Previously……….

That evening, after an early dinner together, they walked to Carrie’s hotel while Carrie collected her camera and tripod. They then walked down to the Cobb and they both took some sunset and blue hour photos. Charlotte saw how the underlit clouds and their vivid  purples, reds, blues and oranges made much more interesting images than those taken in the middle of the day. She’d managed in some of her smartphone shots to capture seabirds swooping across the setting sun and was delighted.

Carrie promised to show Charlotte, the next day, what she does to edit  images she’s taken. Charlotte insisted that it would be her turn to drive.

Continued………

It was dark as they parted for the evening. She walked back up the steep hill, past the lighted-up windows of the shops and premises where people were still eating or drinking or simply working. She felt safe in a way she wouldn’t have at home. She collected her room key and booked another packed lunch for the following day before walking up the stairs to her room. It was becoming more familiar to her now – where things were, how the shower worked,  how the room temperature was controlled, how to use the television. She now had the hotel wi-fi password stored on her phone.

When she got into her room, she parked her jacket and bag on the bed then used the bathroom. Having freshened up she sat, wrote and addressed the postcards, placing a stamp on each for posting the following day. She’d just made herself a cup of the courtesy hot chocolate when her phone summoned her. It was Frank.

‘Oh, you’re in at last,’ he said when she answered.

‘What! Are you my parole officer now?’ she riposted.

‘I’ve rung a couple of times,’ he said.

‘So what?’ she said, ‘I’m free, white and turned twenty-one. I stayed out. You buggered off and left me. What time I come and go has sod all to do with you now.’

‘Let me start again,’ he asked, ‘I’m sorry. You’re right, it’s none of my business. I was just worried. That’s all.’

She accepted his apology and asked him what he wanted. He told her that with her being so far away, he was concerned in case she’d been in an accident or something. She told him she was fine and asked about his day.

He told her that he’d been cutting the grass at her house and doing some weeding.  She thanked him. It had needed doing.

‘You’ll never believe what I’ve been doing,’ she said.

‘Go on,’ he said, ‘You’re dying to tell me aren’t you.’

‘Have you ever come across someone named Carrie Ann Rice who writes books about landscape photography?’ she asked.

‘I can’t say as I have,’ he replied, ‘Why.’

She told him about Carrie, how they’d met, what they’d been doing together the last two days and what she’d learned about Carrie’s little earner.’

‘That’s tremendous,’ he said, ‘And you two get on well together?’ he asked.

‘Really well,’ she said, ‘and let me tell you what we’re going to be doing next Friday or Saturday if the skies are clear.’

‘Sounds like a bit of astrophotography,’ he said.

‘You guessed,’ she said, ‘We’re going back to Durdle Door to photograph it at sunset, then staying until it’s really dark to photograph the Milky Way over its arch. What do you think about that?’

‘I’m gobsmacked, I confess.’ he said, ‘That would be a dream come true as far as I’m concerned.’

‘Well, for cutting my grass, I’ll let you see my photos,’ she said.

 ‘It sounds as if her and me would make a good match. Do you have her address?’

‘She’s got too much style about her for you mate,’ she said.

 She put down the phone, laughing.

She wasn’t tired so she also phoned Gloria, David and Betty. The calls to her children were straightforward chats about work and the children, though they were impressed by what they heard about Carrie. The call to Betty was much more interesting. Betty told her, in confidence, that she’d not been honest with Frank. There were some houses on the market that would probably be fine for him, but she’d told him that agents usually prefer to sell to current renters because they can make more money out of them. Not true but it meant that Frank would have to stay with Gloria a while longer if he didn’t want to settle for B&B or a hotel in the meantime. Betty’s plan was to allow them both longer to settle their differences. Betty said that she’d cleared this with Gloria who’d been only too happy to help. Charlotte thanked Betty but she wasn’t sure that she wanted Frank back. She’d had a taste of independence and she liked it. Who needs men?

Featured Photo

I took this photo a couple of days ago (21/02/2021) while I was out for a walk. I’d gone to take my daily exercise a couple of miles further from home than usual. I began near the Ship Inn at Blackbrook, St Helens, Merseyside. I parked near the Ranger’s Hut and walked, initially along the Canal and then beside the stream along the woodland path to its junction with Garswood Old Road at Happy Valley, Carr Mill. I’d taken my camera and took lots of photos to show you over the next several episodes of this story. Most of them will show the path and the water beside it.

This first photograph shows a basin of the canal near the start of the walk.

I used my Pentax KP 24 MP cropped sensor camera with a 35 mm f/2 full-frame prime lens attached. The shutter speed was 1/100 at f/13 and the ISO was 1000 The shot was handheld and I post-processed my shot in Lightroom Classic.

Previously……….

