HERE ONE MINUTE..

Well, almost in answer to my recent rant about the media`s obsession with our weather, Mother Nature has been throwing everything at us in the last couple of weeks - torrential rain, hail, thunder, gales, all leading to widespread flooding, the distressful loss of lives and destruction of property.   Where we live, we`re a long walk from the beach and so I have not been able to experience these events at close range.   Instead, I`ve been watching the television reports, especially those on the BBC south west regional Spotlight programme - Channel 967 on Sky - although one day we did drive down to Sandgate on the Kent coast and were astonished at the power of the sea and the waves crashing against the sea defences.

But that was nothing compared to the events in other parts of the country - Devon, Cornwall and Wales in particular - and the picture above shows one of our favourite haunts, Porthcothan on Cornwall`s north coast.  Last year, we enjoyed a couple of visits there and the coast path walks from Porthcothan to Bedruthan Steps and the other way along to Treyarnon and back.   Here`s a photo I took last summer of the rocks and the natural arch at Porthcothan Bay:-

......and here`s a picture of the same spot taken yesterday after the arch simply collapsed into the sea as a result of the power of the storm force wind and the waves:-

A classic case of `Here one minute, gone the next` but it has reminded me that being on the coast path in Cornwall in all the glory of high Summer is a very different prospect from being there in Winter when the Atlantic storms can wreak this kind of destruction.   (I`m just sorry I wasn`t there to witness it.)