A day at the beach

 On Friday, my sister dropped round as my niece has trampolining lessons at my local leisure centre.  She'd been for a 20km run so she came in and we had a cup of tea, then she had a shower. 

After this, she suggested that I join her and my niece at the beach to spend some time with their friend at their beach hut. I demurred at first because I had school work to do.  Not having been well meant I'd had that brain fog and then we went to the Suffolk coast on Thursday.

However, in the time we went to collect K from her trampoline class, I decided that I should go with them. I don't see them all that often and perhaps some WARM sea air (it was freezing in Aldeburgh on Thursday!) might do me some good.

K was delighted I would come along with them too which made it worth it!

We parked at the beach and found that my sister's running friend's beach hut was just one groyne along from mine and K's favourite place to swim.

It was quite breezy and the tide was going out, however, all three of us decided that we had to have a swim, no matter how cold it was.

It definitely wasn't hot but all three of us managed to stay in the water for about 30minutes. We waded and had a little attempt at swimming out, despite it being quite shallow. It was quite refreshing though I didn't want to get too cold because of my cough.

After a while, we came back to the beach and started to dry off with towels. We ate some lunch (I had crackers, cheese, tomatoes, carrots) and then K and I got a little bored.  We went for a wander and then I suggested we have a 5 minute timer to write each other's name on the beach.

K did mine with a brown stone heart and a shell K.

I made hers with oyster shells.

I then suggested that we work on something together.

We began with a heart but then K suggested doing a butterfly instead.

It took us about an hour!  O, the daughter of H, the beach hut owner, came and joined us a quarter of the way in (she's the O in the initials)

More of the running friends turned up and we managed to enlist some minions to collect oyster shells for us.

Oyster shells for the wings, brown stones for the body, black stones for the antennae and pink shells for the bits at the top of the antennae.

We were very proud of our efforts.

After this, K and I went for a wander further down the beach where we had a really fun music improvisation session using stones, shells, the wooden groynes, our feet- alla Stomp.  K seemed to really enjoy it as she kept going with me, making some funky rhythms and apparently, the rest of the beach enjoyed it too!

Eventually, it was time to leave.  We helped pack up the beach hut and then we walked back to the car.

They dropped me home and then drove themselves.

I made myself a much-needed cup of tea and CBC came home around 8.50pm, after a 120mile cycle ride!  I made us dinner of Pie Minster Filo pies with new potatoes and veg and then it was time for bed.

It was a really enjoyable day and I am glad I joined my sister and niece at the beach!

xx

So... you want to see Frinton on sea????

Yesterday, after I shared my Frinton on Sea post, a few of you said it sounded like a nice place to visit and Ang referred to Walton on the Naze which is nearby and pleasant.

Today, I decided I would like to look at my archive to republish a post after Gretchen Joanna commented on a couple of old posts. It's quite nice to visit a few old favouites, esp for anyone that didn't read the post originally.

Bizarrely, when I  clicked randomly on my side bar, the post that came up was one entitled, "Fabulous Frinton on Sea!" How utterly strange is that? And no, I don't think it's some sort of cookie, it really is serendipity!

Therefore, here is a reblog of my post here from Tuesday October 30th, 2010 (almost the exact same day!) of my visit to Frinton-on-sea

The fabulous Richard Lester performing at Boxted Parish church. Cellist extraordinaire! I met him once before when he borrowed a cello from the Academy when I worked there- he's really nice

Autumn sunshine on Boxted church- beautiful!

We headed down to the seafront at Frinton where the light was perfect, the air wonderful and all was restful

It was such a beautiful beautiful day.  It was totally a spur of the moment thing to come to Frinton- we dashed out of the house to make the concert and didn't think about post-midday!

My last birthday Cape  keeping me warm! I love that CBC chose this himself!

There is a fabulous array of  beach-huts at Frinton. I've never been inside one- have you?

