I found 33 out of 45 mermaids’ tails, nearly three quarters, then ran out of time, though some were way off my bus or walking routes anyway. Some people apparently snapped them all on the first day! There was plenty for children to do at the farewell event, from games to painting their own tails. The whole event must have taken a lot of planning and a lot of artists. The final part will see all the tails auctioned off.
Scrambled and bloggled words looking back on the week.
Why not go off on a Mermaid Tail Trail, which would be more environmentally friendly than blasting off in a toy rocket for eleven minutes. How does the all women ‘crew’ who presumably didn’t know how to steer it let alone orbit, inspire girls?
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is the real heroine. She was the first woman in space, having flown a solo mission on Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. She orbited the Earth 48 times, spent almost three days in space and is the only woman to have been on a solo space mission.
At least one person has been enjoying dipping into my new book with their coffee and cake. Actually it is my sister in Australia, but Amazon don’t know that, so how come Amazon would not let her post a review?!
It has been a long while since I reviewed books, well not just in my head… and back when I was reviewing, Amazon constantly rejected my reviews. I posted them in my Sunday Salon blog, but obviously the authors would want them on Amazon. When I recently finished reading an excellent book by a member of our writers’ group, I warned him about review problems, but hey presto, I soon had the email to announce it was live. This inspired me to write long overdue reviews for the other three published writers in our group and as a handy experiment to see how many reviews Amazon accepts. Two went live straight away, while I heard nothing about the third. What to do, it’s enough to give any writer a complex. Thankfully THREE days later I got the good news email.
So here are my reviews, take the opportunity to have a look at the very different books we write.
Two sisters recently reinstated a charity walk we did regularly in the previous decade; no T-shirts or requests for money, we just paid to take part. The original walks started at the Hengistbury Head end of the promenade in Bournemouth and we walked to Sandbanks in Poole at the other end of the promenade. As it was for fun as well as charity, walkers could join and leave at any point. Along the way we stopped for morning coffee on Bournemouth Pier, lunch at Sandbanks and afternoon tea on the way back. Poole Bay claims seven miles of beaches, so in those pre Fitbit and smartphone days we probably walked about fourteen miles. We took all day, but talking you don’t notice the miles.
This time it was decided to start at Bournemouth Pier as everyone was older and it was the easiest point for everyone to get to on the bus from all over the area. It was such a nice day I walked from home in Southbourne, not quite the beginning of the prom. The cliff top was lovely with gorse in full bloom. Friends who couldn’t come donated money. How did we get on?
A busy sunny Saturday, everyone was out.
But DANGER lurked
The cliff is always falling down.
Coffee Break
Have we reached the end?
Yes, the very end of the promenade, but the Jazz cafe is too busy so we make a detour onwards to the promise of lunch…
…around Poole Harbour….
Well not all the way round…
Cafe in sight, but turns out it’s being renovated…
However, this is Sandbanks and a kiosk is selling designer sourdough sandwiches
Lunch with a view and some walkers get a lift home..
Four of us make it back to Bournemouth and disperse to our buses after a cup of tea. I round off my pix with a walk to the end of the pier, but don’t linger as a strong easterly wind has sprung up. With my high tech devices and a note book, my phone tells me 12.7 kms were covered on the main walk and my Fitbit notched up eight and a half miles. I walked 18 kms since leaving home, or nearly ten miles since getting out of bed. Not quite the marathons of celebrities, but we raised enough money to share between two local charities.Thanks to Brenda and Sheila for organising the walk.
Looking towards home
Have you been on any interesting, dangerous or even totally insane charity walks, runs or climbs?
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 