The sun, that is. The title of course refers to the classic song “I Will Survive” originally sung by Gloria Gaynor (and according to the recently deceased master-comedian George Carlin one of the 10 most embarrassing records ever).

There was a time when it would have seemed impossible for a rock band to rip this song from it’s combined women’s unity and gay community associations, but the American band Cake managed exactly that. Their version of it takes the strength and confidence of the original, sucks it all out and leaves bitterness and resentment. Yeah, I’ll survive, but no more than that. Sheer genius by an exceptionally good band. Here is their version (and be warned that the song doesn’t start until 18 seconds into this clip):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10C68Gzd5GM

And for comparison here is Gloria Gaynor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6lHwWwO3w&feature=related

The song has been over the years a huge anthem for the gay movement, particularly lesbians, and also for women’s emancipation. Gloria Gaynor herself is, however, an Evangelical Christian and doesn’t approve of that sort of thing. She once said the song was actually about recovering from back pain, but it’s hard to justify that interpretation from the lyrics.

Cheers, Tom.

There have been a few occasions recently where I have responded to someone’s blog and I have missed their reply to me because they replied to their own blog rather than to my post. This is known as an RWP: Response (or Reply) to Wrong Post. I get an email to tell me when someone has replied to me, and if you reply to yourself rather than to me then I’ll never know about it, and all your sagacious wisdom, sound advice and humour will be as dust in the wind.

It still isn’t very summery here. I took the above picture about 10 minutes ago. Click to massivicate it.

Cheers, Tom.

I posted the above picture on the Photography group blog a while ago. Today seems a fitting day to show it here since that’s what it looks like today as well. Click it to make it bigger.

My title today is a line from the song “The Big Rock Candy Mountain”. This is a very old song that goes back to at least the 19th Century and possibly even as far as the early 18th. It is thought that it might have been a Highwayman recruitment song, and there are many versions of the lyrics. It is certainly a “Hobo” song at least. I bet Bob Dylan had heard it at the start of his career.

Clearly being a Highwayman isn’t the sort of career that was likely to attract a wife back in those days, so they needed to attract kids as apprentices to keep their business going. Hence this song. It was first recorded by Harry McClintock in 1928, and his recording of it was used in the brilliant film “O Brother Where Art Thou”.

Here is my recording of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZanRKcBpyc

Cheers, Tom.

I said to someone yesterday that there was no chance of a sunset last night. I was wrong as the picture proves. The heavy rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun appeared for about 5 minutes before the clouds closed over it again and the rain restarted. The above was the only OK picture I managed to take in the time. Click on it to bigify it.

The weather has been shocking here for the last few days. It’s either been monstrous wind or terrific rain. The forecast isn’t good for the next few days either, and I think the schools finish soon if they haven’t already. That should dampen a few holidaymakers' ardour!

A bit of rain won’t dampen the Glastonbury festival-goers spirits. They tend to be a sturdy bunch determined to have a good time whatever the conditions. My Helen is there now (she’s been there since the gates opened on Wednesday morning in fact) but I didn’t fancy going this year.

Cheers, Tom.

Right now, the rain looks and sounds like it is being fired at the windows by a machine gun. At least it should clear the salt from the windows!

We do seem to be getting one stunning sunset after another at the moment though. I think green is the only colour in my title not in the picture - I can see all the others. Or is there a hint of green in the sky, just above the distant hills on the left?

Click the picture to enlarge it.

Cheers, Tom.

I hope the photo shows the scale of the seaweed attack. This was everywhere, North and South and up and down the beach. I guess the storm is the cause, but I didn’t know there was so much seaweed out at sea. The sea was almost black in colour in places as the weed was washing up. This is what it looks like close up, and it’s really quite lovely:

Dan didn’t know quite what to make of it - the beach doesn‘t normally look like this! :

Click on the pictures to enlarge them. All three pictures show the same patch of weed.

Cheers, Tom.

Big waves are no deterrent to an enthusiastic dog when there is a ball to be retrieved! But unlike some dogs that just launch themselves into the biggest waves and plough their way through, Dan has become smart. He’s learnt that if the ball is sat on top of a wave, it will come to him and he doesn’t have to dive into it! Clever doggie!

This is Bobby Darin singing Splish Splash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-sEeL_M6SM

Cheers, Tom.

It’s calmer than spending a wet Sunday on Prozac in a flotation tank today. The massive winds of yesterday have passed on now. It was unbelievably windy for late June. The pockets of my coat are full of sand from it, and that hasn’t happened before. Thankfully, no lasting camera damage from it‘s vigorous sandblasting.

