Today it was mostly raining.
Nugget, however was determined to keep playing the game. Where is Nugget?
Following our trip this afternoon to Otter Nurseries to buy a couple of replacement pots for those damaged in the storm, the precipitation lessened so we drove into the forest.
Just outside Minstead, along the road between Emery Down and Stoney Cross that leads onto the A31
there is a sloping bank leading to an ancient hedgerow.
Clambering over the debris of recently fallen and sawn up trees,
I focussed on a group of ponies at the top of the bank.
One poor creature whose white blaze seemed a magnet for flies bashed her head on a lichen covered branch and shook herself distractedly in an unsuccessful effort to dislodge the pests.
As I made my way back to the car, speculating, as had Jackie, about the juxtaposition of these ancient hedgerows with fenced off modern forestry, she mentioned the three ponies that, with no warning, had suddenly thudded down the bank and clattered at great speed across the road. Any vehicle travelling round the bend in that first picture of the road at the permitted 40 m.p.h. would certainly have been involved in a collision. I had heard them when my back was to them on my return.
I was grateful to a young woman running with a terrier for, with her red sweater, adding a focal point to my landscapes from Picket Post.
This branch from high in an oak tree alongside Holmsley Passage was another victim of the recent storms.
A careful and competent riding group crossed the road outside The Rising Sun at Bashley.
This evening we dined on Mr Chan’s excellent Hordle Chinese Take Away with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Shiraz.