Everyone Wants To Be A Pirate

Wednesday 24 December 2008 Hayle, England
Well its wonderful to be in Hayle. I haven't seen my cousins for so long, 'round 20 years, and it feels really special to be with them for Christmas. They have a wonderful view from their house of the beach, and waking up looking out at the beautiful ocean is all part of their every day, and a view that we certainly appreciate too. Today is Christmas Eve, and Gerard, my cousin, is a wonderful cook as is his beautiful assistant and wife, Jan, and they had been gathering food for Christmas Day lunch for what seems forever. Today we went on a little excursion with Gerard to pick up his last ingredients of an enormous fresh turkey and a huge fresh ham from 'The Farm'. The Farm is a great little place that has free range and organic produce. It even has an orchard out the back and you can go pick your own fruit, and bring it back to the register for payment. That's what I call fresh. After this, Pete & I had our own little excursion back down to St Ives. I've fallen in love with this place, and I can see why my cousins wanted to move here. More window shopping, along with last minute Christmas shopping, some small bites to eat, and then head back home. As it turned out, we were to return to 'The Bucket of Blood' for Christmas Eve drinks. We met some of their lovely friends and had a wonderful time. While sitting there I spotted a gentleman sitting beside himself at the bar, I went up and started talking to him. He was so facinating. His name was George (my grandfathers name), and he was from Ghana. I heard all about his life, and how he came to England on scholarship and fell in love with his wife at Oxford University where she is now a professor in medicine, how he is friends with Kofi Annan, and his wife and the Clintons are also friends. Amazing.