Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Stirring half-century old memories of Mudeford

Having read the Distant dreams, childhood places piece, I'm pleased to say it stirred fond memories for Dad, who reflected on these so I could add them to this blog.

"My wife and I enjoying a breezy weekend in Lilliput, Poole, last autumn decided to visit nearby Mudeford thereby breaking my taboo of some fifteen summers...

We were relieved & excited to see the so familiar sand spit again, lucky to get the Land Rover lift, no 'Noddy' running.

The beach was virtually deserted save a couple of chippies demolishing a life expired hut to be replaced by a spanking new unit for a city businessman.

We dodged the squalls & sheltered for a while in the lea of the black house, dryish from the horizontal sheets of stinging rain driven on a stiff south-westerly.

The 'run' that evocative stretch of moody water stirred half century memories of Jim, the celebrated blue clad, tobacco tanned fisherman who took my family so many times over that mere 25 yard stretch of sometime torrent, sometime flat calm gateway to the channel.

We lingered a while then made our way to the empty bright & trendy cafe to enjoy a coffee. Refreshed we made our way back the mile or so to the car soaked to the skin we nevertheless loved the walk through the ancient woods, past the 'canyon' where as children we collected spent bullets & scaled then, to the huge cliffs. Many memories flooded back.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Awakenings

Returning to Stanford Dingley as the sun set across the Pang Valley, we cherished that extra hour of daylight as British Summer Time arrived. Fields glowed gold in the crisp afternoon and birdsong filled the air. You can breath, feel, see, touch and hear the changing seasons as the cycle of life rolls on. Arriving home, an inquisitive blue tit found herself the perfect place to nest in our little country garden.