What I Saw Today.

Some of what I saw today. 

As I strolled along a street in Brighton the other day, on my way to catch a bus, I saw a young blind man, leaning against a wall, chatting on his phone, while his companion waited patiently, clutching what must have been his white stick.

At the end of this road - clearly in my view - was the way to the sea.  I wondered how he felt about not being able to see the what I could and how it would feel to me.

I could conjure it my mind's eye with the memory of many a walk taken and hundreds of hours spent just sitting and staring, but he might never have done either and, anyway, it's no real substitute.

So, today, I looked with new eyes.  Sat on the top deck, I watched it all away along the coast - the greys and greens, the hues of blues.  Oh, how those of us who live here take it for granted.

Once in town, I took more notice of other things too - the childrens' funny flip flops for sale on a stand, for example and the copious colours glaring and jumping out of the shop windows.  What would normally jar, I rejoiced in, today, together with the pretty patterns on the beautiful clothes, the leaves on the trees and the sky - always a wonder - too.

I took more time, slowed right down, paid more attention and appreciated what I saw.

Once home, all chores were abandoned and I went to see the sea again, thinking of that young blind man  - how he would feel the spray in the air, smell the seaweed and taste the salt.  And a paramount part of the pleasure - how he would hear it.

I hoped he could enjoy everything else - especially today.  It was sunny and windy - my favourite, as each of the senses are truly tickled.  I felt extra blessed and humbled for all five of mine.

Later on, I lingered for longer at the trampoline as my son leapt about laughing.  I watched his expressions of excitement and exhilaration and could feel healing in my heart.

I gloried in the green of the grass and the garden, instead of worrying about the weeding and fretting about the stuff that forever never gets done.

I watched the clouds at 9.30pm when it was still quite light.

And on turning in, I lay there realising that perhaps I may not have two ha'pennies to rub together, but I am rich beyond measure.

(Until next door's newly acquired cockerel kept cock-a-doodle-doo-ing and I've had to start all over again!).

What will you see today?

Anya xx

Our House Guest.

Buddy and the boys.

Every now and then we look after a beautiful dog called Buddy.  His lovely owner lives at Mum in the South and she lets him take us all out for a walk and come for a little holiday.

As much as the boys and I would all love one of our own, it would really prohibit the number of Foreign Language Students who'd still wish to come and stay and seeing as they're a decent source of income and part of our lives for now, it's something we have to accept.

In this particular instance, one of them had been stealing from me and was shortly to be leaving us, so I didn't give a stuff about whether or not he likes pets.  In fact, I really hoped he didn't, but this wasn't the point.

We love Buddy, Buddy loves us and we were all very excited he was coming for five nights.

Generally speaking he's a very well behaved dog, but he refuses to 'sit' for me.  He'll do it for my eldest, but then he's the one with the biscuits, whereas I'm the one with the poo bags.

It makes people stare disapprovingly in the street, while I bark instructions he completely ignores, but that's nothing new.  My kids do the same.

And at night, he can't decide which of us he wants to sleep with, so he likes to share himself around and drive me mad.  We're like a proper family.

The first time he ever stayed over, he was locked in the kitchen and made his upset known, so ended up with me after less than half an hour - which was fine until he started farting.  After that, I stuck him on the landing between us all, but he was a bit too big for his basket and after checking up on us countless times, he finally took himself down to the sofa, arguably the most comfortable spot in the house, but where he wouldn't normally be allowed.

On this occasion, I put a blanket on there for him.  He'd stay with the kids while they went to sleep, then come and keep me company downstairs, which was wonderful.  Although he didn't like it once when I closed my bedroom door to lessen doggy disturbance, so learned to plonk himself down on the floor in there before bedtime.  He knew I wouldn't have the heart to kick him out.

He had his very own Christmas dinner and helped himself to the turkey accidentally left on the side to cool, despite it being covered with heavy bowls.  This meant the ham that was supposed to join it in a pie was served with something else, but we didn't mind.  He lived like a lord.

What he gave us back was better.  If he hadn't taken us for a walk every day, for example, we might have missed some spectacular sights.

 We hope it's not too long before he comes for another little holiday!

The Power of a Walk.

The other day I went for an amble.  I love the fairer weather.  I am a fair weather walker, you could say.  

Living on the seafront is wonderful in the winter with the gales and gusts and the sea in the storms, but those aren't the days the car is left somewhere after the school run and a saunter home is taken. The time has come for burning the midnight oil and mooching in the mornings in the sun. Spring brings a fresh wind and it's invigorating to let go for an hour and just be.  

