View from the top
Blue butterflies are irresistible
Halfway there
Final slog through the woods
Another blue butterfly
Patterned waves - looking over the edge
Thursday 3 September 2015
Thursday 20 August 2015
Fluttering and buzzing
It's too hot to do anything other than listen to the wind rustling the olive leaves and watch the goings on of the flutterers and buzzers. Unfortunately I slept through the visit by the wild boar who did some re-arranging of a triangle of grass by the pool.
Wednesday 19 August 2015
Claviers.....
....est une commune francaise situee dans le department du Var en region Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur. It sounds so much better in French.
It's rural, medieval and peaceful
My kind of pavement
My kind of entrance
Medieval peeping window
Tuesday 18 August 2015
Saturday 11 July 2015
Beetroot and Mackerel
Sylvia and I went on a fact-finding visit to Dorset yesterday. If I'm looking for adventure, it's always westwards - towards more of Devon. I hardly know Dorset - nine miles to the east and beyond ,except for The Verne Prison which is located in the historic Verne Citadel, on the Isle of Portland in Dorset. Now I've got you interested...
I taught a group of prisoners and staff as part of a research project for Plymouth University. I had no idea that I would eventually live somewhere along that particular route to work. I would leave home at 5.30am and drive to Portland, eastwards along the coast road. It was winter and dark for most of the two hour journey. I'd usually stop to look down across Chesil Beach and watch the sunrise with a cup of coffee and a marmalade sandwich.
I always managed a glimpse of The Cobb when driving through Lyme Regis, deserted and dark on the way and bustling and not as romantic on the way back. I tried my best to imagine Meryl Streep looking out to sea in the film of The French Lieutenant's Woman or - needing even more imagination - catch a glimpse of the steps where Louisa Musgrove fell in Jane Austen's Persuasion.
So I headed off on a hot windy July day, well after dawn.
I taught a group of prisoners and staff as part of a research project for Plymouth University. I had no idea that I would eventually live somewhere along that particular route to work. I would leave home at 5.30am and drive to Portland, eastwards along the coast road. It was winter and dark for most of the two hour journey. I'd usually stop to look down across Chesil Beach and watch the sunrise with a cup of coffee and a marmalade sandwich.
I always managed a glimpse of The Cobb when driving through Lyme Regis, deserted and dark on the way and bustling and not as romantic on the way back. I tried my best to imagine Meryl Streep looking out to sea in the film of The French Lieutenant's Woman or - needing even more imagination - catch a glimpse of the steps where Louisa Musgrove fell in Jane Austen's Persuasion.
So I headed off on a hot windy July day, well after dawn.
The curved Cobb - no sign of Meryl or Louisa
Plaque commemorating a street washed away by the sea - and more fiction
Sarah Andrew was a fifteen year old distant cousin of Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones. She was good looking (of course!) and had recently inherited a large fortune (naturally!) on the death of her father. According to one side of the story, the novelist Fielding tried to abduct Sarah as she was walking to church with her guardian. He failed (phew!) and there is mention of a drunken brawl and lengthy intrigue.
Today's version of The Cobb
...to protect the rest of Lyme Regis and its coast from joining the fate of Long Entry.
Chimney pot prisoners?
Protected from potential Herring Gull nesters.
This house on the promenade may have seen Henry Fielding in action
Not much left to the imagination with beach huts
The Cornish Pasty in Dorset
...or Gull food. Marauding groups of Herring Gulls had perfected the art of snatching (abducting!) food from the hands of unsuspecting holiday makers on the beach - 'The Henry Fielding effect' perhaps? I also took a picture which didn't come out very well of a red (!) beetroot and mackerel pasty. The outing nearly turned into a pasty fact-finding trip. There were many shops selling multiple unusual varieties. Lucky Gulls!
Next time....
Thursday 2 July 2015
Heroes and Heroines
I have always taken an interest in heroes and heroines and I jumped at the chance to join a group visiting the National Memorial Arboretum near Burton on Trent. I should have worn walking boots as there are hundreds of memorials in about 120 acres - investigated over two days.