The sea-spray was pretty fierce as we wandered.  It made me think of that gorgeous John Masefield poem, Seafever, verse 2:
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

Sourced from: http://allpoetry.com/poem/8495913-Sea_Fever-by-John_Masefield




  It did make me laugh as I found this Spike Milligan version when searching:


I must go down to the sea again,
to the lonely sea and the sky
I left my shoes and socks there -
I wonder if they're dry?

Sourced from: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-must-go-down-to-the-sea-again/

Notice a familiar bystander in CBC's photo...

Who then backs away in alarm at the monster wave.  What happened next?

Quite possibly the coolest beachhuts ever here!  One appears to have been decorated by Emma Bridgewater and the other?

Which do you prefer: spots or stripes?

CBC took this (and most of the other) picture- check out all those wind turbines! Essex is doing its bit for renewable energy? Rather serendipitous that I was coincidentally wearing a sailor-cardie for an impromptu sea-side sojourn!

I could have walked on for miles...

Frinton is a lovely seaside retreat in Essex.  Have you been?

Beach Huts

The Beach hut!  A glorious part of the British seaside in all their myriad colours and styles.  They are a real opportunity to parade your personality if you so feel so inclined, you can paint or add quirky additions to your little piece of beachside property.

But the inside is always an enigma to me as if one is actually open, it feels wrong to brazenly gawp inside to see what mysteries go on!

Thus, I just have to lustily admire the exterior views.

Here are pictures of some of the beauties I saw at the beach in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

A set of pastel pretties with some delicate scalloping detail adorning that middle minty one.

Y knot, with its glorious stripes is festooned with a mosaic name.

This blue and white stripy one enjoys a dolphin!

A collection of blues and a rather splendid stripy one.

3 way stripes, more scalloping with contrasting door and some more bright shades.

Ah, this one is especially decorative with its extended roof shape, stripes, piping AND scalloping!

Grandma's Little House is wrapped up warmly for those sea breezes.

Although looking rather more rustic, the bright shades make up for slightly tatty paint work.

All the blues.

All the blues and purples.

This takes scalloping to a whole new level- we have almost waves!

A real variety in this row.

Do you spy the tiny ice-cream on this tasty-looking beach hut?

x

East Mersea island Beach

Bank Holidays!  It's like getting something for free, isn't it! The May one is always particularly delightful since it usually comes soon after Easter!  We felt buoyant and full of life yesterday, knowing that there was no school today! We decided to head around an hour away to Mersea island which is famous for its Oysters.  My ancestors hail from round there in a place called Tollesbury.

 Mersea Island might not be the prettiest place, the water doesn't look particularly inviting and there is a Power station opposite, but it is still lovely to visit the beach.

 The particular draw for me is the beautiful pastel beach houses that spread a long way along the East Mersea beach.

 Many of them were closed up but we did see a few people enjoying a raucous and fun time in their huts. I've never been inside one but I would absolutely love to!

 There were a few Kite-surfers out, hovering above the waves.  Here is one before he took to the waters.

 As you might have guessed, this was my opportunity to seek sea-glass. I follow someone on Instagram who finds seaglass here and I did hope I might find a few pieces.  This clearish piece was an early find but it seemed there were very slim pickings.

 I looked up to see the Kite surfer defying gravity!

 The beach was largely bereft of people with the odd other individual or couple traipsing their way along the path.

 After no luck for a while, I spied a nice piece of brown. Apparently it is common place to Seaglass collectors, but I have only ever found 2 pieces.

 As well as the pastel parade, there is a tasteful selection of blue and green hues.

 But though I like them, I am drawn towards the pastel rainbow.

 Towards the time where CBC, who was lying on a rug, informed me that he was chilled and wished to return to the car, I thought my luck for finding anything particularly pretty was lost, but I found this tiny blue piece of Bonfire seaglass. Bonfire seaglass is glass that has reached such high temperatures that it has fused with other material.  The green piece is not 'ready' yet, it probably needs more tumbling but I liked its heart shape.

 Here are my finds along with a few other shells. I found a marble but sadly it was new, not all tumbled, weathered and misty.  I picked it up anyway!

A short meander it was, but that doesn't render it any less enjoyable!

xx