Category: Serendipity

#44 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Coffee Hunters, SerendipityLeave a comment

I had known for a little while that this particular blog was going to be about illumination because I had tickets to attend an illumination festival in the Royal William Yard.What I hadn’t expected was that the sunset over our evening swim would be quite so spectacular. Just a tiny tweak on the saturation of this image brought out all these gorgeous colours.

After drying off and warming up we set off to visit the area around Ocean Studios which was the location of Illuminate.

Like lots of things this event has been postponed a few times.

Many of the illuminations were similar to previous years but a new one was a fabulous, luminescent squid called Bobby Dazzler by Kate Crawford and Beth Munro. Visitors were invited to add embelishment to Bobby with fingertips dabbed in luminescent paint.

Outside we could write on a graffiti wall. My rookie error was to seek out a clear piece of wall to advertise this blog without checking the appropriateness of the surrounding marks.

Also new to Illuminate were the thousands of bugs and moths fluttering in the breeze to remind us that we must protect biodiversity and species around the world. There was also the luxury of a cafe serving decent quality late night coffee, always a bonus!

The architecture of the Grade 1 listed buildings lends added texture to projected videos.

And although I failed to record a video the musical pipes and interactive lights were fascinating. Although not particularly musical in our hands.

Returning just for a final comment and illumination to our sunset swim. Here I am wearing my night swimming hat which was a birthday gift last week.

©Gilly Bobber

#43 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn dog walks, SerendipityLeave a comment
©Gilly Bobber

Sunbay morning walk. Meeting and natterings with morning swimmers whilst we were snug and warm in the many layers that are required for an early morning dog walk. Knowing full well that this bright and beautiful morning will progress to an equally bright and beautiful sunset which is when we will plunge into the chilly waters of Firestone Bay for our weekend swim.

I suspect there was a frost this morning, the autumn leaves on the pavements looked a bit ravaged and damp when we set off. They still held a myriad of messages for the dogs to sniff and respond to, which slowed us down a good bit. As did searching for an autumn coloured dog poo ( or two) in the pile of leaves that was chosen for the morning elimination.

There is a new character hanging around in our changing area, taking in the sun while straddling a nail and a limpet shell.

Just how every super hero should spend a Sunday.

#42 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

Up early and boosted,plus a flu injection. A very good way to start my day. A slightly unusual location of a football club with the bonus of watching 15 or so very small footballers taking practice shots and fitness stretches ready for a big match. I had forgotten the earnestness that 10 year old boys dedicate to their favourite sport. A little blog with gratitude for research and the NHS.

#41 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Interior Design, SerendipityLeave a comment

A deliberately late blog today because we were off on a rug buying adventure and I knew that there would be some gorgeous colours to share. Rug shopping can also be a great experience for the nose if you shop in the right places. Really a rug department that only sells natural fibres is the absolute best. Liberty of London has the best smelling rug department that I know. There are smells gathered there that have travelled from all over the world. Closer to home, currently, is the rug department of Trago Mills. Possibly the most eccentric shopping experience Britain has to offer. Never the less their rug department is a close second to Liberty for fragrance and choice of rug.

We were seeking a rug the colour of a winter sea. It has been a quest for the last few months.

Not feeling particularly hopeful amongst all these gorgeous but unsealike colours we dug through a pile of rugs from India and found this gorgeous chap.

Sea-like in both colour and texture and made of jute and cotton and, as we discovered, a perfect place for excitable dogs.

#40 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Friends, Hugo and Lola, Serendipity2 Comments

Just a little blog today about the joys of an early morning start, and another unexpected morning joy.

Starting the day early with a cup of coffee, the sunrise and a natter with swimming friends at Tranquility Bay. Even though this was officially a dog walk and not a ‘ bobbing’ session.

They were not averse to some morning basking. It is going to be a beautiful day.

My day got a little more complex soon after this when I took the car, an automatic, to have some body work done and the courtesy car had one of these!

Both feet doing something while I drive is quite a novelty.A bit of driving round early morning, empty car parks soon put my driving skills back into the manual world. And the word novelty allows me to add a small serving of another fairly unique experience of the past weekend.

I suppose Covid has altered the way hotels can serve breakfast. My inner child was properly thrilled to have a one person serving of breakfast cereal. A treat that only occured very rarely when I was an actual child and pretty rarely when I had actual children.

Mornings are definitely perked up by coffee and individual cereal packets. Not so much by a manual gear box.

#20 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Drawn to the Valley, Drawn To The Valley Artists, Serendipity1 Comment

A really late blog today. Floods and powercuts are the reason. Finally the exhibition in Tavistock is set up and the doors are open. After 18 months of being affected by plague it is somewhat irritating to be affected by a flood for this exhibition. Tavistock issued its first flood warnings for 11 years overnight.

© Sally O’Neil Scallywags

Fortunately we have some Scallywags as good omens for the rest of the exhibition.

Thankfully we are awash with colour and amazing creativity.

©Jayne Deane

And personally I am currently in a sun beam.

©theoldmortuary

#14 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Beach Life, SerendipityLeave a comment
©Debs Bobber

Sparkly new concrete and hand rails turned out not to be the main event this morning.

©Debs Bobber

When we arrived on the beach early Friday morning we were not the only occupants, and certainly not the most important beach dwellers. Spearmint, a young female seal had hauled herself onto the beach to digest a big meal.

Here she is happily sleeping off a huge meal and dreaming of infinite fish and,somewhat unusually for a seal, swimming with humans. Here she is this morning at Devils Point..

https://instagram.com/stories/outdoorswimclub/2690010965309668490?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&utm_medium=share_sheet

She stayed most of the day and the beach was soon cordoned off to keep her safe, with the constant watchful eyes of a Marine Animal Medic who were all happy to engage with the public and talk about seal behaviour.

Here she is just waking up after many hours of snoozing with a full tummy.

#13 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Serendipity1 Comment

Two days of torrential storms and the path to the beach is flooded. But today the sun is out and that makes everything feel pretty. Despite the weather the contractors have managed to finish the refurbishments to our swimming area.

We have handrails now on the new steps that will safely guide us in and out of the water at high tide swims, in all but the worst of weathers.

This mornings swim is set to be a calm one with a bit of giddy excitement at having new concrete and handrails!

#10 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Serendipity1 Comment

This week is set to see the sea temperature drop almost 5 degrees . Yesterday and today it will be around 15/16 degrees, by the end of the week it could have dropped to 10/11. The sea as seen above was choppy and difficult to get into last night but,once in, it really was a good evening swim. The bags we carry with us are getting heavier though. Flasks of hot drinks, layers of clothes and wetsuits are making a return. Strangely most of us are enjoying the return to ‘proper’ cold water swimming. The late Spring and early summer were lovely as the sea temperatures started to rise and we could swim as long as we liked early in the morning or late into the evening without too much concern for anything beyond, perhaps, the tide.

Swimming in cold water has an extra frisson to it that we (the Bobbers) have missed in the warmer months. I write this now from the comfort of a warm house, by the end of the week proper cold water swimming will be a reality. We will have all the frisson we could wish for.