The caves and stuff

We went to the Oregon caves yesterday. The caves were pretty good but the ranger who took us round was a bit of a pain. He got a little confused about the difference between Irish, English and Scottish. He would be saying "top of the morn to ye" no thats Irish. Then a little later going down some steep stairs"tally ho!" no that English.When we reached the largest cavern we all stood in a semi circle, then he asked if anyone would like to sing as "it would sound great here" some guy stood forward and made a crow noise in memory of his dad, who used to do it when the went for walks or something along those lines. Then ranger Bob turned to us and said "what about you guys from Scatland" Kelly then said to the group "i think Craig wants to sing a Scottish song" what song is he going to sing......Kelly replies "DONALD FARS YER TROOSERS" at this piont after being so pleased that i have been volunteered for this lovelly Scottish song i wish the cave would open up and swallow me..or Kelly..ha! I of course had to decline by stepping forward and in my best Scottish tongue say"NAE CHUNCE"Instead some guy stood forward and sung the full version of Star Spangled Banner and eveyone(except the 2 jocks) joined in to a round of applause at the end....class!!

usa

Sorry the blog has not been updated but Kelly would rather sit in the sun and drink cocktails all day...ha! So it has been left to me. Yes we are in the usa and have been since last week. We are now in Oregon after a few day in California at Ross's new house. I will download more photos on to my stick as we are now using Scott and Lucy's computer. The weather has been great so far amd long may it continue.It is all good at Hotel Lucina:)

only four days of cornish life left.....

are we sad? yes. do we still want to go to oz. yes - think so ;)

are we looking forward to going home to scotland (yes), but saying goodbye to everyone (no).

are we excited about getting back into a lovely warm home with a flushing loo? (you bet).

Here is a preview of our new bags. They are 120litres (so big), with wheels, so we don't have to lug the weight. They split from the middle so you have less depth to dig around in when trying to find your stuff. And best of all, we have matching ones. Won't we look so cute?

Craig is currently travelling up to Exeter to pick up our friend Andy from the airport. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to update you on what has being going on in Cornwall.

Craig's infected gland (behind his ear) didn't respond to the antibiotics, but the GP has suggested another course, as it did reduce a bit. His GP rethunked his initial treatment suggestion of operating as he thought this might leave Craig's ear a bit crooked. So I remain lying awake at nights waiting to see if the boil will indeed turn into a head and begin proferring opinions.

Craig and I have been enjoying the caravan life so much (it s like so totally liberating, man) that we have agreed to take on the responsibility of looking after the chickens from the hippy farmer next door who has gone to Ibiza. Day one has got off to a flier (do chickens fly?) as one of the little beauties has disappeared and we think perhaps been munched by a fox. Its rough down here you know. Either that or he sensed amateurs were taking over and decided to make a break for it. Let's hope we manage to save at least a few for Gareth's return.

Craig's sister Angela is due to come and visit us down here before we head up to Scotland (on thw 8th of Sep now instead of the 6th). Angela bought some tickets for all of us to go and see Othello at the Minack theatre. This is a beautiful outdoor theatre built into the cliff on the southern edge of Cornwall. See picture. I don't expect I ll have a clue what's going on in the play but you can take booze with you, so as long as it is not raining I should be fine with some rum and a good view! This means that I will be having my final night in Cornwall (at least for the time being) in a very cultural way.......darling! Unlike most of the rest of my time here.

I've had a week of minor calamaties this week. Saturday I got a flat tyre on my way to the beach to see a friend for lunch. Of course being a totally incompetent numpty I had no idea what to do with it. So I had to call my knight in shining armour to come help me. Craig was great and fixed the tyre whilst I had lunch (!) and it was ready for more demolition... I mean driving after. Hooray for Craig!

Tuesday on my way to the gym I broke a tooth on some chewing gum. I managed to call my dentist (without the aid of Craig) and have an appt booked for next week to get it fixed. Well done Kelly.

On Thursday my perception of myself as a competent and capable individual however took a bit of a bashing as I managed to get my car stuck in a ditch (don't ask!). I had to get 8 burly men from the university come and LIFT my car out of it!! O God the Shame!

I've been since contemplating the reasons for said altruistic behaviour from total strangers. I was no damsel in distress- having just been to the gym and looking like Don King's sweaty little sister (the sweat does bad things to my hair- feel my pain, mum?!) and the thought of having to call Craig for assistance again was not an enticing prospect.

I have since come to the conclusion that a) some men like a problem to fix, b) the sun was shining and c) it meant they could get out the office and have a fag. Anyways I was eternally grateful for their help.


I wanted to show them how grateful I was.... I thought.. they're men.... men like beer.... I should offer to get them beer. But then I started to think.... hold on, no, that sounds like I want to date them. So I ended up rather naffly buying them chocolates and dropping them by in the office after. Awful I know, but I could not think of anything else to do. If you are aware of the correct protocol when having your car manually lifted out of a ditch by complete strangers please let me know.

So now not only can they go home and tell their wives and girlfriends about the sweaty, deranged nutter who got her car stuck in a ditch (what an idiot!), but also bemoan how they only got a crappy box of chocs for their efforts in assistance! O well.

Onto other news-Craig has also, this week, been sporting a rather fetching great, big, red boil behind his ear. This boil has lead to much debate between us about it's possible cause. My theory was that Craig has been eating too many Pot Noodles since we ve been living in the caravan and the boil was a reaction to this poor diet. Craig on the other hand has been blaming me. I mean.... me.... do something wrong...?! What?! Anyway- he reckons I have infected it whilst twiddling it. Pah! I mean... I barely twiddle ears now..... ;0) not much anyways.

To resolve this debate, he went to get a professional opinion on Thursday from his GP-who said it was an infected gland (although he failed to explain how these things get infected). He has been given a weeks course of antibiotics- which should reduce it. However if not he has to go for a minor operation. The GP assures us he reckons he could get this done and dusted before we leave in... 2 1/2 weeks.

I hope so.

For Craig's sake, because I know it's been causing him pain.

But also mine.... having watched 'How to Get Ahead in Advertising', I've been waiting for it to turn into another head and start talking!

Dawn, John and Jordan have just left after their hols in Cornwall. I think they had a good time they are broon as berries. Jordan is very good at surfing and got lots of waves at Praa Sands and Sennen, John got in the water on the body board. A few good bbqs at the quarry and barn(see pics)