Tag: sea

Reasons to visit the Isle of Man – III

thegirlinthecafe 1 Comment

Seals on the Isle of Man

On my first day out on the Isle of Man I drove to the Langness Peninsula, for a first light house watch. I had to ask my way several times. I could see the lighthouse, but could not seem to find the road that would lead me to it. So after crossing a golf course several times (there was a small road, I did not actually race over their green!) with the risk of having the car hit by a golf ball, I finally found the tiny road that lead to the lighthouse. After taking the obligatory pictures, I sat down on a rock beside it and found the book that was given to me by a good friend as a part of an Isle of Man “chill pack”.

Well it didn’t get any more chilling than this. There were no people whatsoever to spot anywhere near me, the sun was shining, I had a lighthouse just beside me on my left, and in front of me was a very calm sea. It was quiet and peaceful, all I could hear were some birds. I started reading.

I was completely lost in my book when my ears picked up a peculiar sound. It sounded like someone snorting, and no, unfortunately, it wasn’t him. I couldn’t quite see where it came from at first, until I looked right in front of me, and there he was – a seal! He kept me company for a couple of hours, diving down once in a while for a bite to eat, and popping up again for some air. If you look carefully at the photo you can see him waving his paw. I asked him to do that, because it would make such a cute photo. He was happy to do so. His name? No this wasn’t Bill, but Sam, his brother.

Sam was not the last seal I saw on the isle. I think I have seen seals every day. I saw quite a lot of them near Sound (also in the south) and the handsome fellow in the middle (number 3 and that is Sam’s brother Bill indeed) came greeting me in the harbour of Peel. Seals are a very common sight all around the island, but they kept Wow’ing me every single time. It is so cool to see them in their natural environment.

The Isle of Man – the isle of incredible beauty

thegirlinthecafe 2 Comments

Tea on the Isle of Man

The older man walked up to me for a little chat.
“This is the best view of the island” he said to me.
“I believe you right away” I smiled at him. (and the picture doesn’t truly show it)
“So where are you from?”
“London”
“Ah” he said, and he didn’t need to say more, I got what he meant.
“First time here?”
“Yes” I said.
“And?”
“Definitely not the last time”
“I know that” he smiled.

I know that too.

I am back in London, but I am far from back.

Pause a while and muse

thegirlinthecafe 8 Comments

Love never ends

A train at 9.47am on a Sunday morning – after a short night and weather that could not be more depressing – demanded a lot of willpower. But I had my book and the prospect of a train trip, and even if it was going to be rain all day, that was enough to have me leave my bed and hop on board to Eastbourne. The BBC promised heavy showers all day.

While approaching Eastbourne it magically cleared up and the grey clouds turned into sunshine and while setting a first few steps on a very steep hill in the direction of Beachy Head I discovered a couple of things:

I really need to work on my condition
Love never ends
and most importantly
I live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

Warning: Lots of pictures in this post.

Read More

Things that can make a Friday

thegirlinthecafe 6 Comments

  • An egg/bacon sandwich for breakfast. I know, I am so British sometimes.
  • Good friends. Even when they live 200 miles away. We actually managed to watch Love, Actually together on the telly this week while chatting on MSN, demanding complete radio silence when “he” was in view. Yes we are both 12.
  • The fact that BFI is screening Absolute Hell. Didn’t think I would be able to ever catch that one on the big screen. How cool. And how young he is!
  • The trip to the sea last weekend made me realize that I had to do this more often: trips to the sea. So I googled some good places near the coast (I live on an island after all so there is lots of coast around!) where you can find nice lighthouses and Sunday it will be the beautiful red and white Beachy Head lighthouse in Eastbourne. May the weather be nice.
  • 22 days until departure to the Isle of Man. Five lighthouses!
  • Flashbacks of a fool (Daniel Craig), Happy Go Lucky (Mike Leigh’s new one), In Bruges (duh? yes but Ralph Fiennes) and Street Kings (duh?? yes but Hugh Laurie! I don’t like the hospital bits of House, but I do like House!) are all hitting the cinemas in London this weekend.
  • I don’t know what it is with series built around hospital life, but I happen to like Grey’s Anatomy a lot too. Neither here do I like the hospital scenes!
  • Am currently reading Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks I had not heard of Sebastian Faulks before a friend recommended and gave this book to me. I love the book and can’t wait to spent more time with it. Another reason why he will be on my radar: he has written Devil may Care, a new Bond novel which will be released on the 28th of May.
  • New on the photoblog: Shells and Under a blood red sky
  • Seeing as you all did so well with the previous one, please add your caption to this picture too (and no this is not turning into a daily thing). Leigh-on-Sea was a dog paradise.

    Here is mine:

    “No I really should not have eaten that. Really not!”

  • Enjoy your weekend!

I’m all at sea

thegirlinthecafe 1 Comment

I was clever enough to buy the traintickets up front, so I wouldn’t sleep half of my Saturday away again. The summer has returned to London, and England, so tomorrow we are going to leave the city, and will be all at Sea, for a day.

We just want to sit down somewhere in the sun, recharge and let the waves take care of things in heads. Waves are good. The city is certainly nice, but we need some fresh air now, and a sea view. The pirate has been begging me for weeks to go to the sea, so it’s about time.

More to look forward to : The new series of Extras, starting on Thursday on BBC2. I can’t wait, this time they have people like Sir Ian McKellen, Chris “Coldplay” Martin, Jonathan Ross, Daniel “Potter” Radcliffe, Orlando Bloom and David Bowie himself. Ricky was visiting Jonathan Ross’ talkshow tonight, and I think the neighbours could hear me laughing. He is absolutely the funniest man in the universe.

May your weekend be sunny.