Rainy days and evenings in Putney!

These images of rainy days and evenings in Putney! Just thought l would warn you...l love snails!..so if you don't ..LOOK AWAY NOW!!

Just for 2 nights the grass in a small area by the cricket pitch was covered by hundreds of snails...then they were gone! Where do they go?

                                            

When we were in Cornwall we spend an hour or so watching two groups of children learning to dive and so do other other "sea" activities as well. They had great fun and l have recorded some of it here.

This wonderful viewing window in this persons gate, is the first view of the beach we were walking down too, to watch the divers.

And here is the beach..full of sailing boats, sailboards, tourists and divers. the sand is a beautiful golden sand, some people are walking, some sunbathing, a few using metal detectors and one or two children swimming.

What l enjoyed some much watching these children was the way that they" had" to help each other otherwise they couldn't get in or out of their wetsuits. Also they need help to put on and take off their oxygen tanks for example.

Exercise, fun and learning social skills at the same time..great activity!

Children helping each other..dive buddies.....and doing it quite happily!

This chart shows the names of the children in each group , how far they go down, how long their oxgyen will last for and when to come up. Then how long they have to wait before next dive and the same information about time, depth and oxygen for each group again. Each diver has a dive buddy and their instructors are down with them too.

This appears to be one of the instructors or just an older member of the group, waiting for his turn to dive. love his hair! Seems to be the right sort of hair to have , if you are being called a "Beach Bum". ..which is what a lady sitting near him, called him. Sitting on a bench, at the edge of the beach, were two elderly ladies with Welsh accents and wonderful straw hats on their perfectly permed blue rinse hair. Their conversation went something like this, from what l can remember!

Lady 1.  " I expect they come from one of those iner city schools...been given a holiday."

Lady 2. " Can't see why they should be treated so well..my Frankie never had things like that when he was at school "

Lady 1. " Well he wasn't a trouble was he? he only went to borsal once didn't he..only once?, he was a good boy wasn't he love?"

Lady 2. " Well you only had to look at that man there (pointing to the above diver) he's one of those beach bums isn't here maggie...long hair and properbly be out of work too. doesn't pay to be working does he, beach bum, yes that is what he is."

Then she light a cigarette , coughed and then said "um all the fault of the goverment these beach bums, l blame Blair". Then they both got up and wandered off arm in arm....it was a wonderful sight to see and l giggled about it for ages.

Here are some of the divers just going in for a dive. What an experience for these children. You will also be surprised how much you can see in these clear British waters.

When the children were not diving, they were playing on these boards. They seemed to be having a whale of a time. I think they actually came from a dive school in Plymouth. It may have been a summer school from what l could hear some of the adults that were sitting in and among the group were saying.

One very "put one foot in front of the other" sort of tired looking little boy! The sort of feeling only real exercise leaves you feeling..and from the look on this childs face, his shoulders and the way the teacher had to go and escort him back up the beach....l think he was very shattered!ha

Another day at the beach, this time Broadstairs in Kent......told in images and words.

 This image was taken because the sky was a very weird orange/misty colour..sort of foggy but not..but it did give the place a sort of romantic atmosphere which believe me did doesn't have..in my view anyway!

This sign was outside the ladies loo,l am not sure why it made me giggle but it did.Apprently it is one of first signs to show some-where mums could feed their babies. rather clever design l thought.

This young boy took ages to walk across this stretch of stones, mainly because he had no shoes on! He was playing football on the sand with friends, when the ball was kicked out over the stones... someone had to go. It is unusual l think to have a stone and sand beach in the same stretch of beach.

I thought this was a lovely message on this bench. I am not sure if it is a memorial bench or just a lovely present for the grandparents..either way it is rather sweet. My parents live by the seaside and are known by my sisters children and grandchildren as granny and grandad seaside! They are the envy of their friends.  Perhaps one of these "grannies"in the image below, may be granny seaside!

The small bird below on the tarporlin is a wagtail l think but l am not certain. Anyway, l had great fun watching it flying from boat to the next, catching flies and twittering away. For such a small bird it made quite a lot of "music".

The image below was actually me experimenting with my camera. I have often tried to get an image that is in focus but shows the stepness of the stairs. I think l managed it this time...anyway l am happy with the end result. When these steps are wet, they must be quite difficult to climb up or down.

