When Emma and Laura came to town

There are some things in this life that we tend to take for granted, like the fact that the sun will rise the morning after it sets (which perhaps explains why sunsets seem monumentally unappreciated). Also in this category are friendships. Facebook has made it easy to be 'friends' with people whom the term wouldn't apply in the traditional sense.

But I'm pleased to say that after Emma and Laura came to visit Penzance, some nine months after we last saw each other and they left Holland, some Internet friends are just as good friends in real life.



So after an oddly short amount of time getting reacquainted following our separation we settled into the routine we left in Holland like little had happened - only I'd acquired a car and tan lines, and lost an obscene amount of hair. In only four days we managed to cover a large amount of ground, from the Eden Project (which finally managed to impress me after two previous visits ended in me vowing not to return), to St. Ives (a marvelous place that succeeds in being both the quintessential tourist trap, and quintessential Cornish coastal town simultaneously), and the Minack Theatre (where even a truly bad performance is made good due to the fact that the mind pays just as much attention to the (a) view, (b) discomfort and (c) cold, as it does the performance - but it's still a fantastic place).




It's amazing just how much you can learn about the place you live in when you end up showing other people around. Things that I take for granted, and things that seem unremarkable suddenly seem exicting again, like going for BBQ's on the beach at sunset. In fact, there's a whole side to Cornwall that I never knew existed - there's a whole lot of fudge and ginger biscuits around these parts. Tourist Cornwall, and the people it attracts, comes in for an awful lot of stick locally, but the truth is that the economy depends on both. Not only that, but I love Cornwall so much that I equally love the fact that people travel from all over the UK, and indeed from Europe, to visit it. Sure, they clog up the roads and the nice places to visit, but then I've spent the majority of this year doing the same in the places that I've visited. And sometimes I wonder whether the locals who do the complaining actually bother exploring the nicer areas in Cornwall that most tourists don't get too. A quick walk out to the Celtic stones at the Men an Tol or the ruins of Ding Dong mine reveals an unspoilt and authentic side of Cornwall that most people, local or otherwise, don't often see.

So I guess what I'm saying is simply, come to Cornwall and enjoy what's on offer. Sure, it's not Spain, but isn't that what makes it so attractive?