Where are all the people?

Went for my morning walk down to the beach and guess what?.................... I had the whole beach all to myself. It's two days before Christmas. We thought it would be really busy with holiday makers by now but it doesn't seem to be. Ann hasn't spent Christmas in St Ives since 2006, but we've been renting out our house here since 2016 and we've always had bookings at Christmas. There's 12 properties in our little complex and only three of them (including us) are occupied. None of the holiday lets have people in them which Ann finds very strange. Having said that; our house wasn't rented out for the three weeks before we came back (and it usually rents out well in the winter), so maybe people really don't have any money this year. Or maybe everyone is following the AA's advice and travelling after 6pm. And we pity anyone travelling by train because it doesn't sound like they have any hope of getting anywhere in time for Christmas.

Anyway, moving swiftly on......................... Guess what I found on the beach this morning?................. a rather lovely tennis ball. It looked as though it was brand new. And I also found a lovely tennis ball on the beach yesterday. They're both in my 'Cornish manky old balls' box now, even though they're not at all manky.

This afternoon I went back to the beach but the tide was all the way in, and the the sea was very choppy. Ann was planning on doing the Boxing Day swim, but then she was asked if she could work on Boxing Day and she said, 'Yes', because she'd forgotten about the Boxing Day Swim. Now she's thinking, 'thank goodness I have a valid excuse not to do it', because stripping off and diving into the sea OK she'd probably just walk sedately into the sea is not very appealing in this weather. We got soaked on my afternoon walk and the weather forecast isn't looking great for the next few days.

Trekked around town after I'd been on the beach and there's obviously a few holiday makers about because we saw loads of dogs that we didn't recognise. Holiday makers to St Ives these days all seem to bring two or three dogs with them. However, the town certainly isn't mobbed. It will be interesting to see how busy it is at New Year.

That's been our day. Ann has caught up with all her 'soaps' ready for the Christmas editions on the big day and she's also spent a lot of time writing her book – 'My life in lock down'. It would be nice if she could get the first draft finished by the end of the year, but, realistically, that's not looking very possible.

Staying in together this evening. I asked for my dinner at 5.01pm because running around on a very windy beach this afternoon has made me hungry.

Only two more sleeps before I know what Santa has brought me. Yay!!!