Turn Left at the Withered Hand

Just as I got to the top of the hill and into the woods the other day it started raining. I took cover under a large beech tree which gives shelter from rain for about five minutes. As the rain got heavier I got myself under a small holly tree which was underneath the beech tree. The rain continued for about twenty five minutes and luckily neither my boots nor my coat let any rain in. After this time I continued my walk and took these photo's.

The woods have taken a real battering over the past few weeks with all the gales and rain and they look as though some huge animal has been fighting its way through them with so many broken branches and devastation.

I saw another large fox the other day who didn't see me until he was really close. I reckon that he didn't expect to meet anyone around there as it is a very quiet part of the woods. He jumped in surprise when he saw me but I noticed that he didn't drop the rabbit that he held in his mouth - so he didn't lose his supper. I expect that he will be a bit more cautious in that part of the woods now. Autumn is coming now and the leaves are changing colour and the nights are becoming cold, it is dark here now at eight o clock in the evening.

Storms and Darkness

After the warm summer rains the westerly storms and cooler rains have returned for a while, hopefully bringing with them lot's of new flotsam and beach combing entertainment. Not much has washed up on the beach lately because the weather has been a bit quiet, though I have been collecting small smooth sticks for a change of which there seems to be plenty.

Plastic bottles have become more interesting after discovering the sound producing possibilities of this usually plentiful commodity. As is sometimes the case when you start looking out for a specific item they seem to vanish for some reason, consequently plastic bottles have been very thin on the shoreline lately.

Some simple and some not so simple designs can be found here http://w1.neuronnexion.fr/~dferment/summar2.htm which links to the excellent Ciel Libre (Free Sky) site of Didier Ferment. Wind powered sound? It's been a long time coming but won't keep us warm in the winter, unlike the woodburning stove which I have acquired and have been slowly scraping the rust off.

The gas companies would have us freeze this year with their ludicrous price rises while somebody somewhere is getting rich off this manufactured misery. They seem to have moved out of property and are now speculating on energy and food. People freeze to death every winter in this country and many will have to choose between eating or heating. It's going to be much worse this year with so many people up against it already financially. We may only have about a weeks reserve supply of gas stored nationally so if someone decides to turn off the pipeline somewhere we will become cold here rather quickly. Best to have a few different options I think hence the woodburner as another; there's always plenty of wood around here for fuel and you can cook on it too.

What you can't see in the photo's is quite how windy it was on the beach on Monday. Take it from me that it was blowing alright.