SOMETHING ELSE I HAVEN`T GOT....

.......is a passport. I had one years ago when work commitments made it necessary, but when it ran out I didn`t bother to get a new one.

Now, I`m sure people will tell me that I`m missing out by not seeing the world and they may be right, but for now at least I`m content to explore the highways, byeways and hidden treasures of our sceptered isle.

And what treasures there are. I have been to quite a lot of places in this country - I`ve visited the Lake Dsitrict, the North York Moors, the Yorkshire Dales, bits of East Anglia, all of the south and south-east and, of course, nearly all of the West Country, from whence I have just returned once again. I`ve even been to Wales (north and west) and enjoyed a memorable visit to Tresco, one of the Isles of Scilly.

I`m sure there are parts of the country I haven`t seen yet - the Welsh Marches, the north-east and I confess never to have set foot in the north-west, partly out of a revulsion at the images of Blackpool and the continued presence of Manchester United - and so I might just spend the next few years exploring the bits I haven`t yet reached. This should not be taken as a lack of ambition, more a deep appreciation of what lies within driving distance of home.

There is also, of course, the added advantage that, if you go abroad and find your surroundings distateful then I guess you are stuck with them. If you don`t like where you are in your home country, then you can move on to somewhere else or, if the worst comes to the worst, drive home again.

It may be boring to repeat myself, but having just come back from another week in Cornwall, I find it hard to imagine anywhere more picturesque, homely, easy or compelling than the places I have just seen and been part of for a brief while. Just look at this:-

(click to enlarge)

I guess the truth - for me - is that there are few places I would rather be and maybe that of itself is good enough reason not to bother with a passport, which I am reliably advised is becoming more `difficult,` given the introduction of biometrics and inside leg measurements.

I will happily forego such indignities for the sheer enjoyment of sitting on the Todden watching the evening sun sparkle on the clear blue waters beyond Cadgwith harbour. Just like this:-

(click to enlarge)

"Who could ask for anything more?"