Waterditch Road

I wasted the best part of a rainy afternoon wrestling with my scanner because I had planned to start a new series of slides and negatives, but it is so long since I worked on any of those that I managed to mess up the settings and couldn’t sort them out. I even downloaded a manual from the internet but couldn’t understand what to do with it. Children, grandchildren, great nieces and nephews – help me please.

My caring Chauffeuse, despite the increasing hammering of rain lashed by 50+ m.p.h. winds, dragged me out of my slough of despond by suggesting we went out for a drive.

We began on the eroded cliffs of Milford on Sea

along which I struggled against the gales.

Waves crashed against the rocks below and the Isle of Wight was barely visible to intrepid walkers.

Ripples blew across the car park; traffic control signs, and barriers to road works were flattened.

Continuing inland we listened to the mesmerising swish of windscreen wipers and the cacophony of clattering rain,

gazed on wet fields with neither sheltered livestock nor sensible wildlife in sight.

We were about to turn for home, but on such a day it seemed obligatory to investigate Waterditch Road. So we did.

As we traversed the ford over the stream that no doubt gave the road its name we felt grateful that we did not live in the house beside it.

British Summer Time does not end until 2 a.m. tomorrow morning, but, driving into headlights through Highcliffe soon after 5 p.m. one would never have known.

This evening we dined on toothsome baked gammon; crisp roast potatoes; succulent ratatouille; crunchy carrots; and tender runner beans with which the Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Montpeyroux. Afterwards we enjoyed Jackie’s aromatic apple pie and cream.

93 comments

  1. That’s the kind of weather that makes me double my safety distance at the top of cliffs! Even the ponies and piglets had disappeared to find shelter!! It may rain here in the next 24 hours, but it will be just a few drops — not a deluge!

  2. I hope getting outside improved your mood. It usually does for me. I love the photos of the road through the woods, but the flooded road is scary.
    I don’t like the early darkness either.

  3. Walking against the gales by the sea – hard work but so invigorating!
    Your shots of the car headlights on the dark early evening, teaming with rain are so atmospheric…
    and somewhat worrying, particularly with the forecast predicting solid rain for the next ten days…
    so hoping we will not have another flooded winter.
    We dined in home grown beans too – and home grown roasted yellow and green tomatoes, with home made sourdough bread and eggs laid by our lovely chickens ?

  4. I’m sorry you struggled with your scanner, Derrick. I find most manuals don’t help me either. Driving in the dark while it’s raining is as bad as not finding a solution in a manual. Thanks for fighting the elements for us!

  5. I am sorry about your scanner problems. I hope that you get a timely response to your call for help.
    You were brave to be wandering about in those conditions.

  6. I think wrestling with your scanner and the wet and windy afternoon drive, seemed to have summed up the mood of your day Derrick….

  7. Hope you find someone to help with your scanner soon! (I would be of no help. 🙁 )
    I know all of that can be so frustrating.
    Your Chauffeuse’s suggestion was brilliant…you got to get out and about and get some superb and beautiful photos…and we got to see them and smile! A win for all of us!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
    Thank you, Jackie!!! 😉 🙂
    (((HUGS))) 🙂
    PS…Glad you didn’t get whisked away by the wind!
    Now I’m thinking of the Wizard of OZ… “ It’s not where you go, but who you meet along the way.” 🙂

  8. You have all my sympathy re: the scanner. These gizmos can be frustrating beyond belief. I just discovered that Windows10 doesn’t allow for playing DVDs — you either have to pay Microsoft more money for a player that everyone pans, or search around for a different one that comes without viruses, glitches, and so on. Sigh.
    I suspect that walk in the rain might have been less frustrating than dealing with the tech issues.

    1. I have Windows 10 and have never had problems playing DVDs, and I’ve never heard of anyone having that problem before. How very odd.

      1. It seems odd to me, too. I did solve the problem by downloading a free DVD player, simply because I became impatient with trying to sort out the Win10 issue. Every time I read that any computer function is ‘intuitive,’ I grimace. It’s odd, because CDs play without an issue. Who knows?

        1. After I wrote the comment it occurred to me that there are regions attached to some DVDs and how our individual versions of Windows are set to play only in our own Regions 1 or 2, North America, Europe etc. There is a way of temporarily disabling it in settings but off the top of my head I can’t remember how.
          But now you’re all sorted so all’s we’ll that ends well. ?

  9. Unplug it. If that fails uninstall thee software and reinstall it to clear what you did to the settings. Go on to scanner site and chat with support is the third option.

    1. All too scary at the moment. I’m an old man. 🙂 I might try option one when I feel stronger. Chatting with support never works because I and the twelve-year-old don’t speak the same language. Thanks very much for the advice, Sherry.

      1. Wish there was no more fiddling with clocks. Just keep at one—for us either eastern standard or daylight savings. I don’t care which one. Whichever works best for most.

  10. That was an adventurous trip in rather turbulent weather. The scanner must have made you feel bedraggled enough for you to have found solace in the elements beyond the safety of home.

  11. The moment I saw those seashore photographs before reading your description my first thought was oh no he’s going to be blown into the sea! That’s what you call a proper choppy day!

  12. It seems that every time you leave a piece of technology that you have just used 10,000 times without problem but then don’t touch it for 12 months, somehow, it manages to turn into something that you can’t sort out after a couple of hours of trying.
    You are right to make a public appeal for help from younger generations. They usually sort it out within less than a minute.

  13. I love your picture of the trees over Waterditch Road, Derrick. The rest of that stormy weather, I could do without. We’re entering our rainy dark season here too. Sigh. How long until spring?

  14. I am glad Jackie got you out for a drive, Derrick. Looks like you are having some wild wet weather there, with a wild sea to match.
    I heard the wind come up during the night here, rattling the butterfly bush against the east wall of the house and rounding the corner with a low growl. We have a clear, 34 degree, windy and winter like morning here today. It should warm into the 50s. The same east wind that blew hot and dry in early September, fanning fires, is now blowing cold and dry, desiccating what hasn’t been nipped by frost last week.

  15. I shudder to look at you braving this weather, Derrick! That’s why I live in Florida where even tropical storms are warm.
    The black and white of foaming waves are truly expressing the stormy mood.

  16. The charming photos you took along Waterditch Road seem to display a calm respite from the crashing sea and howling wind. Those alone must have made your trip a worthwhile venture.

  17. We’re having similar weather here, “Ferries cancelled, cars swamped, destructive winds . . . as Sydney faces a spring deluge” I can hear from the tellie TV news while I type this. And I had a two hour drive in it yesterday in low visibility, but not as dark as yours.
    I find Wikihow, and working methodically, often helps me wrestle through uncooperative software.
    Is it pronounced, “sloff” or “slough” – as in plough? – my girlfriend often slides into it, and I always forget

  18. Gosh I enjoyed that wild weather drive you took us along Derrick, wonderful shots. I must admit that I actually love rain (but equally I love the sun).

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