Now, the Cheltenham visit is worth a mention because it was there in a discount bookshop that I was able to find a book called Male Nudes that contained an artistic photograph of Rupert Everett completely starkers. Needless to say, given my penchant for Rupert, I bought the book. I also bought a book called Road Block and cassette tapes of Dead Ringers to listen to in the car.
Outside our guesthouse		We arrived in St. Ives around 10.00 p.m. and after dropping off our luggage at our lovely B&B, we set off for last orders at a harbour side pub. Afterwards we bought our first of many Cornish pasties and planned our busy itinerary for the next day.
Eating Cornish pasties on the seafront		Making Cornish pasties
Bright and early on Friday we visited the Tate gallery and saw maritime works by Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, an intriguing artist who is firstly a poet and secondly a modernist artist specialising in conceptual works such as brass ship's bells with clever sayings etched into them.		The Tate
		Next we were off to Barbara Hepworth's house to see her beautiful sculpture garden and to learn a bit about her life.
Nick had his hair cut in the afternoon and we did a lot of shopping, including the purchase of our Batman and Robin-esque wetsuits. Any piece of clothing that is rubber and makes you look thinner has to be purchased, right? And besides, we needed them if we were going to swim in the icy Atlantic.		After the haircut
		My Spider-Man impersonation
That evening, we had a meal that was well below our standards and then we returned to our room to watch Will & Grace and Graham Norton. (Graham's guest was the uber cool Alan Cumming, known for his chilling Donmar/Broadway turn as the M.C. in Cabaret. He showed up wearing a grey kilt, sleeveless black shirt, and black boots. We have a new idol).		Alan Cumming
		Saturday, we rose even earlier and set off to explore Cornwall. First, we went to St. Michael's Mount, a castle set on an island that was reachable by foot when we arrived, but soon became stranded at sea when the tide came in. We wandered the gardens and took lots of photos and then went inside to see how the rich folks live.
St. Michael's Mount, cut off by the tide
That's me looking over the edge.
		Next stop was Mousehole (pronounced Moys'l in the typical British Worchestershire=Wooster way) a tiny picturesque town that was not designed with Nick's Volvo estate car in mind! Off to Penzance next where we were photographed next to a pirate mural, then we found the beach where we lost our wetsuit virginity. We then drove on to Land's End, the most westerly part of Great Britain, where we were buffeted about by the cold wind before going to a bar to drink a warming brandy. We returned to St. Ives and had a wonderful meal at a restaurant called Al Fresco. We had scallops wrapped in antipasto meats and goat's cheese salad as appetizers, followed by delicious sirloin steak and Cajun vegetable kabobs as our main course, and then dessert of chocolate crème brulee and mini fruit crumble with clotted cream.
After dinner, we went to see an advanced screening of Spider-Man at the small St. Ives cinema. I expected huge crowds but there were only about a dozen people in the audience. The film was fun - I would have died and gone to heaven when I was about twelve had it come out then - and a nice way to end the evening.