Tinside

  
Last week I went swimming on the Plymouth Hoe at Tinside Lido. It was built in 1935 and is an Art Deco, grade II listed building that after years of neglect was re-opened around 2005. It draws salt water from the sea itself and like all pools, has a shallow and deep ends (certainly deep enough for diving!).
As its an open air pool, it has summer opening hours from June to the end of September and on a gloriously summer day, it truely is a spectacular place to swim!

What a view no?! that little Island there is Drake's Island and privately owned after years of apparently being owned by the crown. The Lido juts out into the Sound and you can see all types of boats, ships and military water crafts trafficking in and out of this massive harboured area, protected by the break water some miles out.
 

Tinside still retains its Art deco features such as this crystal glass panel, cut with the image of a female diver...if you look, you can see her just about. As the place is listed as a protected building, many features have to remain intact and it is just lovely to be in a place where you can roam the same paths the people back in the thirties did! It still keeps its communal changing rooms and the surround areas of the hoe still have trellaces, walk ways and beach huts where the more braver bathers could swim or stroll and enjoy the view. If you do visit Plymouth and have a bit of time on your hands, it is worth a walk exploring the maze like areas along the hoe, especially on a great day like it was when I went to swim there...in the freeeeeeezing waters!

If you closed your eyes, laid back in the water and felt the sun blast on your skin, you could almost convince yourself you are in a hot, exotic location, not in wild Devon!

And Plymouth's famous landmark...Smeaton's tower! (I once climbed all the way up to the top in a giant wedding dress for a photo-shoot up there once! Quite an experience and people loved seeing a small girl in a giant dress squeezing her way up and down and posing on a windy day...!)

I hope you enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed myself that day and I'm sure some of my American readers would love seeing Plymouth, the original place where the Pilgrim fathers came from and american history in ways, began! Without them, you would have no thanksgiving I guess! It's great to share something like this to readers across the globe so enjoy!

Birdie love! xxx

In these past few hours...

It rained and rained heavily. And in the rain I picked wild flowers near my house as I wanted something to brighten up the house and cheer me up a little. 

I took a little and left plants unharmed apart from one stem here and there. The rain made everything clean and fresh and I got home twenty minutes later, I was soaked and the flowers were laid out to dry a little...

Including these daisies. It really was a cool, wet day and dark and miserable and no one would have thought it was summer...!

I now have two small vases filled with local flowers and grasses...so pretty and dainty and given the room a little life and pop of colour. Its the small things that I appreciate like this!

What with the weather being so cold and wintery, I turned to making a summer fruit crumble and such colours bought a little sunshine to the house (and my stomach!) and the air smelt tropical and sticky, it was so very yummy, the fruits caramalised the crumble topping to give that chewiness and the butter and honey  drizzled on top made it even more scrummy! Simple clean tastes worked so well and anticipating dessert was going to heavy and tastey, I kept tea itself small and enjoyed bowls of crumble with cream in the warm dry house with the cold , dark weather outside.

And not forgetting, Indy had his first bath to wash away the sicky smell he had on him. He was so calm and placid about the whole thing,  apart from moments where he shook himself like a tiny little wet dog!  He was given a good towelling, a gentle blast from the hairdryer and  mucho love afterwards! such a sweet little cutie he is!

Today I went for a swim with some deaf friends. I was glad I went in the end otherwise I would have spent the day in the house, stewing in the whole depression mood and upset, that came out of nowhere and aggreviated by small silly things. I ended up swimming in the pool for hours, throwing myself down flumes, diving and playing on inflatables and wallowing in the jacuzzi like some big kid, sniggering at my friends and actually still able to "talk" via sign language and laugh. It was a great experience, the group of us yapping away and making plans to make it a regular thing, forming what was a "micro deaf community" away from others where the past and all that unpleasentness lingered for what ever reasons that haunted us. We ll had our reasons for staying away from the deaf community in the city. Common themes was that we just didnt fit in, we viewed ourselves as "deaf but so what, we're going to get out there and live it as "normally" as we can!"
I'm looking forward to getting out there more and re-exploring my deaf side in the company of those I feel safe with. They don't laugh when my voice slip into my "deaf voice" or my facial expressions being too comical, its apart of the story telling! 
I feel safe in a way, I very rarely let my guard down and go at my own pace. 
It was nice, something I havent felt in a long time.

Hope you are well and having a nice day, where ever you are!
 Birdie love. xxx