Day 136: The Best Stories in the World

The Eden Project.  It's expensive, but impressive.  Not only do you get to experience a rainforest (steamy and slightly foetid, like a damp canvas tent on a hot day, full of ancient, decomposing espadrilles), but you also get a trust cafe experience. 

Groovily help yourself to whatever you want (no uptight china plates - freestyle wooden boards), commune on the long refectory tables (shared milk!  Jugs of tap water!) and remember what you had so you can pay at the end.  It is very tempting to pretend benevolent amnesia, approaching the till with baffled good humour.  'I really WANT to remember, but it's just gone!  I suspect I MAY have had a coffee. A bun COULD also have been involved. But I'm not SURE.  Perhaps I just had tap water?'. 

But I don't.  Because I like the system.  It is very efficient and very clever.  Things move quickly, without any wait for service.  The customer is empowered.  And the money saved on staffing would more than compensate for any runners or amnesiacs. 

But the highlight of the day doesn't have ticketted admission, a biome or a trust cafe.  The Hall Walk.  A graceful circular route around the creeks, coves and deep woodland of Fowey, Polruan and Bodinnick.  The inspiration for much of Kenneth Grahame's 'Wind In The Willows'.  I can see why. 





"The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea."

And then to a tea shop in Fowey.  I suspect I MAY have had a scone with jam and clotted cream.  But I'm not SURE...