Tuesday, July 22, 2008

God Bless East Lothian!

Poppy and insect, East Fortune Airfield Three days of bliss. Nice weather, good food, fine ales and wines, and a full-to-bursting memory card in my camera. Should I live long enough and rack up enough Tiger Tokens, I fully intend to find somewhere to retire to out that way. Yeah, nice dream........... Anyway, heres a rough guide to three days in God's country. Friday - Pick up caravan from officially the most depressing place on earth. The guy's an ex haulage contractor and his wife keeps Alsatians. The yard the caravan is kept in can best be described as an accidental scrap yard. People park their caravans and forget to pick them up again, cars rust away amongst the weeds and thirty years worth of accumulated lorry parts lie corroding, open to the elements. Meanwhile, the dogs go mental in their caged 'runs' and you begin to realise that at least the caravan will never get stolen or vandalised. Arrive at East Fortune Farm, say hello to the hens, the goose, the donkey and the horse. We're in the overflow from the main site. No bad thing as it turned out. Watching hens running around is one of life's simple joys. It's also damn funny. Saturday - Go to the bike racing, but it wan't really enjoyed. My dad used to run the racing side of the meetings there until a few years ago. When my mum got sick, he packed it in, but you can just tell he doesn't approve of the way other people do things. Two minutes into the sidecar race and he'd had enough. A bit of bad judgement by an official and a fuck witted rider almost caused an almighty accident, after which he decided to take a stroll round the paddock and talk to some old aquaintances. I spent the rest of the afternoon dodging rain showers and practising my 'action photography' with varying degrees of success.

St Abbs Harbour & mini Tsunami

Sunday - Off down the coast to St Abbs, via some of the less well known coastal roads and farm tracks of the area. Popped into Eyemouth and for the 2nd time I failed to be impressed. It's just not a place I like very much. There were seals in the harbour again and someone had set up selling fish heads to be attached to poles and fed to the waiting animals. Last time I was there, the seals were a bit more energetic and playful, this time they just floated about and waited on someone to serve up their tidbits. Slightly depressing really. St Abbs on the other hand was a joy. It was damn busy, what with divers and daytrippers and so on. There was a fair old wind kicking up and waves were battering the outer harbour, sending up sheets of water some thirty foot in height. I could easily have spent the day watching the breakers rolling in. Monday turned out to be a stunning day. A short run out to a local motor museum, then an Iron Age hill fort was about all we managed. The six quid entry to the museum seemed a tad steep, it wasn't really all that big, but it was just about worth the entry as there was plenty crammed into the space available. North Berwick was jumping, mainly with OAP's and families down for the day to make the most of the weather. A slightly indulgent lunch was enjoyed in a rather dinky wee tea room (Hot pancakes with fudge sauce, maple syrup and ice cream!), then it was back to the caravan to hitch up, say goodbye to the beasts of the field and skulk back to Glasgow and the rain.

Sunset at East Fortune Farm.

Songs of Summer No5 - Ramsay Midwood: Mohawk River

2 comments:

SzélsőFa said...

It was one of the most refreshing reads I've read these days.
It seems you really had a good time.
And damn, that first photograph is stunning.

iLL Man said...

Oh, I did! It was hardly what you could call a 'holiday', but we packed a fair amount into the three days.

The photo is one of those happy accidents. The poppies and daisies are a decent composition in themselves, but the insect, virtually undetectable to me when I pressed the shutter, just tops it all off. I think I'll blow that one up actually........ ;)