Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...!

Four years ago my godmother, Muriel, decided that she would give me her tiny seaside flat in West Bay near Bridport. She doesn't have kids and always said she wanted to leave the flat to me in her will, but the flat had been used less and less over the years so she decided to let me have it straight away so she could see it being used and loved...and it is. So on Thursday I hopped in my little Aygo and headed South (and a little bit West).

My intention was to do a little bit of maintenance in the flat. That actually did n't take very long, so I popped in to see my very lovely friends, David and Ruby, and their parrot Poppy, treated myself to the dvd of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (which I watched curled up on the sofa with a mug of tea) and then sorted my photos for another book. This one is shorter and is not intended to be a guide book or a gift for someone in particular, so I have left it textless and included some of the artier still life sort of photos as well as flora and fauna (you can see it here and, as before, the stuff about buying a copy is from Photobox, not me! http://www.photobox.co.uk/creation/1331260009). After that I annoyed the neighbours by putting on my choral-line practice MP3 thingy and singing all the way through St John's Passion...twice. After all this it had turned in to a rather lovely evening, so I went for a walk with my camera:

The esplanade at West Bay

View towards Golden Cap

I don't often go to West Bay without Mark, and it did feel a little odd...I certainly could n't let myself have fish and chips without him; it would have been like being unfaithful! (well ok, not quite like being unfaithful, but you know what I mean).

I had intended to get up early on Friday and take some dawn shots but, to be honest, waking up to the sound of heavy rain and wind was a bit of a relief, as it meant I could justify rolling over and going back to sleep until 7 - making the most of a cat-free morning, with nobody climbing all over me, miaowing and batting my nose with his paw.

By the time I had got dressed and had a cup of coffee, the sun was out. I love the seaside on a windy day; you really know you're alive. The sea was quite choppy, but not as wild as I have seen it in the past:

A walk around the harbour is always lovely, but particularly when there are not many people around.

I went down to the beach to get closer to the waves, and almost got wet feet.

Me and my shadow

You can just see Golden Cap between the rocks

Wandering around I was struck by the number of union jacks there were - the diamond jubilee and olympics in the same Summer (I use the term 'Summer' loosely) has brought out a plethora of patriotic flags and bunting (which reminds me; I must add bunting to my to sew list):

The boat hire hut, deserves a close-up;  the chalk board notices on it need to be read!

A cup of coffee at the Ellipse cafe and then back to the flat..to find the sea spray had added a soft-focus to my photos!

I am now back in Bath and this morning (Sunday) Mark and I are going to Hampshire to take Muriel (the generous godmother) on a picnic. Naturally it's raining.