Across the pond

Some whizz at The Guardian decided last Thursday to give readers a rest from the pages and pages of pictures of the riots that have been sweeping the country. They sent one of their regular photographers, Graeme Robertson, down to our neck of the woods. He produced this splendid photo which evokes the tranquility to be found here. People looking for 185m. fossils, long before the advent of 24-hour news. Children bathing in the sea, matched over by Golden Cap. ( Note. The Cap is only Golden when the sun  is shining on it.)

The caption, however began, ‘Visitors comb the cliffs at Lyme Regis……’. Lyme Regis is in fact  two  miles east of Charmouth, as was admitted in the correction column the next day. But the photo was taken about a mile further east. Charmouth beach has a lot more people on it in the middle of August, which I hope to show by a pic of my own below.

Meanwhile I can confirm that society is not broken around here. Dorset police reported to our Neighborhood Watch, also on Thursday, that despite the National Disorder, they had made just three arrests. For incitement to riots. The local youths apparently are reading the social media but not taking to the streets. No shops have been trashed on our streets.

I would have blogged on the riots were it not for the fact that my daughter got married on Saturday, 6 August, the day the riots took off, and I have been busy since then with visitors who stayed around because Dorset is a good place to take a holiday.

Just found a pic I took myrself in 2010 from the same spot.  It was taken in May before tthe holiday season getsr started.

This is the first blog that I have written called Letter from Lyme Bay. It is now five years since I started blogging under the banner of Xcitybob.com. I changed the name after a few weeks, because I thought Xcity was meaningless to anyone who did not know the journalism course at City University London.

The Daily Novel name came out of my ruminations about the origins of British journalism, particularly Charles Dickins, and how novels frequently tell more of the truth than much journalism.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, especially when I found that the domain name was still available. But it now seems pretentious. And worse, missleading. Because I have not been writing fiction.

I am trying the new name on for size. It will evolve alongsride  some changes in style and direction.