Friday 28 June 2013

A Happy Birthday

My youngest granddaughter, Eryn, is 10 today and some of the family clubbed together to buy her a BMX bike. I went with my daughter to collect and pay for it at Wimbledon on Tuesday before driving home to Poole.

During my morning walk with Jade today I called Eryn to say Happy Birthday before she went to school. I've never known her to be so speechless before. All she seemed able to say was, "Thank you for my present," several times. Apparently she is over the moon with the bike and had been outside riding it alongside her Mum and dog well before 8 am.


Wednesday 26 June 2013

Panda Fun

I saw this on Facebook and just had to share it here.

Monday 17 June 2013

Tomatoes for the Garden

Last weekend my sister gave me some tomato plants and this weekend we went to the garden centre and bought the right compost to fill some big pots and planted them on. My mini polythene greenhouse is not big enough to hold any of those pots so they are now dotted around the garden where they will catch the sun for at least part of the day - when we get it. Here's hoping we will actually get a crop. Be wonderful if they are half as good as these.


pic by Rameshng at Wikimedia Commons

Friday 14 June 2013

Cars and Ships

This week I had an encounter with a traffic warden who told me that I should have bought a ticket to put on my car in the Sandbanks car park. Payment is required 24 hours a day. It was fortunate that Jade and I had left the beach and arrived back at the car in time to see him looking at it. He said he would let me off the £35 penalty. He also said that if I arrived as usual at 10 to 8 a £1.50 ticket would only take me up to 07:59 instead of giving the usual hour. There’s something wrong there and I might write to the council about that. I didn’t blame the warden who was very chatty and trying to be helpful. Apparently I can buy a £78 ticket that will give me free parking at any beach car park for a year. I could have told him that would be more than 50% of a week’s state pension, and I have rather more pressing things to spend it on, but I didn’t.

Since that morning I haven’t driven into the car park. We’ve walked elsewhere. But Jade loves to run on the beach, so this morning I parked outside the row of shops across the road from the car park. You can have up to 20 minutes there. Then we strode quickly across the car park for a fairly brief visit to the beach and got back with seconds to spare.

On the way back as usual I took the scenic route harbourside and along the quay. We had a good view of the Brittany Ferries Barfleur on her way out of the harbour to sail to France. In this photo, which I found at Wikimedia Commons, it looks as though she is coming the opposite way towards the port in Poole Harbour.


Pic by Chris Allen


I also found this pic of the Condor Ferries Catamaran sitting in port, just as we see it every morning.


pic by Collin Foot

Wednesday 12 June 2013

June: the Month for Roses


I've been out in the rain today, and got pretty wet several times. Visibility was well down on the beach and the only ferry we saw this morning was the chain one between Sandbanks and Studland.

But the rain is good for the garden. My roses are budding and I look forward to the blooms. This is what they will look like.

Monday 10 June 2013

Torquay Landslide

On Friday I met up with a friend in Torquay. After our lunch, we strolled along Babbacombe Downs overlooking Oddicombe Beach. This area was a favourite haunt of mine when I was a young teenager, but I know that since then there have been many landslides down the cliffs at the far end.


pic by David Hawgood

But from the downs on Friday we saw the results of another one higher up that was much more serious. One of the houses that I used to walk past on the coast path was half collapsed with rubble strewn down the horrendous red gash below it.  A local man stopped to tell us that the house had recently been sold to an unsuspecting buyer for £150,000 by telephone at auction. Of course it hadn't been insured. We couldn't believe that anyone would be so gullible and not smell a rat at that price for a six bedroom house with a sea view. You can see pictures of it and read about it here



Wednesday 5 June 2013

A Blooming Garden


This was my garden in June 2010. The multicoloured bed was outside my kitchen window. It's never been so colourful since. I now have some heathers in the centre and today we planted begonias around them. Here's hoping.

Monday 3 June 2013

Summer Has Arrived

The weather forecasters are making everyone feel better here. We have our long awaited high, and warm temperatures with little rain are forecast for the rest of this week. Whoopee!

After our visit to Sandbanks beach this morning, after lunch we went to our little local one which is on the Hamworthy peninsula in Poole Harbour. The car park was busy but  most people must have been on the water in kayaks or little boats because there were only a few groups settled on the beach itself.


I didn't have my camera today, but this pic is one of mine from another year showing our little beach, where dogs are allowed all year round. You can also see part of the heathland that borders it. We started our walk up there so we could take the steps down to the beach just before the first headland in the photo and walk back along the sand. it's a very pleasant walk with beautiful views across the harbour from above the beach as well as on it.


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