Back from a beach break

Took a short trip to Bournemouth over the weekend and got back yesterday evening. Slept right through my alarm (kinda short of sleep since the weekend - it was pretty hot last night - even more than the B&B I stayed at). Seems to be a bit cooler today though sadly, the rain I could see sweeping down over North London never quite reached us. Enough to put a bit of damp on the roads but barely a speck on the windows. Still awaiting a stonking good thunder storm...

The trip away was booked very much last minute (had to get in before skool hols and price increases) and much needed. Stayed at a great little place - The Hedley Townhouse B&B if you're ever down that way. Spotless room and ensuite, with a fridge (oh joy in a heatwave!), five minutes from a short road packed with a small supermarket and a clutch of pub, fish and chips, Italian, Mediterranean, Japanese, Korean, Indian and Thai places to sit in or pick up food, and five minutes to the path down to the beach. Bus connections to wherever ten minutes in the other direction or keep walking to hit the main shopping area. Perfect!

I love being by the coast and Bmouth has miles of very soft sandy beaches (excellent training for feet and Achilles tendons as I found on day 2 with aching as evidence) and it was mobbed over the weekend with barbecues starting up from 6pm. A promenade goes all along the coast - great for cycling and running. That may be the Isle of Wight on the horizon..?

I nipped over to Poole on the bus on Monday and had a lovely relaxing day there, including a boat trip round the islands that dot the harbour. Picked up a bunch of stuff from tourist info to check out the area from a creative perspective.

There were two small galleries in the high street but one isn't open for normal business at the moment and the other only opens on Friday and Saturday. Not so good. Can't recall seeing anything in Bmouth now I come to think of it but I didn't walk the whole town. Needs more research.

Am I eyeing up a possible relocation? Maybe. Plenty of rooms to let - prices are a bit higher than here but I haven't look at all the areas yet. I need (really need) to decide what my future is going to be. Been in limbo for over two years with the plan to move back to Devon which has become grounded for too long.

Anyway, while I plot and ponder, there's art work to finish here. Here's one of my next batch for the gallery.

I took this pic about 10 minutes ago and see that Nokia now has their name slapped across a bunch of photos. Gonna have to find out how to fix that. I had settings pop up for some reason while I was taking pics on the boat so that must've triggered summat. Don't know how but that has to go.

Okay, need to go out and get some salad stuff, then tidy up the room, put away travel stuff, clear my work space, finish the last piece of sculpture for batch #2, get on with a bit of painting and see if there's gloss ready to do the doors at the back of the gallery yard sometime this week (subject to possible rain appearance). So glad I booked Thursday and Friday off this week!