We have some friends who live in Down Thomas, a village opposite our swimming beach, not on the island but on the cliffs that are hidden behind the sea fog that was sweeping in yesterday afternoon. I sent them this picture with the question ” Where are you?”
Our late afternoon bob was chilly and bright and looked, but did not feel, Mediterranean.
When we got out I had received a photo back, from our friend, with the same question.
” Where are you?”
Last week a favourite piece of Plymouth Street Art got a sad addition and at 11 this morning there will be a Silence held across the country to remember and reflect on the events of last Thursday.
Yesterday evening nature also marked some time in Plymouth. A dense sea fog briefly cloaked the city making everything grey and a little more silent.
Tension Posts.
Today the prompt for the Art Group was ‘moor’.
I cheekily created this image, which on many days exactly sums up how Dartmoor, in particular, feels. I’m sure today it was glorious but I had my back to it.
As you all know I struggle a little with prompts and today was just not my day for posting about the Moor.
In fact,serendipitously,I was hugely engaged by a rusty tension post and hawser caught in the early morning sunshine.
So there is a little tension in this post as I actually turn my back to the moor, and consider a Tension Post.
In this image Dartmoor is on the horizon.
My love of rust and humble history is summed up in this lovely early morning shot
This is humble history, the bigger picture is certainly the rings of Palmerston Forts and Batteries built after 1850 and into the 1870’s to protect Plymouth from invasion by the French, led by Napolean.Fencing is the humble part of this protection, designed to replace normal field hedges that would have given visual protection to invaders coming from inland Old hedges were ripped out and replaced by fencing created with metal posts and hawsers. Every now and then there was a more complex post where the tension of the metal hawser could be tightened by hand.
It was one of these that attracted me this morning. When confronted with something like this I can never stop wondering about the person who last tightened this bolt , who would have never imagined that his turns of the bolt would still be holding the hawser in position nearly 200 years later.
I’m sure he would have stopped his labours to take in the view.
This morning was not all about Tension Posts . There were indeed other tensions.
How cold would the water be for a swim ?
The answer is- very.
Would we all still be smiling afterwards?
Yes.
Would we get a table at the café for a restorative breakfast.
Yes again.
Just a little tension on the return when a herd of cows and a bull approached us , but that ended without incident.
A good day was had.
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