Hastings

I've been absent from Blip for the last few days while I waded through pictures taken while I was away. I still have a pile to do but have now dealt with all the ones I took on this day.

I was staying for a couple of days in Battle with a chap I was at art college with, Colin West, who became a children's author and illustrator, and his wife. They have acquired a cat, Theo, since my last visit, or rather he has acquired them as he was a constant visitor to their garden last year before they formally adopted him.

We drove over to Hastings for the day and I took a barrage of photos. They were all snatched quickly on the move and are far from being artistic creations but I hope they capture some of the many aspects of the town on the sea front.

Hastings is one of Britain's oldest fishing ports. Boats have worked from the beach in front of the ancient town for over a thousand years, supplying Hastings with its basic industry and main tourist attraction.
The Hastings Fishermen's Protection Society preserves the fishing community's medieval right to carry on using that beach - known as the Stade  - for ever, free of charge.
On the Stade there are more than 25 boats, the largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Britain. The Society is based in Hastings Fishmarket, which was built in 1993 by a non-profit company created by the Society. In 1986 the Society set up the Fishermen's Co-op, a retail shop selling all types of fishing gear. - Hastings Fish

After some excellent fish and chips at the east end of the town we strolled back and I ventured on to the ruined pier, currently being restored so access was impossible. We had a call to make in Bexhill-on-Sea before returning, and it took over half-an-hour to go the first two miles on the crowded coast road, but had an ice cream at a Café On The Beach to recover. Colin asked me to take a picture of him standing beside a sculpture of Spike Milligan, who lived nearby at Udimore.

When we got back to Battle, the rain came and soon there was a rainbow visible beyond the back garden.

L.
31.8.2014 (1204 hr)

Blip #1364
Consecutive Blip #226
Day #1603

Alternatives:
Merry-Go-Round
Sea Front
Surf's Up
East Cliff Landscape
Colin West At Half Sovereign Cottage
Sculptures At Bexhill

Hastings, 14 August 2014 (Flickr album)

Lenses: Pentax 12-24 mm, Pentax 55-300 mm, Pentax 50mm f1.8 (Blip)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Jimi Hendrix Experience - 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) (recorded April 1968)
(This link no longer works so here is a highly different version by the Gil Evans Orchestra. Gil Evans and Hendrix had planned to work together.)