Her account to Charlotte of her work had to pause occasionally, so that she could make herself heard above the hissing and banging of the coffee-making machinery, and the clatter of cutlery and crockery. She told Charlotte about how she sold some of her images online both digitally and as prints. She explained that she produces calendars and greetings cards from her photos and that she writes books illustrated with them. Before he died, her husband had introduced her to a publisher who was a client of the bank he worked for. He had liked the draft of a book she had written and had published it. Since her husband had died, she’d had several more published – many for the lucrative American market.  She didn’t earn megabucks but it enabled her to continue to live in London.

Continued………

Charlotte was stunned.

‘Oh my God,’ she said, ‘I’ve met a real-life author. I must buy one of your books and get you to sign it for me. My husband – my husband for the time being – he’s a keen photographer. I wonder if he’s ever come across your books.’

Carrie made light of her work and dismissed Charlotte’s praise.

She went on to say that, before she moved on to Devon, her next stop, she’d be returning to Durdle Door and staying until late at night to photograph both the time around sunset and, much, much later, to try to capture the Milky Way over the arch.

Charlotte said that she had never seen the Milky Way.

Carrie asked whether Charlotte would like to accompany her if they were to go towards the end of the week when it was New Moon time. The sky would be dark enough then. It would be company for her if they both went. Charlotte was thrilled at the prospect. Carrie warned her that it would be really very cold and that they’d need to prepare accordingly.

‘Wait until I tell Frank about that’. She thought.

They spent the rest of the day around the shops but also walked around the harbour and along the beach. Carrie related the part the Cobb plays in Jane Austen’s novel ‘Persuasion’. Charlotte had never heard of it – though she did see a TV production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

Carrie was amazed that her friend had never read any of Jane Austen’s novels. She spoke of the author’s role not merely as a novelist, but also as a female novelist, as a writer who had helped to forge the shape of the modern novel form. She told of Jane Austen’s family life and the social context in which she wrote. They visited a bookshop and Charlotte bought a copy. Carrie wouldn’t reveal the wonderful ending.

As they sat on the beach enjoying their lunch, Carrie explained how the photos that she took had to be edited using computer software to bring out the best of them so that they would look better on the printed page. She gave Charlotte a copy of her business card and promised her a leaflet listing a portfolio of her published work.

Charlotte wondered whether Frank had ever thought of doing anything like that to boost his pension. She resolved to ask him and to tell him about Carrie.

That evening, after an early dinner together, they walked to Carrie’s hotel while Carrie collected her camera and tripod. They then walked down to the Cobb and they both took some sunset and blue hour photos. Charlotte saw how the underlit clouds and their vivid  purples, reds, blues and oranges made much more interesting images than those taken in the middle of the day. She’d managed in some of her smartphone shots to capture seabirds swooping across the setting sun and was delighted.

Carrie promised to show Charlotte, the next day, what she does to edit  images she’s taken. Charlotte insisted that it would be her turn to drive.

Featured Photo

I took this photo today (26/02/2021). This is an image of the Silver Jubilee Bridge between Widnes and Runcorn, Merseyside, UK. The bridge was opened originally in 1961 but was recently closed for refurbishment when a more modern toll bridge, the Mersey Gateway was opened. The bridge in the photo will be opened on the 27th February – and, this time, it too will be a toll bridge. You can see the barrier fence across the carriageway which will be removed on Saturday to allow traffic to use the bridge again for the first time since 2017.

I used my Pentax KP 24 MP cropped sensor camera with a 35 mm f/2 full-frame prime lens attached. The shutter speed was 1/640 at f/8 and the ISO was 200 The shot was handheld and I post-processed my shot in Lightroom Classic.

Previously……….

Charlotte expected that she would be dining alone that evening. Carrie needed to spend some time in her room doing something with her photographs – Charlotte had no idea what kind of something that entailed. Before they parted for the evening, they arranged to meet after breakfast at a coffee bar near the harbour in Lyme. Carrie suggested that she bring a packed lunch again.

For dinner she chose to go to the restaurant where she’d met Carrie on her first night at Lyme. As she ate, she thought back over their day out together, how well they’d got on, what a beautiful outing it had been. She looked forward to their next day together, wondering what she’d be seeing next. She couldn’t wait to tell Frank about her day out. She’d ring him later, after dinner to give him time to return from Knaresborough. She wondered if she should send him some of her photos from her phone.

Continued………

Dorset – Day Three  – A day in Lyme Regis

Charlotte was a little later rising this morning. The fresh air yesterday had helped her to sleep better than for a long time. The previous evening she hadn’t managed to get through to Frank’s phone until after ten. He’d stayed in Yorkshire until he could get some sunset shots. She’d sent him some of the ones that she’d taken and he’d looked at them while he’d been on the train returning home. He’d said how impressed he was.  They talked for more than half -an-hour before Charlotte needed to admit that she was becoming very sleepy.

