#139 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Home TownsLeave a comment

Blue Sunday, the sun is erratic today but when it is out it is OUT.

© Jenna Blake

Last night we went to some Cuban contemporary ballet. Just mind blowing and we were in the front row so the sweating and the heavy breathing of the dancers was very very real. In truth the raw energy of the performers made our evening.

The picture below is another blue example of raw energy and huge joy.

A rogue kite wrapping up our grand daughter in Honk Kong.

©Sam Blake

Finally in the theme of blue is the Plymouth Christmas lights, reprogrammed to show solidarity with Ukraine

Blue Sunday in three pictures.

#138 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn BobbingLeave a comment

I learnt last week that longstanding residents of Stonehouse call the recent influx of wild or outdoor swimmers “Dryrobers”. This is infinitely more polite than the residents of the Lake District where the same groups of people are called ” Swimmers in Wankerobes”

The bobbers are unapologetically swimmers who wear these types of garments.

©Dryrobe

dryrobe Advance Long Sleeve

Nowhere in the companies website do they mention increasing, post bob, talking time or the comfort of patiently waiting dogs. There is even a large pocket that can accommodate a champagne or prosseco bottle for Birthday Bobs.

Yesterday the water temperature was a balmy 10 degrees while the air temp was 7 degrees. Today they have both dropped a further degree. But even in such chilly times we managed over half an hour of proper post swim chatting.

Certainly in large numbers ‘Dryrobers’ look like swarming, plump, insects stuck forever somewhere in the pupating stage of life. With head feet and hands emerging from a protective cocoon their bodies have no intention of leaving.

The popularity of outdoor swimming is a post-covid phenomenon that shows little sign of going away as the pandemic ebbs away. Coastal areas have become 365 days a year destinations, which is almost certainly a welcome boost for independent businesses who suffered so greatly during the multiple lock downs. Swarms of happy, healthy people is a good thing to have emerged from a sad and difficult two years of Covid-19.

#137 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn flowers, SpringLeave a comment
©Debs Bobber

How does Spring taste to you?

Not a question normally asked, of course,but one that is very important to a canine friend of ours.

Ralph likes to lick flowers. Here he is savouring, the very expensive, flavour of Saffron, from the stigma of Crocus.

©Debs Bobber

Most of us know exactly what he is getting from the experience. But how many humans have ever tasted Daffodil, how many of us even bother to sniff them? Would it even be safe to lick, especially if taken to excess?

©Debs Bobber

Here is Ralph at his version of an all you can eat buffet.

©Debs Bobber

So many Bluebells, so little time, how is a man to choose?

©Debs Bobber

I’m fairly certain I am not going to go down the whole tasting thing with Ralph. Let me be honest, I know exactly what Other thing Ralph and my dogs do to flowers, but this Spring, after consideration of the location and risk analysis, I am going to sniff more Spring Flowers. What have I been missing?

#136 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Home Towns, SerendipityLeave a comment

A different waveform washed up on the beach today. Tranquility Bay does not suffer from too much sea plastic so I suspect this is a garden decoration delivered here by the recent storms. After this photo it was consigned to the bin but gives me the excuse to share this picture from the weekend when the sun was out and the waves were crashing.

The seawater pool is empty for maintenances but you can see the size of the pebbles that get thrown in there when the sea gets rough. Spearmint the seal has been known to climb in for a more confined dip. On really bad days the bobbers have attempted a half decent little swim but mostly we brave the open sea.

Still greige here hoping for better tomorrow. Meanwhile London is looking beautiful.

©Murray Saunders Friends of Gipsy Hill

#135 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Hugo and LolaLeave a comment

Still shamelessly using the weekend sun to illustrate the blog, even though we are already on Wednesday. Significantly we are also still under a blanket of West Country greige, which sucks the soul a bit and makes any adventure outside a damp affair.

I had my first large meeting, in person experience, last night. Two years on from the first, long, Covid lockdown. Because life has changed in unimaginable ways, this meetings topics, location and reasons for being were unknown to me two years ago. There was something very comforting in realising that non professional/ business meetings have not changed a jot. However Zoom meetings with the ability to mute for a good giggle or rant off screen have made my meeting/social/skills a bit slack. I worried that I might burst when the generic, entitled, white, male got up to speak. Struggling to get his, ill-informed views across because of the plums in his mouth. Note to self- always sit at the back in future!

