Assembly Room

What a mess but we are beginning to visualise the finished product.

Progress

Work is underway ripping out our very serviceable kitchen to make room for very expensive replacements.

Watersport!!

The annual, amazing, fantastical duck race always held on August bank holiday Monday

Kitchen chaos

The next few posts will chronicle the refurbishment of our kitchen which, I hope, will make Ruth exceedingly happy. As you see, most of the contents have taken up residence in the front room!

Fast food

You see this company's trolleys in a lot of towns and cities of the UK. I've never sampled their wares, bloke in the hat looks a bit shifty. They seem to be doing quite well though

Flimsy Craft

Always a favourite activity on the river near us during Summer. These two look a bit big for the boat but seem happy enough. Haven't got their strokes synchronised though.

Changes Ahead

Take a good look, this is the last you will see of our garage door because we are going to fit a double glazed PVC unit to make the garage into a utility room.

Tat Sale

You will have to zoom in a bit to read the notice which I found very amusing, the thief must have pinched the best stuff judging by what's left behind, I wouldn't want any of the leftovers!

Up, Up and Away

This tethered balloon is a very popular feature in Bournemouth centre, apparently the view from its maximum height is spectacular. I have absolutely no desire to check it out for myself though!!

Finger Lickin' Good

I found these two lazing about outside the local Chick King outlet just up the road from us, couldn't resist a photograph. I think the title I've given this post belongs to Kentucky Fried Chicken, don't know really but who cares!

A Tribute

I thought long and hard about whether to publish a Red Arrows post following the tragic death of Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging yesterday when his plane crashed shortly after completing a display with the rest of the team. Today the RAF announced that the Air Festival should continue although the Red Arrows themselves would not take part as their planes were grounded until the cause of the crash was investigated. I decided I would publish the above picture in honour of Jon Egging.

Vintage Aircraft

The de Havilland Sea Vixen was the Royal Navy Carrier Fighter Jet 1959 to 1972. The one shown here was in excellent condition, quite modern looking really, obviously well looked after.

Flights of Fancy

Following dreadful weather yesterday which caused serious flash flooding in Bournemouth the Air Festival got under way in excellent conditions today. The girl acrobatic wingwalkers, shown above upside down on the top wings, gave a really fantastic show which went on for quite a long time. They finished off with an arabesque.

The British Weather!!

Today is the first of 4 days of the Bournemouth International Air Show, a world class annual event in the area. Today we have had torrential rain and severe flash floods, never seen anything quite like this before. This shows just one small part of the widespread flooding. Bournemouth town centre was completely cut off under several feet of water caused by the river flowing through the gardens bursting its banks, most approach roads were affected. No aircraft were flying today!

Sweetness

This picture was not taken today, it was taken back in February in the hotel where all the family had a get together in the skittle alley, great fun was had by all, especially Alice. I finally spent some time working on it in Photoshop today to produce the finished picture above. I thought I could justify putting it into my blog for the day.

Road Repair Gang

Last night a number of cones appeared in the road and we all thought that the police had put them there following complaints about all the workers vans being parked in the road while they worked on the bungalow opposite. All was revealed this morning when council workers arrived to fill in some holes in the road, they took the cones when they were finished.

Diet Decisions

Tor deciding what she will not eat tonight!!

The Cranleigh Girls

We often have single friends of ours from church to Sunday lunch, Chrissie, Mo, Gill and another Ruth on this occasion. They were making a lot of noise in the summerhouse!

A Full Moon

Taken from our upstairs Velux window.

Alien Animals

These Alpacas were on a farm near us, we thought the brown one was dead but he was just sleeping comfortably. They are bred for their fleece and are sheared once a year. The colours range from white through browns and fawns to black and they retain the colour they were born with throughout life. They also make excellent pets, very good with children. Breeding Alpacas is well established in the UK with owners clubs and regular shows taking place.

Scruffy Fashion

This guy was pacing up and down for ages whilst talking on his mobile, occasionally pausing for a drag and a drink. I couldn't help wondering what his background was and what he did for a living. I have done a bit of work on this in Photoshop

Filmstar

Herbie the Volkswagen filmstar. Saw this in Burley, not the original of course. I checked online and found there is quite a cult following. There were several working replicas like this one for sale, also things like T shirts, model cars etc.

Ringwood Cuisine

They certainly want to make people aware that there is food available in these here parts!

It's a dog's life

This dog is not at all interested in looking over the Lymington harbour area. All he wants to do is go for a walk but she's not going to walk far in those flip flops!

Proud Mum

New Forest ponies are always very popular, especially the foals. This one is very young and must have been born later than usual.

A Weight Problem?

I think this guy is ever so slightly overweight, don't you!! I wonder what he's got in that bag, maybe looking for his beefburgers or something.

Excitement in Southbourne

Sue and Beth were visiting for a few days, Beth was in the front room and I heard her call out "Oh, Wow, Christmas has come early" and a fire engine pulled up outside next door. We all went out and persuaded Beth to go and talk to the firemen, she was very reluctant but she went. The fireman you can see was keen for Beth to join him in the cab, but Beth wasn't and didn't! The reason for the call was that they were fitting smoke alarms for our neighbour. It might seem like overkill to send a complete fire crew for such a small task but they would be the duty crew waiting for the next emergency call. Better to have them doing something rather than hanging about doing nothing.

High Fashion?

I saw a lot of beautiful hair styles in Congo and I was quite fascinated by this one a bit closer to home. It looks like the braids are trying to escape!

Exotic Transport

I found out that this bike is a Honda F6C Valkyrie, an impressive looking machine and a classic, no doubt.

Messing about with boats

I think a lot of people who own boats spend most of their time cleaning and tinkering but don't actually go anywhere. I don't see any lifebelts on this boat but the bloke doesn't look like he would need one anyway.

Alfresco

If Dover Sole comes from Dover it's not very local to this place which is at Pevensey Bay near Eastbourne, but I suppose they could swim this far and get themselves caught and become local, poor things!