Terrorist doctors and Fin Rot

It is really not as horrible and panic-stricken as the American media might be portraying. There was a little bit of difference on yesterday's train journey, just in the presence of armed police guarding Cardiff Station entrances. It is just slightly more cautious everywhere, or at least that is what it feels like to me (maybe I am just not attuned by this point, as life in general has just become more carpe diem and fatalistic). This is not to say that I am not happy, though. Not at all!


However, the BBC does seem slightly concerned with people making sure they stay happy and British-stiff-upper-lip and strong during stressful times, as on the news this morning, they were suggesting ways and things that people can be happy about. In addition to the demon terrorism, flooding still continues in a lot of the UK, particularly the middle. No flooding close to my house; the river at St. Miles Bridge is only about 5 feet below the highest point marker from 1873, though.


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Other than police, train ride journey was much more mundane than Thursday's. Made train in Liverpool Street with 5 minutes to spare (train 12 minutes late and Tube slightly slow). The only entertainment other than reading my book was when a 16-year-old boy who got on in Ipswich tried to chat up this Scottish girl across the aisle from him for the last 20 minutes of the ride. It was so lame-oh :) She was 18 (but he said one would never know it) before asking how old she thought he was... He has his own place and everything; and he failed out of school; and he was born in Florida (isn't that so cool?); and he is going to move to America and be an actor; and what kind of music do you like? So, he asked how she liked Scotland -- he thinks it is pretty cool. And here was the fun part (in brief):


Boy: So, is your mom from Scotland?
Girl: No, from Liverpool.
Boy: How long has she been in Scotland?
Girl: For a long time.
Boy: (pause) So, she probably has her Scottish citizenship by now and everything, huh?


DEAR LORD.

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Things I/we did this weekend:
* packed up Gold Street
* E replaced kitchen door on hinges
* met Graham and James to give back Rotary dishes
* went to B's last-day-of-work-at-L&G parties
* visited IKEA (hoorah for finding discontinued table and chairs!)
* had coffee with Katharine at Shot in the Dark
* went to St. Martin's and saw my lovely friends!
* had ice cream in the rain on the way to Cold Knapp
* walked in rain at the beach at Cold Knapp on Saturday
* went to Sully Island beach on Sunday and watched tide come in
* hunted crabs




Took no pics at Cold Knapp, but it really wasn't conducive. It is just really interesting to note the rock surfaces on different beaches and also the variety on the same beach. These pictures are from Sully Island. The rock in this area is kind of softish and in some spots looks like petrified wood almost. You can break parts off in some spots. And there are layers built up. And this lets there be quite a lot of rock pools.

It took approximately 30 minutes to figure out the best method for crab hunting and then we were off!

If you look at this picture, it looks like the crab is saying 'Ooops!' There are voices for different rock pool creatures: crabs talk in Andy voices from Little Britain; shrimp have French accents; limpets have quick tiny voices. It is all quite fascinating!

Probably have written before about how Sully Island has one of the fastest rising tides. It can be quite dangerous. Here is an image when Eamonn was herding me back towards higher ground... on the left side on the island, you can just see the old ship that is preserved in the mud on Sully Island. Lindsey went with us out to the ship when she was here :) I want to go out for a day -- go over in the morning, let the tide come in and trap us over with the fisherpeople, then watch it go back out and toodle back across the rock pools to The Captain's Wife.

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In further news, I must find a remedy for fin rot, as it seems to have invaded the lives of Jasper and Carrot. This is very distressing.