A fence can have many uses; it just depends on your point of view.
Garden fence - June 2014
The tall blue flowers are Delphiniums, those at the left are Geraniums and the light blue on the right are Canterbury Bells. The pink flowers, just in shot, are Foxgloves. All these break up the view of the fence.
View from Whitby pier towards the aptly named Sandsend
The railing on the breakwater/harbour wall at Whitby has been put to a different use.
Railing 'painted' by the birds
Meanwhile one of Britain's colourful birds uses the top rail of a fence for beam exercises.
If you live in a village as small as mine it's often difficult to find a stranger at all. However just when I was about to give up I came across an ideal opportunity.
A stranger getting directions from a stranger
I thought it rather odd to see a car in this country lane that leads to nowhere but some farms. When I checked the car's registration I found that it had originated over 250 miles away, in Chelmsford, Essex.
I guess the stranger just wandered into my next shot of a fire practice on the River Tees.
Fire practice near the Infinity Bridge, Stockton-on-Tees
We went to watch our grandson in a surfing contest at Saltburn last October. There were strangers by the score -
I knew I shouldn't have used this title now I can't get that Fiddler's Dram song out of my head. Redcar in North Yorkshire is one of the nearest beaches to us. We went there one Sunday last month. I was not expecting to see the place like this -
Two windmills and not a car in sight
In the 1920s there were a lot of people about.
Beside the sea at Redcar
You can see Redcar's pier stretching out to sea.
The pier did not have a very happy life. In the 1880s and 1890s a series of ships broke through it. It was deliberately breached in 1940 to prevent its use by enemy invasion forces. As a result of damage by a mine explosion and subsequent deterioration it was never reconnected. The pier was demolished in 1981.
However Redcar now has a brand new pier.
Redcar Beacon - the town's vertical pier
When I first saw it i thought it was a 'helter skelter' ride like the ones there used to be at Redcar early in the 20th century.
Redcap Promenade 1902
The pier is still there and the beach is a hive of activity, a bit different from the day of our visit.
Redcar beach - 2014
I fairness I should say that it was mid-April when we went, the car park was half empty despite it being free (until the beginning of May at least). We couldn't have really expected the sands to look like this.
Redcar sands
We really must go back in the summer to see whether it's as busy then.
The old photos I've shown were taken inside the Redcar Beacon.
Redcar Beacon - 2014
There is one on the wall on each of its six floors.
And just so they can annoy you too, here is Fiddler's Dram
Now you can get some more sand in your shoes by visiting Sepia-Saturday-228.
