10:30 wednesday 9 february – rosevear , st agnes

at this point i should be standing on the quay watching the lyonesse lady arrive , ready to winch my belongings aboard . instead i’m sitting in the house with everything piled around me .

i awoke to a beautiful sunny morning , the thrushes singing their hearts out … and the growl of a seriously big sea . at nine the launch was still expected to run . half an hour later it had been cancelled . the gry maritha , which runs freight between the islands and penzance , has just arrived at st mary’s but it will return to penzance as soon as it has unloaded . there is a possibility the sea will get worse tomorrow .

it seems the islands are not ready to release me quite yet . the weather has even denied me the use of my camera . i have plenty of film but the battery expired yesterday . one of a number of articles i intended to buy on st mary’s .

the next sailing of the gry isn’t until saturday , and the steamship company is sceptical if even that will be running .

i sit by the phone and wait .

: cH