In fact, it's the best thing on earth.  No matter how overwhelmed I'm feeling, no matter how many times I've been woken by the students / kids / dustmen refuse collectors / seagulls / next door's pigeons / dogs / cats / a mouse in the house / a random beeping from a car or a handset somewhere - there really is light at the end of some tunnels!    

I'll get right up close and personal with the water's edge and breathe and all will be well with the world.  It gives me a feeling of coming home.  I love the bright sky, the expanse of space, the smells, the sounds of the waves rolling in, the peace yet the noise.  The salt in the air makes me smile.  I feel part of something special - something big, something beautiful and something better.

Little things get perspective, big ones come to the forefront of my mind as I wander and I just listen - to them come and go, come and go, as the tide comes and goes, comes and goes.  It is wonderful and I rejoice in being able to do this.  It is probably the singular thing that prevents me looking for an office job.  I would hate to give this up.  I would miss it.  

This is where my heart is.  Where's yours?  

Thank you to all of you who nominated me in the #Bibs 2015 Best Writer Category.  I'm thrilled to have made it to the shortlist and it would be awesome to make it into the final five.  If you can find it in your heart to vote me through, then please click HERE.  (Thank you very, very much!).  

Everything Different.

One perspective. 

It can be a lonely business being a writer.  I like to take the lap top into town sometimes, purchase a coffee whilst perusing the passers-by and be away from the distraction of domestic drudgery.  It’s much more fun than being at home and the very best way to get things done.

There’s never any shortage of something interesting to see in or near Brighton.  There will be people with green, purple or pink hair.  There will be an array of bright and breezy coloured weird clothing combinations and business persons - suited and booted - will mingle with the sandal-wearing vegans dressed in hemp.  Plus, of course, depending on the venue of the day, there’s always the possibility of working with a sea view.

It struck me recently though, that I sit in the same places, in the same cafes, ordering the same things in them and, lovely as they all are, it felt like time to shake it up a bit.

A different perspective.

My first few forays were unnerving.  There wasn’t always WiFi for a start.  Or anywhere to plug anything in when my battery was getting too low.  At least when you’re familiar with a place and they’re familiar with you, these things are a given. (I always ask permission before using anyone else’s power and you can’t always find someone somewhere new!).

Then there’s the parking issue. I HATE paying over the odds for that when the cash could go towards something nice for lunch instead, so that threw me a bit too and it was quite hard to continue my ‘Everything different’ drive. 

Plus, the kids didn’t like it when it came to the week-ends. We’ve been going to alternative parts of the beach – or *gasp* not going at all.  Even just walking in the opposite direction has rattled them and they haven't appreciated my daring little detours when we're driving.  We’re playing more board games, watching less movies (if you don’t count the shedload while the little one was ill in half-term) and generally just jazzing things up.  It seems they needed it equally as as much!

But then, then, oh then, after a few months of this, I found myself back in an old haunt and, for a moment, considered sitting somewhere really out of character and ordering a liquorice tea, in order to, you know, keep the whole new change thing going.  However, I treated myself, instead, to what would have been my usual fayre.  The pleasure took me by surprise - it felt like I’d come home.

For a start, it alleviated any lurking loneliness.  The familiarity of my coffee was a complete comfort and joy.  And I realised why we pick our places and we stick with them until we’re perhaps, too stuck - it’s because we've chosen them over and above the rest for a reason.  They suit us.  We love them.    
We've enjoyed ‘Everything different’ - it certainly has its place.  Getting out of a rut has been good for us all, but it has also brought extra pleasure to what I was already doing and where we were already going.  The children have become more (graciously!) adaptable and the exploring and venturing further afield will continue, spoiled as we are with a wealth of opportunity where we live - between the foot of the Sussex Downs and the coast.  Now that the kids are older, it's time for us all to spread our wings a little further.

Just don’t let me dye my hair.

Have you tried anything new lately?

A change of viewpoint. 

Blogging My Own Back Yard.

I went walking recently, as we do regularly living by the coast. Everything seemed to have taken on a prettier light in this extended summer we're having.

Still a numpty with my iPhone but loving these pics, I thought I'd share them anyway. Sometimes, you don't have to be clever with a camera when the subjects themselves are so awesome, although some close ups would have been nice, admittedly.

It's easy to take these views for granted when they're there almost every day, but on this particular Sunday -which I suppose you could call our first Autumnal one they spoke to me differently. Long may it continue!

What do you think?

The Story of A Not So Innocent Stroll.

Doesn't this look like an innocent day for a stroll?

