8th
April 2016 (Friday)
.... 09.00 Hmmmmmm .... it’s a bonnie
morning of the ‘bright and sunny’ kind, with only a light wind; however, there are clouds already beginning
to roll over from the Northwest;
eventually carrying the rain forecast for
 |
| Earlsferry from low tide beach |
later in the afternoon. We have a spring tide today,6.1 metres,
with low tide being atC09.50, high tide at 16.08: this means it won’t be hard to guess where I will be in
about 30 minutes. Must ‘go’ slight
‘flap on’..... I have to go down to the beach.
21.30 I’m having a special ‘treat’ as I type up the
Hutte tonight; a ‘melt in the mouth’
piece of homemade shortbread! Jimmy
and I were having our morning cuppa when my doorbell rang: being a fast thinker I realised it couldn’t
be Jimmy ‘cos he was sitting beside me.
On my opening the door, a lady, “Kathleen Barrie”, is her name,
introduced herself, saying that she is a regular reader of “The Hutte” , and
that she had brought me some homemade shortbread.
 |
| Elie |
Kathleen lives in Glasgow and finds reading
about Elie (and ‘The Royal Burgh’) interesting, because they have a second home
here, and like to know what’s going on in the village(s). I was in a state of amazement really, and
forgot to ask Kathleen if she wanted a mug of the ‘Hutte’s Finest’ (or a
cuppa). We could have, Kathleen, Jimmy
and I, discussed hip and knee replacements, .... which all three of us have had
recently. Apologies to Kathleen for
my not offering her a proper Hutte welcome;
very remiss of ‘the Boy’ indeed.
Hopefully we shall meet again and do the ‘Hutte Finest and Blethering’ thing, properly. I
must say that Kathleen’s shortbread does, literally, ‘melt in the mouth’; I am sorely tempted to have another piece..
What
have I done since the morning ‘update’?
As if I could forget a ‘spring’ tide as low as the one we had
today! of course went down to the
beach, planning to get out as far as I could..... so I ‘walked’ the sewage
pipe. ‘Walking’ the sewage pipe
means; I don’t need to swear ‘wellies’,
to get down to the ‘beaches’ exposed at
 |
| Elie |
‘spring’ tides. This I did, and was able to walk, on sand,
out beyond the end of the pipe. I
should point out that it is not a ‘sewage’ pipe anymore; only the rainwater runoff from the streets
comes out at the end of this ‘pipe’ now.
Anyway I had a great time just being on rarely seen ‘beaches’, and....
seeing the villages from a viewpoint.
In all I spent an hour and a half, pottering about. Ten years or so ago there would have been
half a dozen folk out with the cleek looking for lobsters; today the lobsters were safe. There was only one other person, a lassie,
and myself that far out....and we were only ‘sightseeing’; but, the main beaches busy, with people
enjoying themselves, which is what ‘Elie and Earlsferry’ is all about. One of the things that ‘caught my eye’ out
there were the different kinds of seaweeds we have around, because at low tides
the seaweeds are exposed.... from huge tangles, to the more delicate
types. I’ll need to get a ‘seaweed’
identification book to take with me the next time.
 |
| Seaweeds |
When
I biked down to the harbour this afternoon I was pleasantly surprised to find
another ‘sign of Spring’.... Jim Kenyon’s yacht’ “Free Spirit” at it’s
moorings. ‘She’ had been ‘craned in’
at St Monans yesterday; Jim and Steve
sailed her along to Elie today. You
will have spotted that I said, “another’ sign of Spring” .... I had a positive
sighting of my first House Martin of the year on Wednesday.
Well
this has been another exciting day, and very agreeable day. I met a new ‘friend’, had a great time on
the beach, and at the harbour; and have
plenty of photographs to ‘play’ with, in the new Photoshop.
Photographs
: Top – Elie from the low point of the tide, Next – Earlsferry from low point, Next
– Yacht “Free Spirit” at her moorings, and Bottom – Seaweeds .... the ‘red’ one
is ‘Dulse’