The picture doesn’t do that crab justice, it was massive, and I felt that I could lose a leg if it was only pretending to be dead. That red key is 7cm long, and the crab was twice as long as it, and over 3 times as wide.  I have no idea why it was dead and just sat there. Lots of crabs seem to end up as seagull food, but this one looks too big and tough to fall prey like that.

Cheers, Tom.

Seriously, the wind today is incredible. It’s at least as strong as anything we had over the winter. When the wind gusted, it was simply impossible to face into it, because the wind-blown sand stung your face so badly. Even with my back to the wind, my hands were getting stung while taking pictures.

Some sand got into my lens mechanism too and the lens wouldn’t come out until I tapped it and wiped it. And as if that wasn’t enough, I had to clean the lens every couple of minutes to get the salt off it.

Unusually though, the sun is shining and it isn’t at all cold.  There are even people trying to play golf. I would imagine their scores would be pretty poor on a day like this!

Here is a short clip I uploaded to youtube to show the conditions - it wobbles because of the wind. Oh, and turn your speakers down:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGQFwSEyo0w

Cheers, Tom.

No, actually, please do if it looks like this!

The sunset last night was absolutely stunning. Perfect conditions for it - warm day, a few wispy clouds in the sky, and some moisture in the air. The first picture was taken at about 9:30 and the second one at about 10:00. Click on them to enlarge.

Cheers, Tom.

One thing I noticed on my 4AM walk yesterday morning was that the seagulls weren’t even up and about. They started to appear at about 6AM, but until then I really could hear nothing at all but the wave-noise from the sea and the occasional puff of wind. It’s very calming to be able to drink in the scenery with no distractions, but so often the modern world intrudes  As the poet  WH Davies put it:

“A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare”

I rather like this picture I took, which seems to show the calmness I was referring to:

I took this one towards the end, and I like the way the sun is bringing out the colours in the grass. There is an RSPB bird-watchers hut just out of shot to my right and many species of rare birds live in the bog here.

Click the pics to enlarge.

Cheers, Tom.

For some hellish reason, I was wide awake at 4AM this morning, so I got up and took Dan for a long walk on the beach. I was amazed to see the moon in such a good position for a photograph:

We walked along the beach away from the headland and the moon into this view:

We came off the beach just as the first signs of the sun poking it’s nose out became visible:

And finally he showed himself, seen here framed by the railway power lines:

A few minutes later, this view back towards town appeared:

And this is the view down the railway line, the rust of which is glowing nicely in the sun:

And this is my charming companion, Dan, who is also glowing nicely in the sun:

All the pictures get bigger if you click on them.

Cheers, Tom.

The wind was raging off the sea like a submarine crew headed for shore leave, when I took the above picture last night. Still like it now too. It’s the longest day in three days as well. The storms here appear from nowhere and are sometimes gone just as quickly. The light changes by the second: it can be black one moment and bright the next. The picture shows it between moments, with the storm clouds just breaking to let the sun through.

Cheers, Tom.

Children can be very creative when they aren’t playing video games, watching television or beating each other up. The above artwork is really rather lovely, and do you think it looks like flowers within the outer wall? There’s the whole thing and one close-up in the two pictures above (click to enlarge).

It’s interesting how with this sort of beach art, people always frame what they do. In this case with a border of stones, but sometimes with a sand wall or moat and sometimes with sticks.

Cheers, Tom.

In landscape photography and cinema, there are two “Golden hours”: the first hour after sunrise and the last one before sunset. At these times, the sun is lower and less bright and as a result colours look warmer and softer, and shadows are less pronounced. Portrait photographers often use these times too as the soft lighting favours the tones of pale skins and blonde hair.

Stanley Kubrick’s stunningly beautiful film Barry Lyndon was filmed almost exclusively in the Golden Hours and this made for a difficult production, with the cast and crew having to be on set at dawn and dusk every day and filming being more than usually dependent on the weather.

The picture above was taken during the golden hour before sundown, at about 9:30 last night. It shows this effect rather well. It looks better bigger, so please click on it.

Cheers, Tom.

We’ll just sit there and look at the sea while he plays with his sticks.

Click the pic to enlarge it.

Cheers, Tom.

I swear, that dog has springs in his legs. He’s a machine for turning biscuits into fertilizer, but on the way he extracts boundless amounts of energy from his nourishment. You can just make out the ball in his mouth that he is so pleased to have retrieved from the air. Of course if he’d waited the ball would have just fallen to him, but that wouldn’t have been anywhere near as much fun, would it?

Cheers, Tom.

It annoys me when I listen to the weather forecast and they say “Another drab, dull, dreary day” or something like that. Tell me the weather, don’t attach emotions to it!