I don't know what I was expecting and it isn't easy to sum up the experience. I'm not good at visiting museums as I don't have the patience to read everything, and if you don't read, you often don't know what you're looking at. The most powerful memorials didn't need words.
I read and photographed as I walked around and made an effort to be as positive as I could - which you need to be in a place which is there to remember so many who have died in horrible situations at home and across the world. On the second day, I couldn't cope with the harrowing audio and visual information in The Far East Prisoners of War Memorial Building and made a hasty exit. The RNLI memorial had the opposite effect. It was a sea-inspired garden close to the River Tame, planted with grasses which swayed in the wind (it was windy) and which mimicked waves.
Hundreds of trees are dedicated to individuals and the dates and places on each plaque hint at the stories behind the people and circumstances surrounding their deaths. By far the most shocking memorial was to the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot for desertion, cowardice, striking a senior officer, disobeying a senior officer, casting away arms and sleeping at post during the First World War. Most of them were sentenced after a short trial at which no real opportunity for defence was allowed. These young men were shot at dawn. Their names are listed on stakes arranged in the form of a Greek theatre around the statue of Private Herbert Burden who was shot at Ypres in 1915, aged 17, symbolising the tragedy.
There is an impressive memorial to the Women's Land Army/Timber Corps. There was one dedicated to those who broke the Enigma code (male and female), but I didn't manage to find one for the women of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) who were parachuted into France in the 2nd World War to support the Resistance. I've read about these women over the years and had to satisfy myself with another book.
I don't know what I was expecting and it isn't easy to sum up the experience. I'm not good at visiting museums as I don't have the patience to read everything, and if you don't read, you often don't know what you're looking at. The most powerful memorials didn't need words.
I read and photographed as I walked around and made an effort to be as positive as I could - which you need to be in a place which is there to remember so many who have died in horrible situations at home and across the world. On the second day, I couldn't cope with the harrowing audio and visual information in The Far East Prisoners of War Memorial Building and made a hasty exit. The RNLI memorial had the opposite effect. It was a sea-inspired garden close to the River Tame, planted with grasses which swayed in the wind (it was windy) and which mimicked waves.
Hundreds of trees are dedicated to individuals and the dates and places on each plaque hint at the stories behind the people and circumstances surrounding their deaths. By far the most shocking memorial was to the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot for desertion, cowardice, striking a senior officer, disobeying a senior officer, casting away arms and sleeping at post during the First World War. Most of them were sentenced after a short trial at which no real opportunity for defence was allowed. These young men were shot at dawn. Their names are listed on stakes arranged in the form of a Greek theatre around the statue of Private Herbert Burden who was shot at Ypres in 1915, aged 17, symbolising the tragedy.
There is an impressive memorial to the Women's Land Army/Timber Corps. There was one dedicated to those who broke the Enigma code (male and female), but I didn't manage to find one for the women of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) who were parachuted into France in the 2nd World War to support the Resistance. I've read about these women over the years and had to satisfy myself with another book.
A corner of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Memorial Garden
Poppies
Very important poppies growing with other wildflowers in The Royal British Legion poppy field
Women's Land Army/Timber Corps
An unidentified memorial
This picture was taken from a long way off and I haven't so far managed to find out who it represents.
Part of the Polish Forces War Memorial
...commemorating the Polish men and women who gave their lives in World War II.
Shot at Dawn
A campaign began in 1992 led by Janet Booth who sought a pardon for her grandfather, Private Harry Farr. Janet's grandmother had lived with the shame and stigma of her husband being shot for cowardice in 1916. She believed he was wrongly convicted and suffered from shellshock. Harry Farr's family took the Ministry of Defence to the High Court and won. In 2006, a posthumous pardon was granted for Harry and the other men.
One of the many damselflies which lightened the mood
The poppies are nearly over in the poppy field
Thursday 28 May 2015
Bere Regis Summer Fair
A great place to spend an afternoon.
The old schoolhouse (below) and plaque above its door (above) - also an eye test
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