Kicking back.

Thought some of you may like to see a bit of what it is like back here in Cornwall. For those who have never been down this way here are some photos of the local area taken while I was out on my bike the other day. Boredom is a terrible thing if it makes one go cycling up and down hills. Found out that the brakes do not actually stop the bloody bike but just stop it accelerating going down the hills. This makes getting around the hairpin bends at the bottom a little bit interesting. Not actually fallen off yet.... but give it time.

This is what originally brought me down to this part of the world.

Goonhilly Satelite Earth Station.

Cane to do an FDM multiplex installation job way back in 1984. When that finished I was at aloose end and just kept returning at weekends to see a woman and slowly became hooked on the place.

Unfortunatley nowadays the station is almost closed and is just a tourist attraction. This is the place where the first sattelite transmissions were received from Telstra back in the '60's. The view is from across the downs which is the highest point on the Lizard peninsular and as couple of miles from where I live at present.

Arthur, the first dish built.

One of the narrow lanes around the Lizard penninsular.

View from my garden.

My house. If you want to buy it you can find it here:

Flora day

Been a busy week since my return to Cornwall. Found out the extent of the damage to the car, another one virtually written off by my ever considerate son. he smashed it into a granite post hard enough to smash in the front end, wing and crumple the bonnet. Airbag deployed so he must have been going at a fair rate.

Tuesday night after a few beers in town I fell up the stairs while carrying a pot of tea to my room before bed as the three light bulbs there were blown and had not been replaced. As the soon-to-be ex-wife (why it is still soon-to-be is beyond me at present) and son were over in the pub I had the childish idea that if they liked to live in the dark an not replace light bulbs then they could. I proceeded to remove all the bulbs in the downstairs rooms. Great fun to hear them stumbling around in the dark and cussing me for being home.

Wednesday was the pre Flora morris dancing by the bowling green performed by the Blue Anchor morris dancers, a collection of local professional people, my lawyer amongst them and other odd balls.

A fun evening and a few beers with mates in the Blue afterwards. Enjoyed myself so much I forgot the time and missed the last bus home. Ended up walking the 5 miles at around midnight. All the running on the treadmill in Islamabad has some benefits.

Thursday was the annual party in Helston - Flora Day. This happens every May 8th since forever, nobody really knows how long this ancient pagan ritual has been going, but safe to say probably over 1,000 years as it is a pre-christian ritual celebrating spring.

The locals dance through the streets led by the town band and the local dignitaries including the mayor Ronnie Williams. The early morning dances had the best of the weather so the children who dance at 11am and the midday dancers in their top hats and evening dresses were spared the worst. Here are some pictures from the 5pm dance. The guy waving is Chris a lad who once played football for me as a 12 year old and has probably been dancing the Flora since he was 5 years old.

Chris Cook waving

Helston Town Band

The Furry Dancers

Still heading home...

It is now Sunday and I still have not reached home after leaving Islamabad Thursday morning. I have been detoured slightly. Spent Thursday night in London with a good friend, Elaine, who I haven't seen for over 4 years. It is quite amazing that after so long we just seemed to pick up our last conversation as if it was yeaterday. Shows that with good friends you are always comfortable. Had dinner and a few beers and caught up on what we have been doing and a pleasant evening flew by.

Friday was my anual visit to the dentist which resulted in a clean and polish, hooray. After I went to Sudbury in Suffolk to visit another old friend who's adventures you can read about on his blog, http://greyhound10.blogspot.com/ . Had a few beers with him at lunch time and then hit the town quite hard. Ended up in the local Weatherspoons pub drinking real ale until very late. Was served at one point by a real idiot. He tried to tell me that by law he had to serve all pints with at least 5% foam on top. This was the first time I had heard that one from an incompetent barperson who just could not manage to pour a pint properly. Asked for the manager who was all apologies and had the good barmaid, who had been serving us for the rest of the night, replace the lousy pints. When you think that you have heard all excuses for incompetence a new one pops up.

Saturday saw me head for Shrewsbury and my mother. This trip went via Swindon so I could go to the last game of the season and watch the mighty Lions get beat. Met up with another friend, Timmus, who is a Swindon supporter who had bought tickets for the part of the ground for the home supporters. This was not much of a problem to begin with as it allowed us entry to the bar where we managed to get some cider and food. Trouble was when Millwall scored first and I really had to sit on my hands and say nothing let alone jump up and cheer. Very frustrating but only happened once as we ended up getting beaten 2-1 after a poor ref ignored a blatant penalty for us and pulled play back for a previous foul after he had played the advantage. Surely the advantage would have been a penalty rather than a free kick outside the box.

Sunday was a day chilling out at my mum's place. Spent the day chatting and learning things that I never knew about my family, like the fact that I have an older cousin who was put up for adoption back in the early fifties. Seems that everybody else in the family knew about this but me, always the last to know what is going on. England looks lovely in the springtime as evedinced by my mum's garden.

Mum's garden in spring.

Heading home

Finally heading home. Finished the project in Islamabad with a presentation to what we thought was to be the board and senior management of the Mobilink parent company. Instead it was ith the muppets that I have been banging heads with for the last 3 months plus the CTO. With the same results, we show our findings and they argue. Was so bad at one stage with the planning manager lying through his teeth I was tempted to just walk out and head for home then. Total waste of everybodies time.

At least I finally looked the part as I wore my new tailor made suit for the first, and possible last, time. And don't I look the part.


This wonderful suit was made for me by a little local tailor with a shop in the basement of a building in the blue area of Islamabad. Paul found him after asking in the laundry for somebody who could repair a zipper in his trousers. I ended up buying 3 suits, 2 long sleeved shirts, 3 short sleeved work shirts and 4 silk shirts from the man. All made to very high standards. and for less than 180 pounds total.

So if you ever need a suit made in Islamabad let me know and I will give you his phone number.

Pakistan was no way as bad as I was led to believe by the international press. Not suprising as there is never good news in the papers as that does not sell too well. If you ever get the chance to go then I would strongly advise you to seize the opportunity with both hands. The people I met were very friendly and bent over backwards to be helpful. The food was very good and if they have a shortage problem then it is not evident in the restaurants as the quantities were huge. You will still need to be careful of the water and the electricity does not stay on as they have a lot of 'loadshedding' throughout the day and night.