October 21 - Sightseeing in London

Lyle and I were both surprised at the number of tourists in London in mid-October, in what would normally be the shoulder season for tourist activity. I think that most of us were outside Buckingham Palace on the morning when we went to watch the Changing of the Guard. Probably a more interesting picture than the two I have posted here would be of the thousands of spectators gathered outside the palace gates.

Instead, the first picture is of the group of new guards marching down the street towards the palace. They are wearing the tall black bear skin caps and scarlet tunics typically associated with the palace guards. 

Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Lyle took the second picture after the crowds had thinned. He stood at the fence railing and used the zoom on the camera to cross the space of the outer courtyard and focus on the two new guards. They stood on either side of an arched gateway. Lyle noticed that while the guard on the right had his tall black bear cap pulled down to the tip of his nose and held firmly in place with a chinstrap, the guard on the left had his cap tipped back at a slight angle. The edge only came to the top of his eyebrows. Possibly he might have done a better job at guarding because he was able to see outside the lining of his cap. 

Guards at Buckingham Palace

We didn’t stay in the city for the afternoon but took the Tube back to our accommodation near Paddington Station.  No matter what time of the day or night that we rode the Tube, it was always busy. When there was standing room only, I was nearly always offered a seat. I often feel a bit funny about this. After all, it is my eyes that don’t work properly, not my legs. However, I have come to the conclusion that when these kind offers are made, it would be ungracious and even rude for me to refuse them. Nearly always it was the male train passengers who showed me this courtesy, so thanks to the men who showed themselves as true English gentlemen.

October 16 - Leaving Penzance

It was pouring rain when our train left the station and Penzance, and for the first time we caught a hint of the potential fury of a storm in Cornwall.  The wind whipped the waves into mountains of seething white foam.  We had come across other signs of the damage caused by storms in this area.  The stone wall that enclosed the Jubilee Pool was broken down by waves in "a horrific storm" this past January. When we stood at Land's End, Lyle read a notice that said we stood within thirty-seven different shipwrecks.

Perhaps the notice that moved me most was the memorial at Penlee.  In 1981, at the height of a winter storm, the volunteers of the coastal lifeboat set out to rescue the crew and passengers of a stranded Dutch freighter.  They battled fifty-foot high waves and hundred mile an hour winds.  The rescue attempt was in vain and all were lost at sea.  This was a particular tragedy for Mousehole.  All the volunteer crew were men from this small community.  Even today on December 19, the village shuts off its Christmas lights for one hour to commemorate the anniversary of the loss of eight courageous men.

We are now back in London and the sun is shining.  This morning we went to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.  Because I can't see across the road this was a bit of a nonevent for me.  However, the band played, the horses clattered by, and Lyle took several pictures which I hope to see on my magnifying device once we are home.

Tonight we are off to the theatre.

October 15 - Cornwall, UK Part 4

For our last full day in Cornwall we drove to St. Ives, a small coastal town.  In contrast to the grey of yesterday, the sky was a brilliant blue.  They say that in summer, St. Ives is crowded beyond belief.  On a warm, mid October day, it was busy enough.  We walked along the promenade beside the harbour, ate a Cornish pastie for lunch, and Cornish ice cream cone with strawberries and clotted cream.  We sat for some time on a bench, soaking up the warm sunshine while watching the rippling waves. We didn't check out the art galleries, but browsed around the many small shops.

When we left I puffed up the steep incline to the parking lot at the top of the hill.  Unauthorized vehicles are not allowed in the town itself.  Parking lots are provided at the top of the hill.  As we made our way up a youngish man passed by on my left, heading downhill.  He strode purposely, sweeping his white cane side to side with one hand while chatting animatedly into a cell phone held with his other hand.  It was not until he was past that Lyle mentioned the white cane.  The problem with limited sight is that we white cane users don't see each other until it is too late to call out a greeting.  This was only my second white cane sighting since we arrived in England.  The first was also a young man who was also walking in the street in Penzance.

This morning it is grey and showery again, but we will be sitting on the train headed back to London.  We have really enjoyed exploring the Cornwall area.

October 14 - Cornwall, UK Part 3

It rained today - just spits and drizzle, and certainly not enough to deter us from exploring more of the Cornish countryside.  This morning we drove a few miles inland to Chysauster.  This ancient site was a village inhabited by the Celts around 2000 years ago.  They lived in a settlement at the top of a windswept hill for two or three hundred years, after which time the settlement was peacefully abandoned.  Today we walked up a gradual slope to the grassy knoll where we saw the remnants of the circular stone houses.  It was an isolated spot.  It was difficult to imagine that we were standing in the very spot where once there was thriving village life two thousand years ago.

We then headed on to another ancient site.  The Cornish Peninsula seems to abound in these.  At the Merry Maidens we saw a stone circle, a simpler version than the one at Stonehenge.  We parked in a small layby off the road, climbed over a stone wall, and came to a field in the centre of which was a circle of nineteen vertical stone markers.  How did they come to be there!  Legend from the Middle Ages has it that a group of village women decided to go into the fields for some merriment and dancing.  However, it was the Sabbath, and this displeased God, who turned the women to stone.

Our last stop of the day was Land's End, the western most point of England.  We wandered along the cliff walk, but it was quite uneven and very windy.  Mostly, we gazed out to the Atlantic and thought of the ships and their crews who ventured into the unknown in those very early days of sailing.

It is still raining tonight and we are glad to be back in our cozy little cottage, away from all the hardships faced by the ancient peoples of this land.

October 13 - Cornwall, UK Part 2

Today we drove a few short miles east of Penzance to Marazion.  For the history buffs, Marazion is one of the oldest towns in England.  It was first chartered in 1257 by King Henry III.

