Rain - what rain?!

 Today I met up with the friend I had planned to meet last Tuesday when I did my walk in the rain into town.  What a difference in the weather!  I drove to Dorchester enjoying the sunshine and the views where we met in the car park and then took the bus into Weymouth using our bus passes.

 We had a cup of coffee in Marks and Spencer before setting off to walk along the beach which was all but deserted.  No ice cream vendors, no Punch and Judy and no donkeys today.  It was wonderful to be out in the fresh air and sunshine although it wasn't warm enough for a paddle or even to sit on the beach.

 We walked along chatting and catching up with the gossip all the while keeping our eyes on the pebbles in search of any tiny treasures.

We were headed towards Bowleaze Cove a little over 2 miles away.

We finished up at the long white building you can see in the above photo which turned out to be The Riveria Hotel which back in my Weymouth college days nearly 50 years ago was a holiday camp and owned by Pontins I believe.  We discovered that it was open for business and that the bar served sandwiches and light meals so we had our lunch there.

Just look at that sky - hard to believe we were suffering torrential rain earlier in the week isn't it?

I loved the patterns on the concrete supports here  - do click on the photo to enlarge it and see what I mean.

We wended our way back after lunch and by now it was probably about 2.30pm and the sun was lower in the sky - days are so much shorter this time of year and we both wanted to get back before darkness fell.

 See how the light is now golden and there is a sense of evening already.  There is an urgency about days out this time of year a feeling that one must make hay whilst the sun shines and the number of daylight hours in which to enjoy time outdoors being reduced one had better get a move on!  We duly caught the bus back to the cars at Dorchester.  The scenery looked so different on the drive home and whereas this morning everything was bright in the sunshine on my return drive the distant hills were drawn in charcoal and the sky was a water colour of lemon, rose and blue streaked with deeper mauve which it was difficult to differentiate from the hills (well it was whilst driving and needing to look where I was going!) - the sheep looked whiter in the fields and cropped the grass seeming unconcerned about the coming night or even the falling temperatures (only2.5 degrees by then) but perhaps wearing woolen coats they had sufficient to keep them warm.  The Old man's beard draped over the hedgerows like rather grubby duvets would hopefully provide some warmth for any small creatures in the hedgerow and the birds were making their way across the darkening sky presumably to their roosts.  How lucky was I to be heading home to a warm house where I have a cosy bed for later!  I was home and with the kettle on as darkness fell at 4.30pm

Some of the little treasures I found in my pocket along with a load of damp sand!  I particularly like the shell which has a look of carved ivory don't you think?  I also found a few bits of sea glass something I don't think I have found before.

Thank you to all those who left such lovely comments on my previous post.  Sadly Cas I have to admit the shawlette isn't finished in fact it is once again a ball of yarn as having managed to knit a shallow triangle as required I actually thought it looked a bit like a dishcloth round my neck after all so unravelled it and the ball has joined my ever increasing yarn stash!!