He’d told her that David had mentioned cutting her grass. However he’d added that he’d told David that he’d do it tomorrow.

After she showered and changed she checked her phone. Frank had sent her copies of photos that he’d taken. She replied saying that it looked to be the kind of place she’d like to visit someday. She then texted replies to Gloria and David who’d messaged her to check she was okay.

She had a leisurely breakfast then collected the lunch she’d booked, brushed her teeth, picked up her jacket and backpack and made her way down the steep hill towards the harbour.  Before she went to meet Carrie, she called into a shop to buy a few picture postcards and some postage stamps. Carrie was already in the coffee shop talking to one of the staff. Charlotte walked to her table to greet her, left her backpack and jacket on one of the chairs, and went to order.

‘Good morning,’ she said, as she returned with her Americanos, ‘What time did you arise then?’

‘About five,’ Carrie answered, ‘with the larks, or at least the seagulls.’

‘What?’ Charlotte was incredulous. ‘Why?’

Carrie explained that she’d wanted to be up before sunrise to photograph the harbour. She explained it the same way that Frank had justified staying until sunset – for the soft light. Charlotte congratulated her on her keenness. Carrie’s response had amazed her. Carrie said that her search for excellence was because she sold a lot of her images. Since her husband had died, she’d supplemented her widows pension from writing and photography.

Her account to Charlotte of her work had to pause occasionally, so that she could make herself heard above the hissing and banging of the coffee-making machinery, and the clatter of cutlery and crockery. She told Charlotte about how she sold some of her images online both digitally and as prints. She explained that she produced calendars and greetings cards from her photos and that she wrote books illustrated with them. Before he died, her husband had introduced her to a publisher who was a client of the bank he’d worked for. He had liked the draft of a book she’d written and had published it. Since her husband had died, she’d had several more published – many for the lucrative American market.  She didn’t earn megabucks but it enabled her to continue to live in London.

Featured Photo

I took this photo a couple of days ago (18/02/2021) while taking Ted for a walk. I began near the nineteen arches at Carr Mill, St Helens, Merseyside, walked along the woodland path to its junction with Carr Mill Road at Chadwick Green, crossing though a housing estate along Powell Drive, Avon Road and Trent Road, to Birchley – and returning along Birchley Road and Martindale Road. This shot (others will follow in the next few days) was taken, looking into the field where the horse was grazing.

I used my Pentax KP 24 MP cropped sensor camera with a 35 mm f/2 full-frame prime lens attached. The shutter speed was 1/250 at f/5 and the ISO was 500 The shot was handheld and I post-processed my shot in Lightroom Classic.

Previously……….

She finished unpacking and storing the contents into drawers, on top of the various flat surfaces and the wardrobe with its rail and shelves. She had booked in as a single adult but had been given a small double-bedded room, so there was adequate space for her to move around. She felt goosebumps on her arms and shivered. If there had been any heating on earlier, it had certainly gone off now.

She decided to leave having a shower until morning and just got ready for bed. She shivered as she got beneath the duvet but soon warmed up and fell asleep quickly. She slept well except for waking up once, in the early hours, disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings and panicky when she realised that Frank wasn’t by her side.

Continued………

Dorset – Day Two

Even though the day promised to be fine, both women had brought warm outerwear in case the way they were dressed for the journey, would not be adequate for walking outside in a coastal wind. Even before they reached the car park it had been clear that they would be good company for each other for the coming days.

Before breakfast, Charlotte had taken a thermos flask from her suitcase and filled it with milky coffee, courtesy of the hotel’s room facilities. She’d made do with a continental breakfast and some fruit, and collected her packed lunch on the way to Reception to leave her room key.

Carrie had brought on her phone details of a walk from the Lulworth Cove car park. Before they left the car, they shouldered their backpacks containing their lunches. From there to Durdle Door was less than one and a half miles. Long before they reached their destination, Charlotte was enchanted but she was glad she’d thought to bring walking boots.

There was a bit of a climb up a well-marked path initially, but nothing that either of them had any trouble with as long as they stopped every now and then to admire the views.  There were farmers’ fields on one side and dizzyingly steep cliff drops on the other.  Both of them stopped frequently to photograph the rising and falling white limestone cliffs undulating away from them. When Durdle Door itself came into view, Charlotte gasped. She saw the natural stone arch that crossed the waves from the shingle beach and was awestruck.

They agreed that, once they’d taken all their photographs, they’d make their way down to the beach for different, closer viewpoints.

Carrie’s camera was a bit like Frank’s, and she carried, strapped to her backpack, a small, lightweight tripod. Charlotte was sure that Frank had something similar, but she’d never seen him use it. She hadn’t used anything other than her smartphone for years. They sat on the beach to eat their lunches and compared the photographs they’d each taken. Carrie explained why she’d decided to shoot some of her images from different angles than those Charlie had used.

