Last night I journeyed all of five miles to stay at The Abbey Hotel in Penzance. What a fantastic place this is. It's a 17th century house just off Chapel Street, owned by former model Jean Shrimpton and her photographer husband Michael Cox. Their taste is exquisite and a literary chap could spend hours idling through the many excellent books in the lounge. One of my heroes, W G Sebald, is there, but perhaps even more pleasing to behold was a copy of John Severson's 1963 classic, Modern Surfing Around the World. My discovery of this book was down to Tim Kevan, who kindly lent me his copy. I've missed it ever since I gave it back and despite my best efforts haven't seen another copy anywhere. It was a real treat to find the book again.
The serendipity continued in The Abbey Restaurant. Karen, Harry and I were treated to the best meal we've had in years courtesy of new chef Michael Riemenschneider; my only regret is that Elliot was sleeping over at a friend's, and so missed out. Given that this is a surf blog, I'd better curb my digressive tendencies and refrain from launching into a full-blown restaurant review. Suffice to say that The Abbey Restaurant is a must.
After the meal I got talking to the Sommelier, Luke Richardson. I've rarely met anyone with so extensive a vocabulary, and have certainly never met anyone with such an incredible knowledge of wine. He's a poker player, too. As we were chatting we were joined by Sous Chef Adam Cain. Curiously enough, he was brought up in my village. His mum and sister live up the road, and Adam has recently moved back from London. It turns out that he surfs The Spot That dare Not Speak Its Name (our local break) regularly and loves it better than any other break in the UK.
Said spot is not working today, but you know your life is going in the right direction when, just when you least expect it, you see surfing and surfers at every turn.
But why is Banksy in the headline? Well, I love his work and am writing a piece about him. Can anyone confirm that he is indeed a former skater from Bristol? If true, this might explain a lot.
Picture of Jean Shrimpton courtesy of www.vandaprints.com; John Severson's painting is from www.calart.com; Bansky's 'Watercan Girl' is at www.banksy.co.uk
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