Good Luck Jamie

Good Luck Jamie for your first day at Emanuel.... work hard and have lots of fun
xxxxx

Yellow Flowers and Damselflies

Had a very disappointing day at the Wetlands, there were very few birds in residence and those that were there were snoozing in the sun. My bad mood was not really caused by the fact that none of my pictures had been deemed good enough to go on display in the wetlands Gallery.. honest! The day was finally redeemed by this georgeous dank of yellow flowers, and then I turned around and saw this wonderful damselfly hovering!

Isle Of Wight 19th - 22nd August 2007

The boys went to stay with their dad on the Isle of Wight on Sunday for a few nights, so I decided to take advantage of this and spend a few nights there myself with Margaret. This first photograph is of our Hotel The Farringford Hotel. This was formerly the home of Lord Alfred Tennyson. My room is the one right about that very loud flappy flag!

Seagulls in Yarmouth Harbour

A tractor, taken from Carisbrooke Catle

The Isle of Wight Coastguard, on manouevres over the Needles

After a fruitless earch for sunflowers in France I was delighted to finally track some down on the Island

A view of Freshwater Bay (in the middle) and more of the White Cliffs

Some hardy teenagers playing on Compton Beach. I thought they were mad.

The white cliffs of the Isle of Wight. This was taken from Compton Bay, and clearly shows the Tennyson Memorial on top of the Downs.

This sums up the weather we 'endured' during our stay. All in all it could be summed up with one word 'PANTS'!!

Very close to our hotel, we found this lovely church St Agnes. It has a thatched roof, the first time I have ever seen a church with a thatch!

IOW Boats!

I was very much looking forward to taking photos of some yachts in action over the weekend, but hadn't bargained on arriving in the Island with a force 5 gale blowing at most times. Thus there were very few boats out on the water. These first are taken in Yarmouth Harbour .....

Back on the mainland, this is Lymington Harbour!

This is East Cowes, not exactly beautiful. However the reason for this photo is because you can see the Chain Link Ferry which crosses the River Medina, linking East and West Cowes.

IOW Osbourne House

Woke up on the first morning to see that the weather outside was pretty Pants. As it would not be possible to lie on a beach we decided to visit Osbourne House. The estate was bought by Queen Victoria and redesigned by Albert as a family home for the family. The stayed here regularly during his lifetime, and Victoria virtually closeted herself here after his death. She died here in 1901.

Some garden views in the Osbourne Estate....

On the terrace are these rather lovely garden statues. The statue of the eagle is particularly famous as there is a portrait of Victoria's grandson Willhelm painted standing next to it. He is dressed in full British Military Uniform... not that surprising or famous??? The grandson in question was more commonly known as Kaiser Bill.

This is the view of Portsmouth from Osbourne House's Terrace. It hasn't changed hugely, apart from the rather alarming Portsmouth Statue of course!
Just a couple of miles from Osbourne is St Mildred's Church that was designed by Albert for use by the Royal Family. It was built in the style of Albert's homeland, not exactly an English Village Church. Sadly it was only completed shortly after his death. Victoria only ever used this doorway, so she could sit out of sight of the congregation, and even the Choir.

IOW The Needles

I just love the Needles, they look such a romantic spot. I like the way that they stand defiant against Mother Nature. By rights they should have crumbled into the sea years ago. On our second morning the sky did not look promising, so we went for a very blowy walk out to the Old battery, a place now run by The National Trust, situated right above the needles. Actually I have to admit, I wasn't too interested in the Battery, I just wanted to see if I could get any good pictures of the Needles!

Whilst at the Battery the Coastguard brought the helicopter over for a practise in managing a rescue in high winds!! (See I told you the weather was pants). Actually I have to admit this was taken a couple of hours later from Alum Bay, when he was practising yet again! It was a very windy day!!

IOW Alum Bay

Alum Bay is the most wonderful part of the Isle of Wight. It is famous for it's different coloured cliffs. The difference in colours is breathtaking, and I only wish I could do them better justice.

The best way up and down from Alum Bay is on a Chair lift. Don't for heaven's sake do what I did and walk all the way down, gaily jump off the last step .... and THEN remember that my puse was in the car , in the carpark right up at the top of all the steps!!!

IOW Carisbrooke Castle

Our last day today and we decided that as the weather was once again pants to visit Carisbrooke Castle.

One of the two facts I knew about Carisbrooke before I went there today was that King Charles I was held there as a prisoner before his execution in 1849. He tried to escape one night, but having failed to prepare successfully got his head stuck between the railings and had to wait until dawn to be saved then re-imprisoned.

The only other thing that I knew about Carisbrooke Castle is that they have a very deep well and since the early 13th Century have used a donkey on a wheel to bring up 10 gallon buckets. Nowadays the donkeys are just used for demonstration purposes and bring up empty buckets. They work for approx 8 minutes every other day. Not a bad life!!