We took an hour or so off on Friday and headed out to celebrate Falmouth Week, an annual celebration of sail which involves hundreds of boats in regattas and racing throughout the week. The waters around Falmouth proved to be somewhat choppy, so we headed up river and spent a very pleasant couple of hours enjoying this beautiful part of Cornwall and marvelling at the sights on the way, not least the incongruous views of the large ships in mothballs as you pass beyond King Harry Ferry.

Picking out the path across the cliffs we encountered some beautiful sights, I put my iphone to the test so you can see for yourself. After a good hour or so, I found myself reassuring Ruby that around the next headland we would see St Ives in the distance, but no such luck, the path wound on to another sweeping bay, and then another, and another… after 2 hours we came across a sign which frankly stunned me- Zennor 3 miles, St Ives 3.5 miles! I thought we were nearly there.. the path on this stretch is pretty tough going and we started to combat some rough territory not least crossing two waterfalls (not easy when you have to carry your walking companion too!)

With no signal on the phone and having seen no other walkers for the entire trip I did wonder what would happen if I sprained an ankle.. or worse if Ruby or I fell off a cliff. At long last with much relief we rounded yet another headland to see St Ives in the not that near distance. We arrived with aching feet and sore paws, exhausted but rather chuffed to have walked 6.5 miles in 3 hours. The experience certainly reminded me that we live in an amazing part of the world and that next time I should check a OS map first.

Like an idiot I stared at this for ages trying to figure out where the fan was… then bought a pen for my friend’s birthday, wishing I could have been more generous and that they lived in a rather warmer place than Maida Vale. I’ve just seen online today that documents indicate that in the early 1980s, a Tokyo company called Shibaura Electric developed a nearly identical idea; however, it was never marketed. See LINK

Soon after the decision to close all branches, I mentioned to Emily that the sign should be saved for posterity. Some months later she approached the workmen transforming the store into ‘Poundland’, and did a deal on the spot, buying the sign for me as a surprise gift. Naturally, I was more than thrilled but became somewhat embarrassed when called out to the ‘site’ to collect them on a particularly busy Saturday in August. As his mate unscrewed them one by one from the building, the foreman helped me load each letter into the back of the car. I got some fairly strange looks and more than a few admiring comments; a few people quipped ‘You’ll get a bomb for those on Ebay, mate’. Well, I’m pleased to report they won’t be sold but will grace the studio. Now all I need is to get them wired up and the neon will glow crimson once more.