| Tilily
Tangerine the Traveling Sasha |
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AN
ACCOUNT OF TILILY TANGERINE'S VISIT TO PENZANCE, CORNWALL
by Eliza (aka Patience)
We
were so excited, my twin brother Thomas, (aka Peyton) and
I about hosting the celebrated Tilily Tangerine at our home
in Penzance down at the western tip of the UK. February is
not the best month to be exploring the UK, but Cornwall sees
Spring earlier than other parts as we were able to show Tilily.
The day she arrived was sunny even if a cold wind blew and
we took her to nearby Morrab Gardens for her first outing.
Then
we went on down to the harbour and would you believe it there
was a pirate ship moored at the quay brazenly flying the skull
and crossbones. We dared Tilily to have her photo taken in
front of it - and she did!
You
would think she was some sort of heroine the way Thomas behaved
with her after that. The two of them got on like a house on
fire. I began to feel quite jealous. Not really! I think she
wanted to make an impression on him because in the evening
she tried on some of my clothes and asked to borrow a dress.
She looked very nice in it I have to say.
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The
next day she wanted to go down to the beach and we had our
pictures taken overlooking St Michael's Mount. You need
to go over by boat at high tide but you can walk across
the causeway at low tide. It is still the home of the St
Levan family, but owned by the National Trust. Whoo, you
can see from the picture the wind was still blowing. Wish
you weren't wearing that dress now, Tilily?
You
can't come down to the tip of Cornwall and not go to the
very end, Land's End. There's a signpost there for you to
show where you come from and how far away it is. What a
surprise awaited us, it already said Albuquerque. Had they
heard Tilily was coming? No, it turned out to be someone
else's home as well. We met an American family and their
uncle lives there. What a strange coincidence. Their Mum
took a picture of us standing in front of the signpost,
but the wind was wrecking my hairdo, so you are only going
to see the one of Thomas with Tilily. Hasn't she come a
long way from home?
After
that we went off to nearby Sennen beach to scramble on the
rocks.
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We
chose a great day to go over to the Minack Theatre. This
wonderful amphitheatre set on the cliffs overlooking the
Atlantic ocean was created by a lady with a vision, who
must have been very strong to put all these stones into
position. Her name was Rowena Cade and since she built it
there have been shows mounted on its stage every summer,
usually to packed houses.
Tilily
and Thomas would show off prancing round the stage.
This
next place is a bit strange. These stones set in a circle
are meant to be merry maidens turned into stone for dancing
on a Sunday. Thomas was jigging round and laughing pretending
he was going to be petrified too. He says it's really a
prehistoric religious site. There are lots of standing stones
all over Cornwall. Really Thomas is a know-all!
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More
recent are the remains of Cornwall's tin mining industry.
We drove over to the north coast to show Tilily some impressive
views.
There
are no mines currently in operation here, but they are trying
to restart one in Camborne as the price of tin has risen.
Here
we are standing in the counting house of the Levant mine,
on the remains of the floor. This is a dizzying high place,
and the mine went right out under the sea. Miners used to
descend to the depths on a weird structure called a man engine
that went up and down as they stepped off and on to the next
step to change level. One terrible day the man engine broke
and many men lost their lives. It was a very dangerous job.
How brave those men had to be to face those hazards on a daily
basis.
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On
Tilily's last night there was a huge storm, so we were quite
worried about her having to make the long journey to Scotland.
We were very happy to hear she got to Jocelyn's safely the
next day.
Adieu,
Tilily, this is how we will always remember you.
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