Train Wanker #3 Are You My Daddy?

This wild tale I'm about to share with you actually happened at the beginning of January, but it's important to document the crazy stories of my train journeys so that future generations can learn from them, you can all be aware on public transport and sympathise with me, because I actually attract strange situations. Is it my face? Here we go...

Once upon a time, I boarded the train to Plymouth to visit my girl Leona, treating myself to a Saturday morning hot chocolate, I'd forgotten my book and was occupying myself with various WhatsApp chats, planning my move to Australia with Sunae probably. Minding my own business as always, I wasn't prepared for the small child that appeared next to me...

Child: (I wasn't sure if the miniature person was a girl or boy at first...) Hello, are you my daddy?

Me: Sorry? (Mildly offended and confused at this stage.)

Child: *Takes cue to sit down and proceed to fumble with my bag*

Me: *Is this a modern day Oliver Twist? Am I about to be robbed by a small child?* Err, I'm sure your daddy is somewhere on the train, why don't you go back to him, I'm sure he'll be worried?

Child: I don't know where he is...*proceeds to take my bag and stand up* (Can you wrestle your belongings from children?) You'll have to help me...

*We wander down the first carriage, I'm looking helplessly to other passengers, praying that someone will claim this child...*

Me: He's definitely on the train yes?

Child: I'm not sure...

Me: *Oh god, what do I do with a lost child on a train? How do you leave your child behind on a train? It's been about 10 minutes now? Where is the owner of this small being?!*

*We wander down the second carriage...and the third...*

Child: Here he is!

Me: *Oh great, she got me confused with a 15 stone bald man...I need to work on my image..* Oh great, excuse me, your child found me and said she was lost...

The Actual Daddy: Oh, she told me she was going to the toilet...Have you been?

Child: No...This lady will take me *points at me!*

Me: Oh, well, ummm, you could take her?

The Actual Daddy: No it's fine, it's on your way back...

*I proceeded to walk away whilst she was looking the other way...She chased me down the carriage*

Child: Here's the toilet, can you open the door?

Me: Oh ok...

Child: *Stands in toilet and pulls bottoms down* You have to come in with me!!

Me: That's ok, I'm just going to close the door now and leave you to it *closes door before this can go any further.* I'll stand guard.

*A few minutes pass*

Child: I'm done, you can open the door now.

Me: You know, you should probably pull your trousers up before you come out again?....Ok great job, nice to meet you, I'm off now. 

*Runs as far down the train as I can get.*

I took the sneaky photo above of The Actual Daddy when we got off the train at Plymouth. The resemblance is uncanny...

Over & Out

Sophie

Hiatus. A Catch Up In Photos.

noun, plural hiatuses, hiatus.

1.

a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.

Good morning friends! Happy Mother's Day to all of you that have produced little (or big ones!) If you're not following me on Instagram (SOPHIELOUISEANNE) then you may not have seen much of me recently. Still too afraid to use Twitter, seriously someone help me, I thought it'd be nice to have a little catch up in Instagram-land. 

Walks in the woods have featured almost once week.

I've taken out a small mortgage to fund my Lush obsession and been having all the baths that I've actually transformed into a raisin like creature.

Feeling moody and pouty. What Instagram's made for?

Read this little number by Matt Haig and though didn't find it particularly helpful for myself as I'd thought from the reviews, I do think it's a pretty great read for people that have someone in their lives suffering from depression and anxiety. 

More trips to National Trust lands have been encompassed by cake and chocolatey drinks. Also, this book is amazing. I'll be posting a little book review list later in the week but it's by far the best book I've read in a while.

Batman and I dressed ready to rob a bank, or be ninjas, or hide in the shadows....or be goths.

Cover me in lavender all day please.

I should read this every morning. I've recently shared my first ever quotes on Instagram...inspiring ya'll since 2016.

This wonderful woodcarving of Neptune is on my walk into Charlestown and I always pass by without much thought. It's incredibly intricate though isn't it?

Getting home to lighter evenings home fills my heart with joy!

Arty beach photos. Of course.

Making steps towards my new career as a bee keeper. 

Morning snuggles with this little guy, who's in his favourite spot at the end of the bed.

More books, more treats. Stoner is a great read and a vintage classic. 

Pretty floors in Truro library making me swoon.

Seeing all the fire skies which make early mornings and late evenings almost acceptable.

I genuinely used to think that oil slicks were called floor rainbows....They should be.

Covering up a RIP in an actual book that I own! My drink leaked in my bag and ruined a part of this lovely read. SAD TIMES PEOPLE.

So yeah, it's been mainly reading and wintery walks in my life over the last six weeks. Feeding the soul. How about you all? Let's catch up!