As promised yesterday, here's a series of pics that tell another story of a quite unexpected happening when going out for some fresh air recently.  The sea looks so calm compared to these others recently and the sky couldn't be much more of a stronger contrast - it's actually quite hard to believe how little time has passed between the two days until you walk a little longer, look a little closer and see the signs.

 - It took a passing Australian chap to point out the tell tale ones up against the actual cliff wall!


The ones on the promenade had looked a bit wet -

- and it wasn't too long before those of us down there could see why!

And out of nowhere things like this would happen and make me jump a mile!

But it wasn't only me taken by surprise - 

There's a close up of this one on yesterday's post I ruddy love it SO much and it seemed rude not to give it its own special space! 

The waves seemed to come out of nowhere, through and over the defences! 

So despite the sunny weather, this turned out to be a shorter stroll in that direction than anticipated.  It didn't make sense to go any further and I headed off in the opposite one, noting the wet promenade again, but thinking how much safer it looked that way - only to have once more been lulled into a stupid sense of security and not being the only one!

This is Gabi, the lady from earlier squelching her way towards home but not before we'd had a decent chat and a laugh about the sea still behaving in way that we're not used to locally.  She has sportingly said it's OK to post these photographs of her. 

We were fortunate that there was some safe middle ground to head to because, fascinating though it was, I was genuinely frightened by now and glad to be able to run away! 

But doesn't this look like an innocent day for a stroll? 

Linking up with Older mum's #oneweek celebration of Winter.

Clueless Comes Good - The Story of a Stroll in the Storms.

In my last post I promised to expand further on one of the tips my Turkish professional film maker language student gave me - using the HDR option to take better photos on our phones.    

I shall keep it quick and in simple language for clueless folk like me, because I want to be getting on with showing you pictures of the sea in the recent windy weather.  Those who know what they're doing can pass right on by this bit.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.  There are plenty of websites that go into the finer details, but the upshot is that your camera takes three different photographs of the same thing and superimposes them all so that you get the best bit of each to make the best possible one.  Here are a couple of examples:

Normal setting.

HDR setting.

Normal setting.

HDR setting.

It's to do with the different exposures - where the light is brought in better in different areas and it's brilliant for these outdoor ones where I'd previously found it frustrating that those of the sea appeared rather more gloomy than had actually seemed the case at the time.  My kindly teacher has gone on to explain about shutter speeds and how he uses three sources of light - including a flash during daylight sometimes to avoid a shadow like the one he took in this one, for example - 

Without flash.

With flash, using the sea and sky as the other two sources of light.

- but, to be honest, I'm happy with just pointing and shooting with the tips he's already given me and in one of these photographs below - where the details of the spray (which my sons refer to as 'fireworks') were lost against the light of the sky it has been better to keep the original picture rather than the HDR one for contrast.  The phone gives both versions of photographs magically (see 'Settings' otherwise, but you know better than to ask me).  

There endeth our lesson.  However, here's another tip that I discovered for myself after taking these and you won't get this on any posh photography sites (!) - when your phone gets stuck on its 'headphones' setting, even though you haven't used it and you can't get it to switch back to work normally, this will be because it has come into contact with water and you'll need to take a hairdryer to it.  If you're very lucky, once you've indulged in plenty of self-pitying panicking and learned your lesson sufficiently, it might sort itself out.  *Blushes*   

So without further ado, here is the story of a stroll I took when the tide was OUT but coming in.  In almost twenty years of living in and close to Brighton I have never seen the sea anywhere near as high.  Half an hour later, walking back along the cliff top, I could see it would have been downright dangerous to be down there still. Those high waves are carrying pebbles and those concourses are usually clear for walkers, cyclists, roller bladers and maniacal kids on scooters, not least and namely mine.  

Although it was awesome, I felt scared for those suffering in the floods.  The power of the water was incredible.

The tide is out, but coming in. 

I'm not the only one fascinated.

The morning after the night before.    

Walking further along. 

Can you see those pebbles?

The non-HDR.

'Fireworks.'

I got soaked!

My favourite.

Past the worst.

There's been no scooting since, but at least we're safe, warm and dry.

Continuing my walk.

Still very deep.

Heading up to the cliff top.

I'm aware these photos could be better.  I am not professing to be an expert.  On the contrary - they're just casually captured by a numpty with an iphone.   A proper camera, an additional lens even, could improve on them no end, but I do love this walk by the sea and take it regularly.  It's never before been remotely like this and the opportunity might never present itself again, so I hope you've enjoyed sharing my stroll with me.      

Don't forget to pop over to the Love All Blogs Better Photos Project for ideas and inspiration and tips and stuff from proper photography people! 

And I'm linking this up with Cas at Mummy Never Sleeps who helps us celebrate the small things in life.