13th September from the West Cliff Green, Bournemouth
A flat, grey, drizzly sky. The waves make their way into the shore from the bay grumbling and sighing in a sort of passive aggressive manner. The distant hills loom through the mist. They always look much more massive on a day like this. And then the rain comes down with some enthusiasm.
But the green plants like nettles are lush and refreshed as they wake from the long summer sleep. Small birds twitter from the branches. Everything seems to be alive again. Pigeons coo and make amorous advances to one another.
From 13th September 2021
The paths under the trees around the West Cliff are littered with the spikey cases of the Sweet Chestnut. But they can't be quite ripe yet and we haven't had any gales to drive them down so what is happening? On quiet country roads I've seen sqirrels deliberately dropping chestnut cases in front of cars. The case is crushed and the squirrels rush down and get to the chestnuts inside without getting their noses spiked. I guess that's what's happening here and the squirrels are hoping to get passers by to crush them open with their feet. The only problem I saw with the car trick was that by now the squirrels have put on so much weight that they can't run as fast as they think they can and get squashed by the same cars that are providing them with supper. This same weight gain sees once nimble squirrels falling from the trees as they misjudge their ability to hop about as they once could.
From September 13th 2019
The young man dances on ahead eager to show the woman where the path lies. She glides on high heels and is in her prime. They have gone ahead of the others and are already lost in the glow of sunset. The crabby old man follows the jovial fellow with the stripey jumper. He drags along sullenly three fists behind and is making no attempt to catch up. Through the black branches of the Scots pine I can see the girl with flowers in her hair as she carries the last sheaf of summer out across the bay, her path dissolving before her from purest gold to brightest silver.
From September 13th 2016
That's a lot of thunder and lightning lurking off Durlston.2) Sound of distant thunder almost continuous. Huge jags of lightning over the Purbeck Hills. Solid grey sky. And large thundery drops of rain start to fall. People seem still to be toughing out on the beach.3) Individual strokes of thunder begin to crack and growl against the background rumble as the storm draws closer. The rain is now continuous and the grey massing sky is a flash flash flash with no pause.4) The storm front now right across Poole Bay. Enormous blue flashes punching into the sea.5) Prodigious sheets of water deluging down turning footpaths into streams, then rivers, then torrents. Roads and carparks under inches of water in a matter of minutes. Still the flash flash flash and racket of the storm.6) I can hardly see across the street the rain is so heavy. Oh no, my glasses have steamed up.7) The rain cascades down with renewed vigour as if in a desperate attempt to shower away the dirt of the world. "Out damn'd spot. Out I say". Still the thunder crackles overhead.8) I think that's it for the storm reports. Sounds of fire engines going to deal with flooding. Sympathy if that's you.9) More storms brewing down Will's Mum's way.
