On Sunday we decided to have a little holiday. We needed to dump some things at the local Council tip, so rather than take the train all the way to St Ives we took the car, dropped the broken scanner and dead microwave off, then parked in the park and ride to catch the train. It's a lovely little train ride, from Lelant Saltings on the very end of the Hayle estuary, right along the estuary and then it clings to the coast all the way to St Ives, revealing spectacular views of Godrevy Lighthouse and pale yellow sandy beaches melting into aqua seas (on a sunny day - which Sunday was). We disembarked at Carbis bay, where the beach was packed with families, and then walked the 1.5 miles to St Ives along the coastal path.
Closer to St Ives there are some large and very beautiful houses with spectacular sea views. The gardens of some lead down to the coastal path. Amongst these houses (and small hotels) is Shun Lee Hotel which is owned by some friends of ours. To be precise, it's a private house, but in their retirement they have started doing B&B and opened their conservatory as a restaurant. The gate from the path was open and I saw our friend Terry taking a lunch order on their sunny terrace. I stepped through the gate and waved. Terry insisted we join him on the terrace for a glass of wine. 
We sat looking at the wonderful view and had a chat. The lady at the next table was on her own and she was very charming, so we were chatting with her too. After a while Terry was called away and we continued to chat with Lauren. During the conversation it came out that she didn't drive because, as she went on to explain, she was a diabetic and had nearly killed herself during a hypo. So naturally we fell to discussing it and I was telling her about the forum. She said that because she had lost hypo awareness she was afraid to drive now and also told me she was on a pump, which she promptly whipped out to show me. I found it interesting since I had never seen a pump in reality, only pictures. It was a bit bigger than I'd envisaged but nevertheless quite small enough to conceal in clothing. Apparently once it got blocked and she didn't know and fell into a diabetic coma, it was only because her brother found her that she is alive today. Scary stuff. Before we left I gave her the URL for the forum. Hopefully she will pop in and say "hello".
After a while we bid goodbye and wandered down to the Harbour, which was really crowded, but we spent a lovely afternoon having a late lunch on the terrace at the Porthgwidden Beach Cafe, overlooking the beach, before catching the train back to our car.
