OK.  This is post number 2,000 on this blog.   Over the years there have been over 300,000 `views` across the 150 or so `subjects` I have had something to say about.  Not spectacular statistics in Blogland but not bad for an octogenarian  former box-to-box midfield dynamo with a good engine and an eye for a pass who struggles to survive on a fixed income in these harsh economic times.

The thing is, when I had reached the 1,000 post milestone some years ago, I gave notice then that enough was enough and that I was closing the blog down.   That announcement was followed by an outcry from at least three people who persuaded me to keep going and so I did.

So, as the blog has now reached 2,000 posts I`m beginning to wonder whether enough really is enough this time.  So I have a decision to make as to whether I keep going and any comments or suggestions would be welcome by clicking on where it says `No comments` below.

CLOSE TO HOME...

We enjoyed a lovely walk this morning by driving about two miles, parking alongside the road and wandering up through the fields to the Pilgrims Way and back through farmland, where the poppies were  blooming nicely amongst the growing crops.   So, rather than digging out photos from places where I wish I might have been today, it occurred to me that, perhaps after all, there is much to be said for the Kent countryside at this time of the year and on a day as beautiful as today .  Here`s a small selection of what we saw on this Bank Holiday morning.   Spot the crowds......

As ever, the photos get better when you click on them.

SOCIAL DISTANCING.....

It has been quite revealing to see just how many people have been piling in to their cars and heading for the beach now that there has been a partial lifting of the corona virus lockdown.   In recent days there have been traffic jams clogging up the roads to places such as Saunton Sands in Devon and Gwithian in Cornwall and the beaches at places like Southend and Brighton have been invaded by chumps who think it`s OK to do what they want rather than do the sensible thing and be....sensible.   Maybe they think it`s all over.  Well, it isn`t.

So I`ve reflected back on visits to beaches we`ve made over the years, quite often at the peak holiday time and we have always managed to find places that are away from it all and pretty much deserted.   One of them is Porth Joke on the north Cornwall coast close to Crantock.  There`s nothing there - no `facilities,` no `conveniences,` no `development.`   Just the beach, the sea, the sky and the walk along the coast path.  No issues with social distancing here.

Here`s one I took of Porth Joke a couple of years ago.  That will do me nicely.......

A STONE FRIGATE...

Well, it` a glorious late Spring day here in deepest Kent and it reminds me of the times we have been to stay in the New Forest and the times we have visited Exbury Gardens, just a couple of miles from where I spent much of my boyhood.  At this time of the year the gardens - renowned for their azaleas and rhododendrons - are at their absolute best .  I don`t know but I imagine the gardens might well be closed as the corona virus continues to bite.   Anyway we greatly enjoyed wandering through the gardens and ending up at the rather splendid cafe for yet another dose of tea and cake.

But Exbury has not always been the haven of beauty and tranquility you see today.  In 1942 the Exbury Estate, owned by a member of the de Rothschild family, was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for use in connection with the D-Day landings.   As the `stone frigate` HMS Mastadon, throughout the war the house became a training base. 

It was reneamed HMS Hawk, then HMS King Alfred before being finally derequisitioned  and returned to the family in 1955.  After the war, restoration and development of the gardens was continued until the gardens were opened to the public in the early 1950s and since 1988 they have been run as Exbuty Gardens Ltd, on a long lease from the present freehold owner of the whole estate, Mr. Edmund de Rothschild`s 1966 Charitable Trust.

I hope my photo does at least some justice to it all.......

A STROLL BEFORE DARK.....

Continuing my corona virus-defying theme, I dug this photo out of my collection - once again because I like it and also because it brings back fond memories of the last time we were `allowed` to go anywhere on holiday.   In September last year we had yet another memorable week in Padstow and I used to enjoy a stroll before dark along the banks of the Camel Estuary as the sun set over the western hill.   

Along with Dudley, our retriever, we used to wander along a short stretch of the Camel Trail which was always quiet and peaceful at that time in the evening and enjoy the sound of the waves lapping against the bank.  Some days, like this time of the year, evening seems to be the best time of the day and I just hope that it will one day be possible for us to return to those north Cornwall havens and do it all again.  I`m really very determined to do just that........

ONCE MORE INTO THE LIGHT...

OK, a little self indulgence here.  I`m posting this photo because I like it and also because it evokes very fond memories of a much loved departed friend.  About three Autumns ago I was in these nearby woods when I stopped and was fascinated by the early morning light wafting through the trees as the mist began to rise from the woodland floor.

And if you look carefully you might spot our former golden retriever, Barney, peeking from behind a tree.  Barney loved these woods and although it is over two years now since we lost him and we have now fallen in love with his successor, Dudley, I still look back at those years with great fondness.   Dudley has been introduced to the woodland of course but given where we are with the Covid 19 problems I`m not too sure how long it will be before he, like Barney did, scampers through the woodland glades once more.

