainly
enjoyed ours - it's a far superior brew to the St.Awful which seems more
ubiquitous than ever down there this year!
We noticed everywhere was a LOT less crowded than previous years, when we've
visited during August Bank Holiday week. It was actually possible to saunter
down Fore Street, rather than the accustomed hunched shuffle! (Anyway - you
should see Walsall town centre on ANY given Saturday - more crowded than Fore
Street on a Bank Holiday, and a LOT less picture-skew!) The rainy season seemed
to have arrived around Wednesday (16th), but we didn't care - gave us an excuse
to spend more time in Sloop and Castle, and to visit the Tat, which for once had
a truly ace exhibition, crammed to the rafters with Barbara Hepworth's triffic
sculptures. As for the power cuts, well it was all just part of the easy flow of
things. Admittedly zen-like calm comes easier when you're on holiday! I did feel
sorry for all the shopkeepers trying to explain to the more cloddish emmets that
they couldn't take credit cards while the power was out - it seems part of the
emmet creed is to leave your brain at home when you pack the suitcase!
Yes, we also noticed the lack of any visible cops in the town. Their absence was
particularly exciting when a bunch of scary shouty blokes were lurking around
the Wharf on Sunday night, lurching at locals and ems alike. Ah well, you get 'em
everywhere, but it's not reassuring to hear the local plods can't even put one
officer on patrol in St.Ives at the peak of the tourist season, is it?
Anyway, onwards and upwards... thanks for keeping the Spooky website going -
it's addictive!
Regards,
Paul
Vile Jelly
24 July 2003 14:17
Pint of Doom gratefully siphoned up, cheers. The bar steward couldn't supply
any names at the time so I snaffled it. The Reporting Team were quite narked!
I think you might have got lucky with the timing of your arrival. The dark
hordes of emmetry have certainly overrun the burg now. It has been a funny
(peculiar, not ha ha) one so far, though. A few shifts you barely break sweat,
most are par for the course and some you're so busy you don't even have time to
slash your wrists!
The power cuts were a moderate nightmare us. Reason being our benighted
'management' have an 'open at all times [including the outbreak of nuclear war]
policy'. So, we had to cook without electricity. Is that a problem when you're
using gas? Yes, because the electrickery works the extraction and ventilation.
By the time power was restored we were taking turns, ten minutes on duty, ten
minutes in the deep freeze!
Thanks for your communiqué, I was beginning to wonder whether the entire
readership consisted of Winwaloe, Big Mac and Helling!
Oh, and thanks again for the beer. Can't go into the gory details now but,
believe me, I needed it!
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