What do you know? Royalty must read my column! Do you remember the other week when I said that there were lots of great ways to visit Mevagissey but the best ways was by boat? Well on Tuesday, HRH Sophie, Countess of Wessex came to visit Mevagissey to re-open the Tourist Information Centre and to see how businesses were managing after the floods and she came by boat! It was quite funny she got dropped off at the lighthouse and was then driven done to the front of the harbour. It’s hardly a big walk but I guess they have incredibly packed timetables so every second counts. It was nice to have someone come and have a look about and see what’s what. It’s great to see businesses up and trading again but more importantly there are still people who aren’t back in their homes yet and I hope that they soon are. HRH was then whisked onto Heligan, where she would have been assailed by wonderful scenery and glorious scents. It’s lucky that she didn’t come into St Austell then, poor thing would have been assailed by an altogether less fragrant smell. I have no idea what the smell is that is coming and going to the east side of St Austell but it smells like rotting cabbages. I’m sure I’m not the only person who went to B&Q to get a set of drain rods, I know people are talking about it being connected to the brewery and the smell is definitely present on Trevarthian Road but I think people should investigate the DIY shops first – I bet they’re doing a roaring trade in drain rods and cleaners!
Even if the Countess of Wessex had wanted to sample the fragrance for herself I wonder if she would have made it back out of the town. I have never known so many road works; the council seems to be acting as though it has a sum of money that it must spend before May is finished. It doesn’t matter where I go I’m hitting bollards and traffic lights, some days I’m hitting three on one journey and they’re like mushrooms, overnight they suddenly pop up and so the school run is taking longer and longer and getting more convoluted. Hey ho, if it means no more pot holes then I’m all for it. I do wonder though why it can’t be done at night?
On a more positive note we are now the proud sponsors of a radio show. Hurley Books sponsor the Carclaze School show on Radio St Austell Bay on Tuesdays from 4pm – 5pm. 105.6 f.m. I know I’m biased but it’s a great show, run by Janet and Simon, every week children come from the school and chat about, amongst other things, what they are reading. This week’s book is Pip of Pengersick “Adopted into a family of Cornish smugglers, Pip takes to life on the high seas. An encounter with a well-dressed stranger sends Pip and her smuggler friend. Harry, on a secret mission to France, a country in the grip of revolution. What is this secret that people will kill for? And who are the shadowy figures that dog their every footstep?” Sounds exciting doesn’t it? It’s aimed at 8 -11 year olds so if you know someone in that bracket maybe they would like to read along and see what the pupils at Carclaze make of it next week?
It’s great to have a truly local radio station and it’s also really nice to hear children on the radio on a show aimed at children. I honestly can’t think of another current radio show anywhere, locally or nationally that is just for children so well done RASB! Maybe the pupils of Poltair or Penrice would like to run a later show for teenagers?