I was really quite pleased with the way this photo turned out, so please click on it for a much better image.........

A TIMELY REMINDER...

Amongst our frequent visits to south Devon was a week we spent in the coastal village of Torcross.   It wasn`t the greatest holiday we`ve ever had;  the cottage we stayed in was `iffy` and the neighbours were decidedly `unwelcoming,` despite which we were blessed with decent weather and a few decent coast path walks, memorably the hazardous bit between Start Point and Mattiscombe beach.

But Torcross was interesting.  Along with many other villages in the South Hams area, Torcross was evacuated to make way for 15,000 allied troops who needed the area to practice for the D-Day landings.  But in the early hours of 28 April 1944 a tragic accident occurred during a training exercise when nine German torpedo boats intercepted a three mile long convoy of vessels travelling from Portland to Slapton Sands to undertake the D-Day landing rehearsals.   Two tank landing ships were sunk with the loss of 946 American servicemen but poor communications by the allied command led to badly times shelling on the beach, killing about 300 more men.

Over 1,000 lives were therefore lost over the course of that operation, most of them through American `friendly fire.`   So it seems fitting that a Sherman amphibious tank along with several plaques stand at Torcross car park between Slapton Ley and the beach as memorials to those men who lost their lives in such tragic circumstances.

And it also seems fitting, on this 75th anniversary weekend of VE Day, to remember our  week in Torcross as being clearly less memorable than the tragedies that took place all those years ago.   Anyway, here`s a photo I took showing Torcross and that fateful beach as it is these days....... 

AN EXPERIMENT WITH LIGHT...

My camera is not perhaps the most `must have` camera in the world but it has done me very well for quite a long time.  I bought it at least 20 years ago - it`s a Fujifilm S160 and despite not having all the bells and whistles of more up market cameras it`s pretty easy to use and has stood the tests not only of time but also the occasional misfortune.

Once on holiday in west Cornwall we were at Porthcurno beach on a very windy late afternoon in early Spring.   The tide was racing in, the waves were growing stronger and, me being me, I became engrossed in taking some photos.  Next minute, I was blown off my feet by the waves, fell into the sea, camera and me both soaked through.

I thought that was the end of my trusty friend but after a couple of weeks drying out, the camera recovered and has been OK ever since.   So I`ve carried on snapping but now and again I like to have a go at something different and a couple of years ago we had a week at Penpol Creek, close to Feock on Cornwall`s south coast.  It was midsummer day and the light in the early evening sky was as clear and bright as you can imagine.

So I wondered what might happen if I pointed my camera directly into the sun as it began to set behind the creek and this was the result.   I`m really quite chuffed with it and I hope you enjoy it as well.   Click on the photo and see......

`APRIL SIGHED AND STEPPED ASIDE...

.....and along came pretty little May.`  So said Oscar Hammerstein and he wasn`t wrong.  May is indeed pretty and right now the birds are singing, the grass is growing determinedly thanks to the May flush and flowers are appearing in the gardens and woodlands - at least here in deepest Kent.  What tops it all off is, of course, the fact that it`s bluebell time.

And it reminded me of a holiday we had -one of many - staying in Cornwall`s Roseland Peninsula.  That was a few years ago now before the ravages of dodgy knees and anno domini tightened their grip and we were able to have some decent walks in that magical kingdom.   One of the most memorable was walking the coast path from Rosevine to the beaches at Carne and Pendower.   It`s yet another fantastic walk along a fantastic stretch of coast and as we climbed up the hill towards Pendower we looked back at this bank of bluebells.

I hope my photo did it justice in that it shows pretty little May in the Roseland at its best, with the wide sweep of Gerrans Bay peeling off into the distance - please give it a click and see if you agree....... 

SUMMER IS A CUMIN` IN ?

I took this photo a couple of years ago on our first evening in Padstow....   

Now today being May Day, normally the place to be would be Padstow, where May Day is celebrated with a tradition going back in the mists of time and despite having stayed there and visited on a number of occasions, I still have the ambition to be there on this very special day - maybe one year before it`s too late?

What makes it special is, of course, the mixture of the 24-hour singing and dancing with the two rival `osses cavorting round every street in the town - all designed to herald the coming of Summer and banishing the chill of winter for another year.   The singing changes from the night song to the day song and all the while it has that haunting melody and compelling rhythm. And among it all comes the dirge, whose origins are a mystery even to the good folk in the town museum, where I enquired about the meaning behind the dirge and the identity of aunt Ursula Birdhood, who had an old yow and who lies in her own parc o.  Here`s a taster......... 

Of course, this year none of that is happening and Padstow is a bit of a ghost town right now. But whilst we are still going through these very difficult times, I still give thanks for the fact that May is here, as do `the little birds that merrily do sing in the merry morning of May...`