Contrast

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Late this morning Jackie drove us to Mudeford for a visit to the quay, then on to Friars Cliff for brunch at the eponymous cafe.

Whilst I wandered around the harbour, Jackie enjoyed coffee in the cafe.

Waves

Looking out to sea, my ears were pounded by the white horses rumbling across the steely, turbulent, water’s surface, and crashing against the sturdy quayside;

Gulls and beach huts

 shrieking of the squabbling gulls. The guests at the boisterous shindig being held against the backdrop of the most expensive beach huts in the country, joined forces to evict a jet gatecrasher.

Making good use of scoops of seawater, still ogled by hopeful scavengers perched on posts, the crew of a small fishing boat were engaged in cleaning up at their docking area.

As always, neatly stacked on the quay, lay buoys and ropes between towers of crusted crab baskets.

Cygnet

The entrance to the harbour lies beyond a protective spit. At once, the squeals were silenced and the water became still as rippled sheets of reflective glass. In fact the only sound was a feeble squeak emitted by the open beak of an adolescent cygnet.

Anchored boats made no motion, even when the gulls took off and landed on their gunwales. The outboard motor in the first photograph reminded me of one Jessica bought secondhand in Newark and used for one day in Instow in Devon. She left her recently acquired dinghy in the bay facing our holiday house. In the morning the motor was gone. As was every other similar item from other boats. This was apparently the first time such a theft had ever occurred at that location. I guess that was another example of sod’s law.

angler

A solitary angler chose a position at the point of aquatic contrast.

This evening we dined on meat samosas, chicken and spinach curry, and paratha. I finished the chianti.

54 comments

  1. Wow, Derrick, the photos of the swan and the gull and the dinghy with its graphic writing on the side are phenomenal. I think that close up of the gull is perfection with its cold gray soft background.

  2. Beautiful photos and post. I liked your poetic image of the breakers as white horses, and love the photo.
    The shot of the adolescent cygnet is wonderful, too. Well, all of the photos are. 🙂

  3. I liked the whole post, Derrick! Your sense of dry humor and interesting views were fun to see and think about. I would have liked to see more water around the cygnet, showing his sense of isolation and solitude. This was a beautiful photograph.

  4. I like the photographs. It looks so calm and restful with the sea so still like that. It’s a pity to hear about the outboard motor being stolen, though. I guess theft can happen anywhere, even in scenic locations.

  5. Some good ones of the area, indeed, and the fisherman is particularly striking — and will be more so if he gets a bite!
    Last time I was there was in swimming weather. I had to be taught not to call it ‘Mewed-ford’. What is it with the names round that part? I mean, Bewley and Foy as just two more examples.

  6. Beautiful water features. Here the seagulls are not too obnoxious everywhere but there are places like the Park Hyatt’s seaside restaurant where they can get extremely noisy

  7. I just love the place names; so utterly English.
    As for these fishmen types, looking at your pics, I think they must have a few loose screws up top; else why sit out in that bleak, miserable looking weather, in hope of catching a tiddler or two!

  8. Well at least I left a comment on this post, Derrick! Phew! What a relief!
    It is hard to look at many posts which I thought I had replied or commented on. . .this was a cool post and still think the cygnet photo may have needed more water around it, to show the scenery a bit. . . just my opinion.

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