In warm sunshine, they watched people swimming, paddling and walking near the arch. Charlotte hadn’t felt so relaxed for as long as she could remember,  Carrie told her of some of the photo journeys she’d been on in America from mountains and deserts to the sea; of the Grand Canyon and the cities she’d been to.  Although Charlotte loved seeing the photos that Carrie had on her phone of those scenes, Charlotte knew that she would never be going to see them.

Neither she nor Frank enjoyed air travel. Thoughts of passports, visas, airport parking, check-in, security hassles, waiting for gate calls and then the hurdles of baggage reclaim and customs clearance at the other end – memories of all these hoops to jump through on past holidays were enough to dissuade them from repeating the horrors.

When they arrived back in Lyme, Charlotte expected that she’d be dining alone that evening. Carrie needed to spend some time in her room doing something with her photographs – Charlotte had no idea what kind of something that entailed. Before they parted to return to their hotels, they arranged to meet after breakfast at a coffee bar near the harbour in Lyme. Carrie suggested that Charlotte bring a packed lunch again.

For dinner she chose to go to the restaurant where she’d met Carrie on her first night at Lyme. As she ate, she thought back over their day out together, how well they’d got on; what a beautiful outing it had been. She looked forward to their next day together, wondering what she’d be seeing next. She couldn’t wait to tell Frank about her day out. She’d ring him later, after dinner to give him time to return from Knaresborough. She wondered if she should send him some of her photos from her phone.

Featured Photo

I took this photo a couple of days ago (18/02/2021) while taking Ted for a walk. I began near the nineteen arches at Carr Mill, St Helens, Merseyside, walked along the woodland path to its junction with Carr Mill Road at Chadwick Green, crossing though a housing estate along Powell Drive, Avon Road and Trent Road, to Birchley – and returning along Birchley Road and Martindale Road. This shot (others will follow in the next few days) was taken, looking across the field from the woodland path tp a farmhouse.

I used my Pentax KP 24 MP cropped sensor camera with a 35 mm f/2 full-frame prime lens attached. The shutter speed was 1/250 at f/5 and the ISO was 200 The shot was handheld and I post-processed my shot in Lightroom Classic.

Previously……….

Before they all left, Gloria and David insisted that they’d help to wash-up and clear everything away, aware that their mum would be very busy the following morning preparing for the long drive South.

Charlotte asked David, if he had a chance, would he cut the grass for her. She’d tried to use Frank’s petrol mower, but she didn’t have the strength to pull the cord properly. He promised that it would be done well before her return.

Her children told her that they expected her to keep in touch so that they’d know that she was all right.

Preparing for sleep that night, Charlotte reflected that the evening hadn’t gone too badly – and that now this first meal without Frank was over, the next time would be much better.

Continued………

Frank

While Gloria and her family were at Charlotte’s, Peter made himself a simple salad. He was getting used to being in this house on his own now, but it still didn’t feel right invading his daughter’s home like this.

Afterwards, he went for a walk. He sat down in the park on the same bench that Charlotte had sat the previous Monday. He thought about her driving all that way and hoped that she’d be safe. He felt that he should phone her to wish her a happy holiday but he didn’t want her thinking that he was interfering now that he’d left.

He pictured their situation as being like a thousand-piece jigsaw, where the pieces had been mixed randomly then divided so that they each had five hundred pieces. They both knew roughly what the final picture should look like but neither was prepared to let the other side see which pieces they had.

He thought about her dancing class and wasn’t surprised that there were plenty of willing partners for her. He imagined her in her hotel in Dorset – sat alone at her table until a stranger asked if he could join her.  If she met someone she really liked, would she still want to avoid a divorce?

He still loved her and missed being with her – why was it so difficult for them to get on with each other?

All this thinking wasn’t helping. It was getting dark now. Perhaps the family would be back from their meal. He’d find out from them what they’d learned.

Featured Photo

I took this photo a couple of days ago (18/02/2021) while taking Ted for a walk. I began at Gate Two Cottage, near the nineteen arches at Carr Mill, St Helens, Merseyside, walked along the woodland path to its junction with Carr Mill Road at Chadwick Green, crossing though a housing estate along Powell Drive, Avon Road and Trent Road, to Birchley – and returning along Birchley Road and Martindale Road. This first shot (others will follow in the next few days) was taken looking towards Billinge Hill looking towards Billinge Hill from Martindale Road.

I used my Pentax KP 24 MP cropped sensor camera with a 35 mm f/2 full-frame prime lens attached. The shutter speed was 1/250 at f/5 and the ISO was 200 The shot was handheld and I post-processed my shot in Lightroom Classic.