As you can see when the sea is out..the ladders are often going to be needed by people wishing to get to the beach or their boats. There are easier ways but not quite so exciting!!

These old wheels are used to stop boats from banging against the habour wall or other boats moored next to each other. The green is so amazing...it shines and shimmers a lot in the sunshine.

This amazing religious mural, in the image below, is painted on the wall of a fish and chip shop and Pizza place with the  name of Francos Canadian Pizza...very weird. I wondered what the conections with the mural are? l have no idea. Oh actually, l can see the connection maybe with the fish and bread to feed the 5000...maybe..at a stretch! ha! Anyway cheers the place up quite a bit. If you look to the right handside of the image, you will also see a mermaid over the fish and chip shop entrance.

On the pavement outside the fish and chip shop, which also sold ice creams, a little girl was trying to eat her fast melting ice cream. The ice cream started to melte, it suddenly dropped of the cone into a puddle. As the ice cream melted it spread into a puddle, by her feet and formed this pattern....looks like a bird to me. Unfortunatly the pretty pattern did not stop the poor child from screaming its head of because she no longer had her ice cream just her cone! poor child.

As we drove away from the beach, l looked back for one last look and saw this boy on his own, in a vast stretch of sandy beach...nice image to end our day at the beach.

This is a record of our trip to Rustington to see my parents, from Putney..the pretty route, in the pocket rocket! l tried to take images of things people don't tend to notice or were unusual to this journey or only seen at this time of year. Enjoy!! We started the journey in dull cloud..then we hit fog as we approached the Surrey Hills, the sunshine came, then a few drops of rain, more sunshine, then dusk, then rain! Don't you love the Britsh weather?!

This was in the early afternoon!!

This is a very weird image from the car. The big tree on the right looked 2 tone but in fact was just

another tree in front of it... quite a weird illusion, one it took us a while to work out. ha!  Then through the fog we came across this...a huge, christmas pudding shaped bonfire. Never seen anything anything like this before..everyone seems to be involved. When you think there is a week to go before Bonfire Night..wow! how big will it get?

Teamwork from the young lads on the back of the trailer, to the men and women on the ladders passing the branches etc. up to the top..to the two people actually standing on top of this huge heap!

While walking round the fence surrounding the bonfire, l found this beautiful spider's web with water drops on it from the fog.

This is what the compact bonfire looks like close up..masses and masses of wood, branches, leaves, paper and garden rubbish...as you will see from the poster below!

Then, just as l was walking back to the mini, I looked down to see if l could find any cobwebs on the grass when..oh a mushroom...fresh as you will ever get had been broken before l saw it but it came home with me..yumm.reminds me of picking mushrooms early in the morning on airfields as a child.

The house you see below, is in the village of Ockley. I love the ochre which this house is painted in. It is so beautiful and also correct in history terms. We had lunch in a pub there and felt as though we had gone back in time by about 20 years! but in a nice way.

Rosehips l think..even shrivelled up l think they look beautiful!
Moving on in our journey we went to Arundel to go and buy some cakes to take to my parents' house for tea. As l was walking past this window to someone's basement, l spotted this cobweb. It looked just like the bones you see when you look at an X-ray. very appropraite on Halloween!

l bought yummy cakes and was on the way back to the car when l saw this wall with this gorgeous red brick built into it.

Before we went back into the mini, we went for a walk up to the pond on the outskirts of Arundel. On the way we go under (or over) this bridge which l think feels so magical. Especially when it is slightly foggy and damp.

On the way to the pond, we pass a memorial to a child but the rain has washed the name or reason for death away. Still brings a tear to my eye even though l have been past it a few times.

When we reached the pond there was a surprise. The mist was rolling in over the pond..very spooky but beautiful at the same time.

And of course can't do a journey in November without some leaves from the start of Fall as the Americans call it. One of the resons we decided to go via the Surrey Hills was to see the beautiful Fall colours in the valley.....disappointed.....in the valley the trees hadn't turned yet..strange. Luckily for us the trees in Arundel had turned!

Then walking back to the car,  l looked up and saw how beauful the firs looked with the water drops on it from the fog and mist hanging from them...very magical.

and then there was one drop! The lichen on the trees were so many shades of green and then in amongst the ferns were trees with hanging seeds which l think are sycamore seeds.

Then home to Putney ..quicker than we went! what an amazing day.