One of our reasons for coming to this ancient market town was to see St. Michael's Mount.  At low tide this rocky island is accessible by a cobblestone causeway.  At high tide the causeway is completely covered by water and visitors must make the crossing by boat.  We arrived at high tide and left at low tide.  While it is impossible to cross by foot when the water is high, similarly the boats cannot run back and forth at low tide as they are stranded on the sand.

The castle that is set on top of the rocky island was originally the home of Benedictine monks.  A fortress was added to the monastery when Spanish and French invaders threatened the Cornish coastline.  In later years, English royalists and parliamentarians fought for control of the island.  When the latter won the battle by starving the royalists out, Lord Aubyn was put in charge.  The twelfth generation of the Aubyn family continues to live in the castle on St. Michael's Mount.

I found it was extremely difficult to walk around the island.  The rocks and stones were uneven and irregularly spaced.  The climb to the top was very steep and in some parts handrails were nonexistent.  It was even more difficult coming down, and we made slow progress.  Inside the castle was a different story.  There were docents available to answer questions, floors were smooth, and the steps had handrails. There were also benches to rest upon while reading brochures about the various rooms.  The castle was definitely not wheelchair accessible, but in all other ways, it was worth the visit.

Back in Marazion, we decided to take the coastal walk towards Penzance.  This was a fairly level and easy walk.  For the most part I was able to fold my cane and hold Lyle's arm.  We sat for quite some time on a bench to watch the incoming tide. It was interesting to watch the boats refloat off the sand. It was a good day.

October 12 - Cornwall, UK Part 1

It's a long way to get to Cornwall, but for us it has been a worthwhile trip.  Lyle and I flew from Alberta to Heathrow and then it was a five and a half hour train ride from Paddington Station to Penzance.  Yes, that is the same Penzance of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.  Although there are no pirates here now there is a history of pirates along the Cornish coastline.

Cornwall is located on the southwest peninsula of England.  We have only been here for a day and a half but already we love the area.  We came thinking that we would do lots of walking, eat some seafood, and take in a bit of history.  So far, we have been successful on all these three levels.

Today, we walked from Penzance to Mousehole (pronounced "MOW-zle).  It was a six kilometre one-way hike along the coastline.  Many parts were a wide promenade and easy to follow. Others were quite tricky, with narrow streets and no footpaths.  At these points I tried to follow behind Lyle with my cane.  In the end, when I heard a vehicle approaching, I simply stood still, trying to flatten myself against the stone walls of the buildings.  Mousehole is a quaint fishing village.  It was low tide so we walked down to the sandy beach - a beach that is entirely covered with water at high tide.

Last night we took an inland walk across several fields to an ancient church at the top of a hill, here Lyle could see for miles across the fields to the sea.  There was a cemetery beside the church and Lyle read the inscriptions on the headstones to me.  The ones he could decipher dated back to the early 1800's. Many headstones were so old that all the inscriptions have long since eroded away.  Walking along the edges of the fields was pleasant and reasonably easy, away from all traffic.

We know there are many walking trails and footpaths in this area, and we hope to explore as many as possible during our stay here.

September 30 - Speaking Out

Speaking out is a two way street. It’s a responsibility for those of us who are sight challenged, but it’s also extremely helpful when people who are sighted speak out to alert us to their presence or offer assistance. 

This past month I have been relearning these two lessons. Lyle has been busy with September harvest and I have been coping with daily routine on my own. Now I know that many of you who are blind or partially sighted live alone and cope admirably well with the pattern of daily life by yourselves, but because Lyle and I usually do things together, I need to rethink things when I am alone.

I started the month with walks to the grocery store. After my first foray there when I bought the wrong kind of sandwich meat, a package of fish that wasn’t what I had really meant to pick out, and came away without a couple of other items that I couldn’t locate on the shelves, I remembered what I needed to do. I needed to speak out and ask for assistance. While I am pretty good at asking for help in anonymous places like airports and foreign cities, I found it more difficult to pluck up the nerve to ask for help in the local grocery store. A couple of unhelpful responses didn’t help matters. One store assistant advised me that next time I came shopping I had better bring my magnifying glass. Although I held my tongue with this comment, on the inside I wanted to trip her with my cane.

Thinking of two way streets reminds me of the story of the blind woman who was waiting near a busy street intersection. A very friendly and helpful Boy Scout type person came along and insisted on helping the blind woman across the street. Perhaps you have guessed the punch line. The woman had not wanted to cross the road at all. The intersection where she waited was the appointed spot where she was to meet a friend. Speaking out sometimes means graciously but firmly refusing help when it isn’t needed. This latter is often confusing for people who are sighted and want to help. I usually tell people that it is fine to offer assistance but not to be offended or take it as a personal insult if I refuse the offer and prefer to act independently.

I am nearly always perfectly fine in my own neighbourhood when I am out walking alone. I tend to walk on familiar routes and I use my cane with more purpose than when I am walking with someone else. My problem is that I tend to walk fairly quickly and so if someone is coming towards me, I won’t “see” them until they are almost on top of me. I do appreciate it when people speak or make some sound so that I know that we are nearing each other.

Let me tell you this story of the Monday before last. I was walking in the shop area when I suddenly heard someone whistling. The whistling was coming from above me. I stopped instantly. It was a good thing too. I was centimeters away from running straight into some scaffolding that had been erected since the last time I had walked the same route. I hadn’t detected the temporary structure because my cane had found its way into the empty space between the posts. I’m not sure if the fellow up on the higher level was whistling because he was happy or because he saw me coming with my cane. Regardless, I am quite sure that he was happy that I stopped when I did and didn’t send him tumbling to the ground.

There are many stories that could be told about the advantages of speaking out. Whether you are blind or whether you are sighted, I hope that you have found today’s post helpful and encouraging.