Pet Rescue - Carnoustie!

Gwen eventually worked out where the cat noise was coming from that we had heard for the last couple of days. Since she was pregnant I was sent to attempt a rescue from the top of the scaffolding at the back of the old Victoria Wine building.

Clambering onto the top of the wall revealed a large drop to a narrow shelf, which having once been a wash house was complete with a large, rusting, metal basin. The basin's contents were unsavoury to say the least, but jumping down from this ledge landed me in Carnoustie's very own open sewer, looking for all the world like the run-off from a shanty town. No wonder that Queen Street often reeks on hot days. I couldn't see the source of the turgid brown slop, but the stone cover has been lifted from the drain closer to the high street to allow an exit. Just as well, or I could have been literally up to my neck in s***.

I quickly climbed up the less than stable scaffolding, but the cat was reluctant to come. So, a return journey to collect the cat box of our ex-cats. My reputation as an animal lover must have preceded me as the cat was having nothing to do with me despite its obvious distress. Another trip through the open sewer revealed a genuinely incredible display of brown in every shade imaginable and put me in favour of contacting the SSPCA.

At least I had managed to get the owners phone number from the collar. The SSPCA couldn't come out until tomorrow and there was no answer on the owners number. So Gwen decided to try tempting it across the roof with tuna. The owner then phoned and it turned out that 'Biggles' had been missing since the 7th. The combination of tuna and hearing his own name overcame his fear. However, it then became clear why he hadn't come this way before. The nesting seagulls began to dive bomb the poor moggy, but despite constant hary from the air, Biggles (fittingly enough) came through the aerial assault and Gwen completed the rescue with bloodied face.

One happy owner!
One call to environmental health tomorrow!

Gulls dodging the waves

I'm not usually a fan of seagulls but I think I will have to get this printed to see what it looks like larger. The great sunset on Sunday was one of those you only get in January where the water turns a rich golden colour. It looks viscous like waves made in golden syrup. The seagulls were doing their best to avoid the breaking waves which giving up their turgid shoreward journey suddenly burst out sending the birds into the air. The strange thing was having lifted from the sea they perfectly echoed the wave with those that rose first setting down first, with the others following with perfect synchronicity.

Last Sunday of the holidays :(

I am back at work tomorrow Gwen and Esmé don't go back until Wednesday. I will miss them. It is hard when you get used to life with each other all day and then it comes to an abrupt end.

Great weather though for the last day, blue sky, crisp snow and you could see large breakers out in the estuary. The sea actually looked fairly calm but it was impacting against the coastal defences with a sudden ferocity. It caught me off guard a couple of times and but for a quick jump I would have been soaked.

The seed heads I noticed last week and thought they looked interesting. The sun was in just the right place to provide a silhouette of there structure.

Sledging

Esmé started the day off being pulled around Carnoustie while we did the shopping and enjoyed Stuart Henderson's hospitality while we dropped off a preasent from Esmé for Zenta.

After lunch we headed for the hills and the further we got from Carnoustie the thinner the snow got :(

Eventually at Esmé's favourite sledging spot, which has a long gentle run, there was around half the cover that we had at home. Initially she was insisting on going with Gwen or I, however that didn't last long. She had a great time.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring fresh snow. It didn't look like it would happen yesterday but at about 2am I looked out of the window and it was falling fast. Of course since it is late and into Christmas Eve my days are all confused now. You know what I mean, hopefully.

Carnoustie at night

Some pictures taken on Carnourtie beach on the 24th from sunset onwards.

Carnoustie Flower Show Photography

Carnoustie Flower Show has been a great success this year. With more entries and competitors despight the terrible weather. The addition of extra categories into the photography section has paid off with more entries than ever before. So many that extra tables had to be put out on Thursday to give enough space. There were 6 categories and Gwen scooped a 1st and 2nd prize, particularly good as she only entered two. I had two 1st places and a 2nd place. However, my two favouite pictures didn't get a prize. Just goes to prove that everyone has a different taste. Or it could be that the very kind help received from Nick Morocco with the mounts was what swung it, my two faves were in black frames, so a big thanks to Nick. Our fruit and veg was poor this year and only the plumbs scraped a 3rd prize. The herbs did manage a 1st place although there were fewer competitors this year in this section.