How do you like Shanklin?



                           I don't know, I never shankled.

 



 

 

This is actually Sandown and it's our last view as we got on the coach to leave......which was sad.....but we did a lot before then.

 

We walked in the sand holding hands, ate chips, sat on the end of a pier, looked in souvenir shops full of rubbish and bought sticks of rock.

 

That sort of thing.

 

On the other hand, this is real treasure - emeralds and pearls stolen from King Neptune himself. 





 

 

It's 'Seaglass'; pieces of broken bottles, vases, pottery and plates thrown onto the beach and ground down by the slow washing of the sea until the edges are smooth and the surface turns into a beautiful pearlescent mist - jewels of the sea.

Sea glass is old - man made items preserved briefly before they vanish. I collected some from St. Ives that are very old indeed - I'll do a piece on them soon.

These are younger and rougher but full of the romance of the sea all the same.

For romance how about 'N + R xxx' in a heart?

We had some icecream too;

Just before we got on the coach to leave.

How about this for saving time for the busy tourist;

                                  

And it doesn't lie - the machine will 'draw' your portrait; "Far less expensive than the price of a masterpiece".

You can't argue with that.

When we were back on the boat we couldn't believe how fast the day had gone and as we watched the island slip away into the distance we watched great sheets of rain falling - where it had been so fine.

Back to all our problems, back to real life.

This photo is copyright Robyn G. May as my poor old camera couldn't cope.

Great rays of sunshine pouring through dark cloud.

 

 

 

A wonderful day and I got to do my injection on a boat - didn't go so well with the waves though.

Ooops!

 

Tomorrow, I've been lucky enough to persuade Journalist and Broadcaster Robyn G. May to write a special guest page for me.

 

Hopefully the first of many.

 

 Click on a picture for better quality.

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 



Summer Holiday.

 

It's 5 am, I've had 4 hours sleep and I'm panicking - the car in front is driving at about 11 miles an hour and even slow Neil needs to get past now, right now.

 

The coach leaves at 0615 am and that isn't a problem because I'm early. I'm in a hurry because I can see a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter high in the dawn sky and I'm desperate to get to Robyn's to show it to her before the Sun gets too bright or that big fat cloud gets in the way.

 

I made it, just in time, and we got to see 5 (or was it 7?) celestial bodies, all in the sky at the same time;

 

Venus, Jupiter, Sun, Moon and of course the Earth*.

 

What a great start to the day.

 

No holiday this year for me and not the last three years either, so this was a big deal for me - a day trip by coach to the Isle of Wight.

 

First time at the seaside for three years.

 

It's all packed lunches, fizzy drinks, biscuits and blue sky.

What more could anyone want? 

 

 

 

That's Southampton where we caught the boat and that's a speedy catamaran ferry zooming past us.

 

 

 





Southampton is a busy port city - this ship is bringing in new cars which line the docksides in great big car parks.

This is an area for sailing - mainly big fat expensive yachts even bigger than this one.

Cowes, the little port on the Island is home to a week of sailing for wealthy people every August.

They're starting to get ready, now.

We got a few hours in Sandown and Shanklin, two little 19th century resorts. There's a beach, a promenade and a pier but not too much going on. 

Then again it was sunny and we were like two Pit Ponies taken up out of the mine and released into the Sun for their once a year holiday in the light.

It's been tough recently so really today was just a chance to spend some time with Robyn.

None of it would have happened without some very special people; Manju who sorted out the carers for me; Rosie, Gurdeep and Ruby who did all the work and some very special thanks to Sharon for coming in for the afternoon.

Couldn't have done it without you.

So what did we get up to?

 

 

 

 

 

Check it out tomorrow, meanwhile if you click on any photo, you'll get better quality pictures in a slideshow.

 

* Those seven celestial bodies?

 

Earth, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Sun, Robyn and Neil.

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com