Another bright sunny day on the beach. There were plenty of people basking on the sand, boats a-plenty passing to and fro and Swanage Sailing club were holding a regatta. For once the winds allowed some interesting sailing until later in the afternoon when, as is often the case with a change of tide, the breeze faded to a lazy force one to two and I saw a red ketch rigged dinghy beginning to lose weigh against a fast incoming tide.

 The people on the beach were, on the whole a tidy bunch and reasonably cheerful. the Punch and Judy show did their three performances, almost word for word for all the other shows I have witnessed. It is a shame that political correctness has eliminated some of the more colourful characters, such as Jack Ketch the hangman. Our local professor told me a tale about the time, a few years ago when a local Conservative councillor had complained about him hanging Margaret Thatcher, saying that it showed a lack of respect for a great leader. I always assumed that one of the traditions of the show was to do just that. He ended the recollection by stating that he never actually did hang her, she was in fact eaten by the crocodile!  I'm sure that Maggie would probably have been amused by the tale.
Today's stats: 16170 Steps 6.89 miles.
I read an article about sand castle building which stated that a proportion of water to sand of 1% was the ideal mix for sand castle building. Many budding crenellators on the beach make the mistake of starting their projects on the powdery dry sand above the high water mark, those in the know plump for the intertidal zone, where the sand is well compacted and eminently suitable for construction. When I have a couple of non-exhausted free time I might have a go myself.

If you have enjoyed reading this blog why not take a look at some of my other work, My book "The Art of Coarse Boating" is available at: Buy The-art-of-coarse-boating
 Also see my own website: jeffdray.co.uk