This morning Jackie and I continued work on the entrance to the back drive. This involved another bonfire. I had anticipated saving the brushwood until November when we will celebrate Guy Fawkes day with the Mapperley grandchildren. We already had far more than we will need then.
The still hazy noon, following an early morning mist meant that The Needles fog alert was still sounding as I took my now circular route to Hordle Cliff and its beach. The Isle of Wight and lighthouse were still invisible.
At the bottom of Downton Lane, a ladybird clung to a mare’s tail.
The field on the left of the coast road also belongs to Roger Cobb, whose tell-tail perfect ploughing lines alerted me to his standing Massey Ferguson tractor whilst he repositioned the hinge on a five barred gate. I held it steady as he applied his hammer.
Crows foraged among the crumbling turned-up soil.
Down at the beach a spider lurked between beach huts, and a solitary swimmer surfaced on the smooth water.
t has not been unusual this summer to to see beach hut maintenance being carried out. Observing an example of this from the water’s edge I walked up to the building being repaired and spent some time with Marcos, the craftsman, and his dogs. We sat and chatted enjoyably for a while. His two spaniels seemed more sure-footed than his woolly black dog, which kept slipping down the bank until coming to rest against some part of me or another.
Marcos, who also does household decorating, had replaced the whole of the front of the hut which was rotting in parts. this is an attractive example of the work of milfordandhordlecliffbeachhuts@yahoo.co.uk
Jackie had continued work on the back drive entrance, and I joined her later on. 
She is exposing a brick edging to a narrow border beyond the gate, and I have reached half way into the fuchsia hedge. 
This is what the area looked like as the sun was going down. The No Parking sign is the handiwork of the previous owner of our home, and the plastic bag is to gather up what people chuck out of their cars.
The Happy Wok at Ashley provided our Chinese Takeaway meal this evening, with which I drank Shepherd Neame Bishop’s Finger Kentish Strong Ale. Jackie’s drink was Hoegaarden.