The Weather

[floragord]

Look after yourself if you head out with the camera!

Got the next best thing - am watching the live webcam at Dawlish, it's on the railway line which is feet from the beach so it's got a fab view of the big waves coming in, and I get to sit indoors and eat crisps while I'm watching the storm approaching
Been watching it for about half an hour now, it's so atmospheric and exciting watching the waves coming in!

How stunning to be near Dawlish, Carlotta! I remember the first ever time travelling by train to visit friends on Dartmoor, looked up from my book and there was the sea slap bang by the railway line! What a great idea to have a live webcam so you can enjoy the storm without venturing out!

[floragord]

Floragord wrote

Small world Francis, we live just opposite the De La Warr! How nice you revisit Hastings each year, there've been huge changes there since we came here in 2000, the station and Sussex Coast College are transformed! We enjoy the Old Town, take all our visitors for a look-see and lunch at Maggie's fish place!

When I went to school in Hastings in the early 1960s the Old Town was one of the poorest parts of Hastings but full of real characters and interest. Bexhill was always regarded as much posher than Hastings - mind you in the early 1830s, the Bexhill smugglers were the most violent in the country with several occasions when smugglers and excise men were killed in confrontations! As you live on the front you should see some violent wave action - I hope things go well.

How places change don't they, Francis - Leith in Edinburgh was considered very unsavoury when I was a child and now its apparently super cool! Its been a bit tricky here on the seafront since yesterday, several rattles and bumps in the night , the sea like a boiling cauldron - there's lashing rain and boisterous wind as I write but its slowly calming down at last, hopefully that's the worst over!

[floragord]

As you live on the front you should see some violent wave action - I hope things go well.

Yes, I bet you could get some great photos. Not that I expect that you will be venturing out in a storm, but if you live in close distance you could get some very nice pictures!

Gordon got a stunning pic of a rough sea with snow on the beach and a flaring sunset last winter, Poppy, we're thinking of making it a Christmas card this time round!

[Poppy]

Great idea, floragord! I'd love to see it if you can post it here. Great to hear everyone is OK - we were thinking about you! Saw the news this morning, they got some great footage too. There wasn't even any wind here last night only consistent rather heavy rain.

[floragord]

Makes you wonder about cottages like these at Kynance Cove in Cornwall, right on the beach!

What a stunning place Carlotta, great idea to tuck the cottages back into the hill a bit for shelter! Up at Pevensey near here there's several houses bang on the beach, unfortunately they often get flooded and its a problem getting any insurance; one thing about being up high is we don't have to wring out our carpets!!

[Carlotta King]

How stunning to be near Dawlish, Carlotta! I remember the first ever time travelling by train to visit friends on Dartmoor, looked up from my book and there was the sea slap bang by the railway line! What a great idea to have a live webcam so you can enjoy the storm without venturing out!

It's beautiful isn't it. So lovely to have the railway line running right next to the sea!
I live in Exeter so I'm really close to Dawlish, Exmouth and all the lovely coastal places, the train journey to Exmouth is lovely too because that runs right alongside the estuary so as you can see from these train window photos, it's a lovely view -






I didn't know there was a cam at Dawlish til yesterday when I was watching for the storm, I think I'll be watching it regularly now if the weather is too bad to actually go out!

... and we wondered if we'd done the right thing....

Sounds like the right thing to me!

Kynance is so beautiful isn't it.
Wow I can imagine the houses at Pevensey getting flooded if they're right on the beach, I'd love to live somewhere like that but it would be a worry when the weather got bad!

[Carlotta King]

Gordon got a stunning pic of a rough sea with snow on the beach and a flaring sunset last winter, Poppy, we're thinking of making it a Christmas card this time round!

I'd love to see that too, if you are able to post it here for us, it sounds beautiful!

[Carlotta King]

I've been out for a walk down by the river this afternoon and the walkways on the quay were all underwater, the river has flooded everything!

You can normally keep walking along where the bollards are here, right across to where the big bridge is in the background.


And here, I'm stood on the large bridge looking back at the small bridge where I was stood when I took the photo above
That grey stone oblong block to the left, in the greenery, is actually a few stone seats - you'd have to swim over to them today!

[floragord]

What fabulous pictures, Carlotta, but gosh!, the river looks high!! I'll have to put my limited techno abilities to work to get the snow/sea/sunset shot on here!, back sometime soon!..

[Carlotta King]

Looking forward to seeing your photo Flora!
If you need any help with it let me know!

Yes I couldn't believe the water - I normally walk over the little bridge and along to the big bridge but I had to turn back and go another way!

[Poppy]

Great pictures, Carlotta! I especially like the first once looking out to the bridge also capturing a happy like bird in front of you! He looks like he's jumping for joy or perhaps he is applauding his friend in the distance?! It looks a nice day where you are, anyway.

[Francis]

Lovely photos Carlotta - reminds me of many, many years ago when I lived with my parents in Whipton. This was for the period 1954 - 1957 when we often went on the train to Exmouth, Dawlish, etc. My sister and I would look out of the train windows as the steam trains chugged along the beautiful coast. Our mother would have to take the smuts out of our eyes with her hanky on a regular basis! Happy days when the sea was blue and the sands, golden. I remember sitting on a beach watching steam trains come out of one tunnel and into another whilst in between reading 'Noddy goes to the Seaside'.

[Katharine]

Lovely photos. I walked into town today, and there was the odd fence blown down and a wheelie bin or two. One section of pavement was cordoned off with a 'danger fire' tape. I could see any obvious danger, but crossed over the road, and then I saw that the chimney stack was half demolished.

Our main park is still closed while they sort out all the fallen trees, and I think the cemetery is closed to funerals only.

[Carlotta King]

Thanks for the lovely comments Poppy, Francis and Katharine!

Hehe, Poppy, he looks like he's doing a dance or something doesn't he! I didn't see him when I took the photo, it was only when I got home and transferred them to my laptop that I noticed him!
Perhaps one of his little friends was unsure if he'd make it to the other side, and when he did, this one clapped him!
There were tons of birds where I was stood, swans and gulls and pigeons and everything, people were feeding them from the bridge, they normally hang round on the walkway but it was underwater today!

Wow Francis, small world hehe, fancy you living in Whipton!
Sounds like you may have been at Dawlish when you were watching the train tunnels from the beach?
What lovely memories - reading Enid while sat on the sand!

There have been a lot of fallen trees our way too Katharine. I haven't seen any structural damage in the city as yet but have only walked down to the supermarket and back, but there were lots of bins about and roadworks signs where they shouldn't have been, and things like that.

[Eddie Muir]

Super photos, Carlotta!