July 2008

Since our visit to France we have been catching up with (old) friends. We invited Brian and Julia over for Sunday lunch, but in his email Brian warned me that Nog and Karen lived 'dangerously close'. I wouldn't say Portsmouth was that close, but close enough to join us on the Sunday.


The last time we saw Nog and Karen was 9 years ago at JHQ. They haven't changed a bit.


Nog in full flow. He's not asleep - honest!


We were invited to Sue Jones's 60th. Here she is at Eastney Cruising Association for lunch.


Here we are at ECA. The meal was great and the 'dinner' ladies always provide an excellent lunch.


I managed to get out into the forest on my bike early one morning. This pool at King's Garden (no King's or garden here) always has water in it even during the driest periods so it remains a good watering hole for the animals. This time the pony was enjoying the water lilies.

The Red Arrows - this was a surprise. We had gone to Mudeford Lifeboat Funday and the Red Arrows who were off to Swanage, for an air display, were persuaded to overfly Mudeford in the afternoon.


This is a shingle bank about 50 metres offshore. For the Funday some joker had put a For Sale sign on it. The white bit underneath the sign says 'Seaview'.



The 'Mudeford Servant'.

The Atlantic 85 is a rigid inflatable lifeboat, introduced in the latter half of 2005 as the latest development of the B class. It has a manually operated self-righting mechanism and is capable of being beached in an emergency without sustaining damage to engines or steering gear. The Atlantic 85 is fitted with radar and VHF direction finding equipment and can be operated safely in daylight in a force 6/7 and at night in a force 5/6.