It is grey today though. I took the above picture about half an hour ago and opted for Black & White for a change,.

Cheers, Tom.

Or sometimes they get kicked down, as in the upper picture above.

“Castles Made of Sand” is a sad musing on thwarted plans. It contains perhaps the most personal lyrics that Jimi Hendrix ever wrote, although they are susceptible to many interpretations. The 1st  verse probably refers to the break-up of his parents, the 2nd to him and his brother’s childhood (both were ¼ Cherokee Indian), and the 3rd to the death of his mother. It’s both beautiful and chilling at the same time, particularly verse 3. If you don’t know the song, please read the lyrics and then give it a listen - youtube link below.

--------------------------
Down the street you can hear her scream “you’re a disgrace”
As she slams the door in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
And all the neighbours start to gossip and drool
He cries oh, girl you must be mad,
What happened to the sweet love you and me had?
Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
And his tears fall and burn the garden green

And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually

A little Indian brave who before he was ten,
Played war-games in the woods with his Indian friends
And he built up a dream that when he grew up
He would be a fearless warrior Indian chief
Many moons passed and more the dream grew strong until
Tomorrow he would sing his first war-song and fight his first battle
But something went wrong, surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night

And so castles made of sand melts into the sea, eventually

There was a young girl, whose heart was a frown
cause she was crippled for life,
And she couldn’t speak a sound
And she wished and prayed she could stop living,
So she decided to die
She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore
And to her legs she smiled you wont hurt me no more
But then a sight she’d never seen made her jump and say
Look a golden winged ship is passing my way

But it really didn’t have to stop, it just kept on going...
And so castles made of sand slips into the sea, eventually
--------------------------

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF4-r2MpRMs

Cheers, Tom.

In My Yellow Submarine”

I’ve never been much of a fan of The Beatles, to be honest. I always found them a bit twee and irritating, and Yellow Submarine sums this up perfectly: it is possibly the most irritating song of all time. Every other protest or march where the police attend seems to end up with all the activists chanting “We All Live In A Fascist Regime” to the tune, as they are dragged away in handcuffs.

My only reason for mentioning the song was because the picture above reminded me of it. The sea normally looks much more blue, as on yesterday’s blog picture, but looks very green here when the sky is clearly blue. I didn’t know why, so I looked into it and the answer, apparently, is algae and plankton. It’s very windy, and that must have brought all the plankton and algae out…or something.

Here is a jazz version of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Vt24LP20M

Cheers, Tom.

The perpetually shifting patterns of light on the sea are ever-changing, permanence in motion. It is uplifting to see the light from the sun glinting and twinkling on the breaking waves as they come tumbling towards the shore.

Sight and sound are in perfect harmony, with splashing water matching splashes of light.

We use the terminology of light to describe our moods. A good mood is light or bright, and a bad mood is dark or gloomy. Our moods can also be blue or grey, and for anger we "see red". There's no red on the sea though, except at sunset.

Cheers, Tom.

People just love it here. Cars park on the road outside our house and the kids race up to the top of the sea wall to get their first glimpse of the sea and the sand. It seems to stimulate their creativity too: almost every day a new cairn of stones appears, sandcastles, pictures drawn in the sand, patterns of stones. They have fish and chips for their lunch and an ice cream in the afternoon. They swim, paddle, dig, run and play all day long.

The couple in the picture above were as happy as sandboys, sat on the sea wall kicking their legs and enjoying the view. They are both smiling, as you can see if you click on the picture to make it bigger.

Cheers, Tom.

At this time of year, you have to be up pretty early  to get the beach completely to yourself. The picture above was taken at about 8AM this morning.

Even though it looks empty, there was a couple on the promenade with a rat-sized poodle, and of course Dan and Shep bolted off to say hello to it. They picked up their poodle and the result was my two dogs running round and round them barking until I got there, and even then Shep wouldn’t stop. They both got a wallop and went back on their leads again.

Cheers, Tom.

That’s not really true of course, but it’s a fine sentiment expressed beautifully in this song by Dolly Parton. She plays that guitar remarkably well too, and I have the greatest respect for anyone who can play guitar and sing at the same time and do both to such a high standard. It’s even better if you wrote the song yourself and it has personal meaning for you as this one does:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zJzr-kWsI

The colours of the sea this morning made me think of the song. It looked like a patchwork quilt, with every shade of blue and green in it. Unfortunately, the picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s a little better larger, so please click on it.

Cheers, Tom.

I think you’re supposed to point the pointy end into the waves! No harm was done, but the guys had to drag the boat back ashore and do a LOT of bailing out after this!

Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Cheers, Tom.

I met a fellow local on the promenade yesterday on the way back from walking the dogs. She pointed