Farewell to Borders

Yesterday morning we walked from Coy Pond through Bournemouth Gardens into the town for what will probably be our last visit to Borders. The bookstore is in Administration and there is a massive sale of all the stock. Mark bought some CDs and I bought three books, a couple by Osho (Maturity and Body Mind Balancing) and The Philosopher and the Wolf by Mark Rowlands which looks pretty unputdownable. We bumped into several friends in the store.


It will be sad to see the end of Borders. I feel sorry for the staff of the store and Starbucks which will also have to close. For me there will be no real reason to go to Bournemouth to shop any more. There is a Waterstones in the town but it's selection of books in topics that interest me is definitely inferior or non-existent.

Bournemouth Westcliff

Yesterday we went for a walk along the Westcliff. Although there was a cold wind it was a glorious day. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. The sea reflected the blue of the sky and the sunlight danced on the water. I was hopeful of seeing the northern bottlenose whale which is visiting Poole Bay but alas I am still waiting for my first sighting of a whale. We had gone up onto the cliffs because that is the best place to be able to spot Gilbert as the whale has been named. If you want to go and try a bit of whale spotting then go up onto the cliffs between Bournemouth pier and Branksome Chine. If you spot him from the cliffs and he is not too far out you can then run down to the beach for a closer look! Fortunately everyone has been sensible about not trying to go out with boats to see Gilbert which would cause the animal distress. Everyone is delighted that he's here and hope that he remains healthy and can find his way back to his pod in the Atlantic soon.


BBC news report on Gilbert

Bournemouth Upper Gardens July 2009

This morning it was one of those days when
the weather couldn't make up it's mind what it was going to do. By lunchtime it had decided to cheer up so in the afternoon we took Mark's parents to Coy Pond and walked through Bournemouth Pleasure Gardens to the sea.

The Upper Gardens (that part of the gardens closest to Coy Pond) are a special place - a haven of tranquility and always with some seasonal delight. Today we saw Purple Loosestrife, yellow trefoil, dragonflies and bullrushes.












By the time we reached the town centre it was a glorious summer afternoon and the Lower Gardens and beach were packed. There was a large screen set up in the Lower Gardens and some folks were watching the Wimbledon Ladies Final while enjoying the sunshine.