For reference I have included a Youtube clip of The Vicar of Dibley in case you too have forgotten the way of meetings.

We took the dogs with us. Hugo is a very entitled, white male. Sensibly, apart from one brief woof, he kept his opinions to himself. Lola, being female listened intently. Fully aware that at any moment she might be asked to take notes.

#133 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Cornwall, DevonLeave a comment

Another day of West Country greige so I decided to use lovely colourful pictures from the weekend to brighten up my own morning and tell a small piece of local knowledge. First up though this gorgeous rust and paint combo. Followed by another.

I suppose these are the gifts from all the greige we live with. A damp, moist climate brings out the best for rust lovers. Similarly lichen and moss can be glorious and after the recent storms the ground beneath trees is littered with twigs and branches embellished by these moisture loving plants.

Which brings me to a little piece of local knowledge.

Visitors to Devon and Cornwall often think that daffodils are deliberately planted on the roadside and at the base of stone walls. These daffodils are actually the descendants of bulbs discarded out of flower growing fields during the second world war. The fields were cleared for food crops to be planted to feed the nation during war time. Some really rare daffodils can be found in quiet country lanes. One more picture of a beautiful day while I am in denial about the true state of todays weather.

# 132 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn CornwallLeave a comment
Sun rising through Allium heads.

The sharp morning sun of late February is a real gift to a woman who loves complicated patterns.

Sun rising on railings

We are staying with some friends in South East Cornwall , I have a cosy nook in which to write the blog.

What I dont have is any wifi currently but a short walk once I have written this will take me to an mast where I can ping this off out to the world.

Our sleep was somewhat disturbed by a South East Cornwall traditional past time. Boy racers charging around village lanes in cars at 4 in the morning at high speeds. Engine noise and headlights on whitewashed walls break up the nights sleeping pattern. The boys wind their windows down to whoop victoriously as they pass the cottage on their loop of dangerous pleasure. I worry for them and my head is filled with the music of T-Rex as concurrently I remember a crumpled mini desolately wrapped around a tree. The beautiful man of glam rock, Marc Bolan, splattered like a trifle onto his windscreen. Memory is a funny thing in the middle of the night. Testosterone funnier, but dangerous. There were no sounds of screeching brakes and crumpling metal. As a long term resident of South East Cornwall I know these manifestations of masculinity echo through the countryside night after night. These boys have skill and courage, just like me they have woken up again to a Cornish morning.

Unlike me they were not worried.

#131 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Firestone BayLeave a comment

Rusty links and shadows on a Saturday. The sun came up, our campervan passed its MOT and the Bobbers got back into the sea after 10 days or more of stormy conditions. Spring must be just around the corner.

This was the bobbers celebrating sun and a succesful bob . On the next beach along other swimmers let the sun go to their heads.

©Plymouth Swim Collective

Beneath the bobbers warm clothes and cups of tea every bobber is a glorious celebration of toned muscles and flexed pecs. We simply didnt get correct instructions for the after swim photo. Next time…

#140 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn StonehouseLeave a comment

Daily blogging started as an exercise between two parts of a blogging course. Covid 19 stepped in and the exercise stretched from 8 weeks to being indefinite. Doing something daily for just a few minutes for 18 months becomes a habit. If there was a plan it was always to record the mundane in a ‘normal’ persons life. After blogging for 18 months during the height of the Covid 19 pandemic I saw little reason to stop daily blogging once the ‘advanced’ part of the course was completed. The picture above may well have been in todays blog, simply because the ship and its tugs were very close to our swimming area. As usual in a blog about the mundane I would have told you that I missed a really great picture because I was picking up a dog poo, which was true. Yesterday was different though, Russia invaded Ukraine and the story takes a twist. Normally I would check which ship I was seeing on a Marine Tracking App. Yesterday the tracking App told me my eyes deceived me. There was no ship, just a big gap between two tugs.Big world events reflected on a very normal dog walk.