A hearty good morning from all at the wee coastal cottage. The weather forecast says it's going to be drier today. Over the last couple of days even Sophie found the combination of 'power shower' rain and the 60 mph winds that drove it horizontally into her face to be 'daunting' . 'Daunting' means she was happy with frequent half an hour trips outside rather than heading off across the fields for a full hour. It was the first outing for her humans and their newly bought water resistant 'yachting' wear. The combination of Wellington boots and plastic over trousers may not be stylish but it is practical. The trousers are truly voluminous in a Michelin Man sort of way.
Today, despite the early hour and the piercing wind, we find that we're not the first villagers up and about. There's a small group of humans and Jack Russells standing on the foreshore. On the rare occasions when there's a combination of a high tide and a 90 degree wind from the North Sea the water is funneled into the Bay. This causes twenty foot waves to form. Today is one of those days. From down here on the beach it looks as if the water's higher than the land. An unusual enough sight for this small gaggle of onlookers ( and their dogs ) to be out in the half light. Sophie ignores the yapping Jack Russells. She clearly considers them to be noisy oafs.
Five swans stand in a circle in the field that was recently planted with grass. It's too windy for them to take flight so they contentedly munch away. Flight delays have their compensations. The cormorants and the seals are nowhere to be seen.
8 comments:
Dogs have a way, don't they. Charlie's favorite stop is the meat and fish store down the hill from our building. He dragged us in there on his afternoon walk and was rewarded with some chicken treats. As we departed (with fish), the shopkeeper cheerily called out "see you this evening." Even without any cash of his own, I believe he is still one of their best customers. He pulls this same routine at the Japanese sweets shop whenever he can, as our refrigerator can attest.
Angus will be well aware that the east coast is supposed to be the drier side of Scotland. This has not been apparent these past few days! The BBC website today has some spectacular footage of waves crashing into the harbour wall at Torry Battery in Aberdeen. A couple of years ago Gail paid what seemed like a small fortune for lightweight (and not too voluminous) Goretex waterproof overtrousers. They have proved an excellent investment.
Those waves are impressive and no wonder the Shetland ferries have been cancelled for several days now. The best investment I made in children's clothing was Swedish waterproof dungarees and jacket. They took whatever the Scottish winter threw at them - which included more mud than snow!
Hari Om
Having no requirement for otherwise, I opt for the staying indoors version of 'dry clothing'! It does mean an awful lot of staying indoors... than goodness I have places to visit through the intermutts! YAM xx
We could all stand there watching that surf, and the sound must be amazing. Off to market square in Alexandria Virginia for the Saturday morning market.
Agreeing with Gail, I was fortunate to purchase Gortex rain pants (made in Scotland) at our local church thrift store for the outstanding price of two dollars. They are, indeed, waterproof and easy to slip on. Having lived on a sail boat in Sausalito, CA, for many years, we also had waterproof sailing gear, which was not as comfortable as the aforementioned pants. But that was 20 years ago, and sailing fabrics have changed, I'm sure.
Fay - I fear our expensive Newport sourced yachting gear has a shiny 'rubberized' finish on the interior and a matt 'rubberized' finish on the outside. There are a variety of access slits in the trousers which , if not buttoned down, allows the wind to blow in and inflate the outfit to balloon like proportions. This can come as a surprise !
Oh dear, lucky Sophie and poor Angus! High seas and a very poor croissant. Not the best start ever to Saturday.
When we lived in the UK, when it rained, as it often did, I used to wear my golfing waterproofs to walk to the dogs. I had more wear out of them dog walking than I did playing golf! A golf game could be cancelled but not a dog walk.
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