Pirates In Ilfracombe
We had three gorgeous days on the beach at Woolacombe this week and I'd recommend it to anyone. When it's as hot as it has been this week you can almost imagine you're in Australia, thanks mainly to the number of Aussies who work in the local shops and bars and whose voices blare out of the lifeguard truck's loudspeaker. The town itself seems devoted to beach enthusiasts, with surfboards, bodyboards and wet suits on sale in every other shop.
I'm afraid I can't summon up the same passion for Ilfracombe which trades on its history as a Victorian seaside resort. We were duped into paying four quid to walk through the old tunnels that were carved out of the cliffside so that the ladies and gentlemen of yesteryear could enjoy the waters. We made our way through the tunnels with a sense of excitment and anticipation and then we arrived in the kind of landscape that used to feature in seventies episodes of Doctor Who. It was a quarry with waves. Well, having forked out good money to look at the place we couldn't very well just turn around and go back, so we spent a good ten or eleven minutes gazing at the rocks and then up and the cliffs and then down at the rocks again. Then we had some good luck: it started to rain.
We went back through the tunnels and past the girl who had sold us our tickets. I was going to give her a right good Glasgow glare but she looked so friendly and it dawned on me that she probably thought these tunnels and beaches were the eighth wonder of the world. I didn't have the heart to break it to her. For all I know she still believes in the tooth fairy.
So we made our way into the centre of the town and, like any British seaside town in the rain, it looked a bit miserable and delapidated. That's when I spotted the Embassy Cinema which was showing the new Pirates Of The Caribbean movie. We scampered inside and I have to tell you it was a real treat. I mean, the film was OK, but the cinema itself was superb. Tiny, but superb. Apparently it's just been refurbished and, get this, there was an usherette showing us to our seats! Also there was a curtain in front of the screen that opened and closed between the trailers and the main film. It was like going back in time.
Oh, and Johnny Depp was quite good too.
