In my last post I showed an image of my completed schedule for September and mentioned how easily the order of it can be disrupted. Well, Monday went really well and things were looking good, but alas, by Tuesday morning, things were very obviously going to go down the pan. Wind and rain swept the area, and from then on the week was now somewhat unpredictable. I blame the Met Office and their weather forecasts, as they are nearly always totally wrong. That and the fact I need someone to blame, as I'm now going into week two, the forecast is dry with sunny spells, and yet I am looking out at our garden at six thirty on Monday morning, and seeing hurricane Katia dismember our plants with her wind and rain.
Last week, and Friday finally arrived, with the schedule well and truly butchered, and I must admit to myself feeling really quite fed up and overloaded.
Saturday morning looked a little more promising, and I should have caught up with some of the missed work, but I had reached the point where I needed some 'out' time. There was a little work stuff that couldn't be put off, and so I grabbed Amanda and we headed off to Eco to dump the rubbish from the previous fortnight, and for once this place hadn't put on it's dust reducing sprinklers, and so we left with everything clean for a change and not covered in foul smelling mud. Next stop was a visit to Haskins Garden Centre which was just down the road a little. As we usually get all of our own plants from the commercial growers, we mainly use this place for Lattes and dvd's. The latter because they have one of the best selections of old classic movies in the area, and we 'do' a film and accompanying cocktail every Sunday evening...but more of that at the end.
We got home around lunchtime, dropped the trailer off, and headed over the ferry to Shell Bay and Studland for a walk along the beach and cowrie hunt. This beach has always not only been one of our favourite places to relax, but also a place where we can discuss at length any issues or problems that we need to. Today there were several very big ones, and so we had a coffee at South Beach Cafe and then set off along the waters edge and five miles of lovely beach there and back. We walked, we talked, and as usual, because my eyesight is not that of an owl, Amanda found the first, second and as it turned out the third and last cowrie....grmph!
Amanda taking great delight in her discovery!
Sunday morning, and the official start of the training for next years 'Race for Life', a 5km run in aid of cancer.
Amanda, Claire and Rebecca are going to do it as a team, and I am to be their coach for the coming months, setting the weekly program, taking them to Bournemouth promenade, and running in front to maintain the pace. The 'Race for Life' is an incredibly inspirational thing to witness. A female only gathering whereupon thousands turn up on the day in various shades of the causes colour....pink!
The run went well, with the first days session leaving no major injuries, and as you can see, lot's of smailes all round.
It was then back to Claires for a well earned cup of coffee and an introduction to their new cat Sooty.
The afternoon proved to be very promising weather wise, and as it was the last day of the Swanage Folk Festival, we decided to head over the ferry once more and join in. Three days of Morris dancing, clog dancing, pints of beer called Thumper, Hobgoblin and 49'r, accordians, drums, folk bands and history. It's hard to describe morris dancing, and so the best bet is to look it up. My favourites are the border morris lot, dressed in forbidding looking costumes and black faces. There was so much to see that I'm just showing you a load of pictures, which to be honest explain it all far better than I could. When looking at them, imagine deep rhythmic drums beating loudly somewhere in the distance.
Heck, I've even put a very short clip of one of the folk bands, and bear in mind when you see it, that although I had in fact had a pint of Hobgoblin, the up and down movement is the floor swaying to everyone around me getting the groove!
Waiting for the ferry back
As for the film and cocktail, we watched the wonderful classic 'High Society', and sipped Kir Royale
Looks like a grand time. Amanda looks so much like the girls ( or vice-versa), that she could be their birth mother. High Society, great old flick, thanks for the post, Gina
ReplyDeleteThanks Gina,
ReplyDeleteIt was a lovely weekend indeed, and High Society is simply one of the best.
Love the picnicking Morris dancers on the sand!
ReplyDeleteWhat a busy weekend - no wonder you needed a restorative cocktail.