All the English seem to speak in more complex sentences and use more sophisticated words than we do at home. Maybe it's just the accent that makes them all sound so much more intellilgent than we do.
When the service people are speaking, they are so polite. "May I see your credit card please?" I am trying to speak in a low, slow voice so that I don't sound too much like the abrasive American tourist, but I don't believe I am fooling anybody.
A little more about the driving. I have only once gone to the wrong side of the car to get in , but I can't seem to learn to look to the right instead of the left for the rear view driving mirror. I have stopped turning on the windshield wipers every time I want to use the turn signal, and my left hand automatically gropes for the gear shift when I need to slow down or speed up.
After the tennis courts, I walked along the promenade (of course, now that I am so accustomed to life over here, I call it "the prom" just like the locals) and watched some small sail boats and a couple of hardy toe dippers. A couple of kids were in the water waist deep, but most people were just walking around like me. Even though today is a big holiday here, there are no crowds and the streets are not filled with traffic.
I bought my first souvenir! A Cornish pop top can opener. It only cost 3.99 pounds, and was the only thing I could find that says "Cornwall" on it. No "I love Cornwall" or any of the corny hats or miscellaneous tourist junk to be found. I am trying to be very conservative with money - I am fitting mu food budget but still enjoying the foods on my list by going to good places to eat and eating an appetizer (called "little bites") or soup; and by going to places like St Michaels Mount and looking at the outside but not going in. I am paying so much for parking and gas that I am trying to conserve elsewhere. MY philosophy is to let the cost be the guide, but not to deny myself an experience I will regret later. The GPS was certainly an unexpected expense, but it is so wonderful and has gotten me out of a couple of bewildering "getting lost" experiences I probably would have paid double the price had I known.
Water is 2 pounds per bottle! It's the incidentals like that one that are really scary. How do people afford to live here? I can't believe they make phenomenal sums of money, but they must.
A lot more to write, but it is dinner time and I am starving. Tonight there is a famous men's chorus performing in the town hall that I am planning to go to with some friends met at the hotel.
More later.
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