Over & Out

Sophie

Location Location Location// Eden Project

Have I already warned you that this is the most photo heavy post in town? Well consider that your warning. So sue me, Sunae convinced me to man-up and practice shooting in manual and I pretty much ran with it. My photography knowledge now stretches to 'moving the dial-ly thing' but hey, I'm getting there! If you haven't yet gagged over my 'ode to Sunae', take a little read here and come on back for some plant photos, a couple of funny looking birds and mostly a little tour around a must-see attraction in Cornwall (and one of the only ones still open in the winter months!)

I've been to the Eden Project a few times now; more-so for charity related goodness or a little browse before seeing a band or two, it's somewhere that I totally overlook and take for granted, living so near by. The great thing about going there though is that so much is indoors (a rarity for a Cornish attraction) and meant that it didn't really matter what the weather was like, Sunae and I could visit and warm the o'l cockles whilst taking our time snapping and nattering. Starting in the education centre, she educated me more on the microbiology more than the exhibition did- I'm sure we had a small group even listening in at one stage. The 'seed' pictured above is an incredible instillation with the most amusing acoustics (when you're stomping around pretending to be dinosaurs like we were, you need great acoustics!)

Beautiful tiles in the Mediterranean biome. I'm not actually a penguin by the way, my TOMS just make me look like one. Can you spot the bird?

David Attenborough eat your heart out. 

Cacti and succulents galore!

I'd just like to remind you (again) that I am using the manual mode on my camera finally and for first attempts I'm pretty proud as punch (even if Sunae and I probably took hours longer seeing everything!) After a spot of lunch (which was super tasty, if incredibly overpriced-it's a tourist attraction so you kind of expect it!) we headed over to the rainforest biome for what became a LOT of humidity that made us go a little crazy...

I spent a good while hunting for these little birds name plaque (like the ones you get with all the plants) only for Sunae to highlight to me that 'birds move around Sophie, there probably isn't one!' I think I dubbed thee, punk chickens.

A lot of craziness later, and deciding as evening descended so much so that it got rather dark, that we were in-fact in Jurassic World, we started hiding from dinosaurs. As you do.

Finally we made it to the end, after being a little convinced that it had actually closed and we were going to spend the entire night trapped in dino-land. *wipes brow*

To wrap up, Eden Project is a great day out for a visitor to Cornwall in winter because it's mainly inside. It isn't cheap but they do offer a locals' pass which is great value for money and gives you access during all the exciting times of year. It's been almost two months since my little dinosaur queen was here and I totally miss her every day. Sorting and commentating these photos has filled me with joy and reminiscence. I'm suddenly back to planning moving my life to Australia again.

Miss you Sunae.

Over & Out

Sophie

Thankful Thursday // All The Things.

It's been a while. Too long really. *Waves at screen!* I've had many a draft sitting there since I disappeared at the end of January; too tired to switch on and write, too tired to feel guilty for doing so. To be honest, the start of this year has been quite testing, I've lost myself a little and it's only really now I'm coming together again. I wanted to take some time to come back, read some books (so many books!) Watch some Netflix and spend some time resting. The cold evenings and even colder mornings have driven me to the comforts of hot baths, snuggles under blankets and pyjama attire whenever I'm not outside. A couple of days have been spent hands in the earth, making sense of the overgrown mess that my garden has become over the winter months. It's been good for me. Thinking about what the future holds for the rest of the year and with a little perspective under my belt, here's some things about myself that I'm thankful for...and totally unapologetic for being so...

• Being Strong: When shit gets tough, I'm like a rock. Yes I may cry whilst watching an episode of DIY SOS but when the proper grown up, horrible shit happens, I seem to grow 10ft tall. I'm proud of myself for that.
• Being Sensitive: In the totally opposite way, I'm starting to realise to stop apologising for being sensitive about the 'small things'. It's something I've been judged for before and I think we as women, feel we have to apologise for that sometimes? Well fuck that from now on, I'm sensitive because I care, I've got a great big heart and I hug like a unicorn, so there's that settled.
• Curiosity: If I could learn something about everything then I'd be happy. My Netflix binge has been a mis-match of documentaries, from art fraud, bees (obviously), to cane toads and space. It's been amazing.
• My Ass for Looking Amazing in my Wedding Dress: Because I'm not the greatest fan of my body but it looks pretty. fucking. great.
• Wisdom: Someone recently said to me that wisdom is something that only comes with age. I've thought about this a lot and I agree... to an extent. I know plenty of people older than me that are quite simply naive and I personally think wisdom is something that comes from life experience, how long you've been alive doesn't make you wise.

That's about enough self gratification for today I think. I've missed you all. How is everyone? I currently have over 650 missed posts to catch up on reading so expect a little comment spam! In the mean time, please go ahead and pop recent posts in the comments and I'll get to nattering with you even sooner!

Over & Out

Sophie

P.s. I don't actually steal forks, but Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of the best programmes ever made. WATCH IT!