Norwegian Rocks

On another bright morning, in preparation for tomorrow’s booked slot in the recycling centre, I carried the next batch of garden refuse bags to the far end of the back drive. We then drove to the pharmacy at Milford on Sea to collect repeat prescriptions, and back along the coast road.

A number of walkers were enjoying our sunny spell. (The lone woman was photographed by Jackie).

Serious erosion continues to pare away at the cliffs. The gentleman in the yellow jacket here was my informant on the subject of the ongoing

sea defence work being undertaken by Earlcote. The huge blocks of stone being transported by a fleet of container trucks, grabbed, and released into place by powerful equipment have been shipped all the way from Norway. These photographs are the result of my collaboration with the Assistant Photographer who is credited appropriately in the gallery titles.

I didn’t have anything to do with this one.

We continued inland to South Sway Lane to collect three bags of horse manure which I later added to the compost bins. In these times of Covid we were both pleased to note that we have not lost our senses of smell.

The far end of the field opposite now holds a horse and foal. The mare kept her back turned, so I couldn’t tell whether it was Gimlet or not.

We filled up with petrol at Loaders Garage in Bashley, where I photographed a vintage car for the amusement of my American readers, one of whom may be able to identify the vehicle.

This evening we dined on another sitting of Jackie’s splendid lamb jalfrezi, turmeric tinted boiled rice, and plain paratha, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.

90 comments

  1. Magnificent photos again, {{{Derrick}}} and {{{Jackie}}} <3 Thank you! I love the close up of the "jaws" grabbing thos huge rocks! What a project!! Have a Wonderful Wednesday, my friends. Hugs to you both!

  2. Great beach photos! It’s good to see the boulders being placed to stop that erosion. The car looks like a Cadillac, based on the emblem on the front bumper.

  3. Wonder what the shipping costs were to get those quarried rocks from Norway? Also I agree with John, that is a Cadillac. Interesting to note the New Jersey “Historic” license plate. Several states have those available, in my state Indiana, if your vehicle is of an old enough age, you can get the antique plate, good for life. Only catch is you can only drive it on public roads to and from organized shows or road tours. Thus you don’t see that many of them in Indiana.

    1. Thanks very much, Maj. I thought you would know about the car. Norway may have given us a discount. We have a gift of a Christmas tree every year in Trafalgar Square in recognition of WW2

  4. “In these times of Covid we were both pleased to note that we have not lost our senses of smell.” LOL! That’s a good thing, Derrick. I’m glad to see they’re working to prevent erosion.

  5. Lots of wonderful photos by you and the assistant photographer. I like her photo of you. Like Jill, I laughed at your remark about your sense of smell. Isn’t it funny what Covid has done?

    It’s a shame about the erosion.

  6. Wow Derrick, the ancient Egyptians would be impressed with size of those stone blocks, but they didn’t have the use of giant machinery to build their monuments…!!

  7. Very subtle, droll, olfactory comment. Pity the ship bringing the Norwegian rocks could not simply have tipped them overboard – but of course, it would have been shipwrecked in the process. But the large loads must have required quite some logistic planning on your narrow roads.
    As others have said, your car is a Cadillac. I would venture to say it is the last of the shape up to 1940, except that the badge is on the bumper bar (fender).
    https://www.allcollectorcars.com/classic-cars-for-sale/cadillac/1940/

  8. Okay, I forgive you for the dreaded L word that came up in the conversation, because you showed us a big piece of equipment, moving really big stuff, made me guffaw at your ‘no loss of smell’ comment and showed us some nice horses again. Hugs to you folks.

  9. I’m not usually interested in powerful equipment or machinery moving things, but your photos made this equipment interesting. You have a great sense of perspective. I enjoyed the silhouettes. And that is one handsome foal.

  10. I wish them good luck in preventing further erosion of the cliffs. That is a long way to transport rock, especially ones of those size!

    I am glad you have not lost your sense of smell. 🙂 Being a regular photographer of pigs in pannage season, you probably understand when I say that I find pig manure to be one of the most aromatic manures out there. I grew up down the road from a backyard farmer who had a few pigs. 🙂

  11. There must be something special about Norwegian rocks, reminiscent of the Viking spirit. The monochrome images are excellent, especially the opening shot in the gallery. The vintage car, to my untrained eye, is a GM Cadillac.

  12. Those rocks are amazing. Stay safe and keep your sense of smell, I am constantly asking my kids, when they feel a bit peaky, if everything tastes life cardboard.

    The curry sounds brilliant!!

  13. Wow! Just look at the size of those rocks! I would have loved to been there and the watched the activity.
    What a fascinating article today, thank you.

  14. Yes, still being able to smell the good smells and the not-so-good smells is a HUGE plus these days! 🙂
    The rocks are amazing!
    Love the photography work of your Assistant Photographer!
    Oh, the vintage car is cool! But I do not know it’s name. I wonder if GP would know it?!
    (((HUGS))) 🙂
    PS…we’ve been having internet struggles all of yesterday…and not sure it’s even working right, still. 🙁

  15. You certainly had something for everyone in this post! Ponies for me, a Cadillac for the other Americans, conservation for many of us, etc. Great job, my friend!!

  16. An intresting day. It amazes me the ditches cut around our edge of town since 2013. The last few have became especially bad since a neighbor down the rainfall stream tried to dam up his place which is more of a flood area than us. Now our lawn is a lake when a big rain happens.

  17. Those are pretty impressive rocks — I hope they help with the erosion before the man in the yellow jacket falls down that gully in the eroded cliff! They tried a similar cure for beach erosion near here — the environmentalists were upset because the rocks caused the beach sand to move away with the current, so they had to undo the fix!

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