The good thing about this time of year (that would be Spring! Yay, get in!) is that if you’re stuck for words there are plenty of colourful and/or blossomy photos to fill in any gaps.

It’s not so much that I’m stuck for words though – I could happily witter on about stuff for ages given the opportunity; I just haven’t actually done anything this week that anyone would ever want to hear about. Honestly – snoozefest.

Next week though – something exciting. And more pictures too! #airpunch

Oh, and I’ve cheated with these photos by the way, they aren’t even from this year! They are from this time of year though – I think we have another week or so until the magnolias are in full flower. Now THAT is something to look forward to! And the fact that the clocks go forward an hour at the weekend – I am more than happy to sacrifice an hour of snuggly, weekend sleepy-time in exchange for some daylight in the evenings.

Finally though, this is for Cass – because she’s so nosey. It’s is my special new notebook with the makings of ‘The Plan’ in it – yes the paper is brown, cool huh! I got this one as I wanted something that was quite big (A5) but not so heavy that I wouldn’t be able to carry it everywhere with me – you never know when inspiration is going to grab you by the throat and demand to be noticed!

Finally-finally – do you have an iPad? I keep thinking about iPads. Do I only want one because everyone else has got one or are they as cool and useful as I suspect they might be?

Some news on my ‘big plan‘ – I now have an official notebook which I carry everywhere with me! I know, I know I have lots of notebooks already (you sound just like my husband) but a girl needs a new notebook for some things – important things.

For days the only writing in it was on page one (it said ‘the plan’) but I am pleased to report that I didn’t let the blank pages intimidate me for long and I now have quite a few words that feel ‘right’. I’m quite excited!

In the meantime, here are some photos of Camber Sands where, if it hadn’t been freeeeeeezing cold when I was there – I would have lingered longer. I love a sandy beach!

Photos taken with Canon 5D MkII and 135mm f/2 lens

In my day job I am lucky enough to work with people from all over the world. The ones that are new to these shores all seem to want to visit the same particular place – the white cliffs of Dover. When announcing this intention they then look puzzled as to why us native Brits make weird faces at each-other and incredulously mouth the word ‘Dover’ in a questioning fashion. Dover?!

 Taken with Polaroid SX-70 and 600 film

I’m not down on Dover – far from it; I mean, you can wake up in the morning and see France from your bedroom window if you live in Dover – how cool is that?! What I will suggest to my new work colleagues though is that they consider visiting Beachy Head instead – it’s half the distance away and looks just as impressive in my opinion.

 Taken with Konica C35 camera and Kodak Ektar 100 film (35mm)

You do of course have to shake out of your brain that it’s the one of the top suicide spots in the world (not something they put on the tourist brochures) – that’s hardly the places fault though.

 Taken with Fuji Instax 200

When I was there I kept looking at the people I was passing; looking for a troubled expression or a tell-tale sign of anguish (I think some of them were looking back at me for the same reason). Everyone looked happy enough though so I let them go on their way.

 Taken with Fuji Instax 200

So yes, I like it there a lot – it was a bit overcast when we were there – I bet those cliffs glow bright white when the sun’s shining. I’ll have to return!

 Taken with Canon 5D MkII and 17-40mm lens

As you can see – I took a few different cameras with me – I just couldn’t decide which one would produce the best results. What do you think?

OK, so let me try and describe Dungeness to you. Lovely, weird Dungeness – Britain’s only official desert.

It lies, forsaken, on the Kent coast and you have to drive through miles of marshland to get to it. There’s something uniquely eerie about marshland, don’t you think? Not quite belonging to the land or to the sea – it seems temporary and at the same time ancient and neolithic. Full of secrets.

As you pootle along in your little car you notice more and more electricity pylons grouping together and ploughing their way through the marshes to the coast. They are three-abreast at points; eagerly rushing to suck up all the nuclear-generated electricity that is created at Dungeness power station.

Seeing them reminds me of the apocolyptic nuclear-meltdown nightmares I had every night as a teenager. I think everyone had those dreams in the 80s.

So yes, there is a nuclear power station at Dungeness (two, actually) – nothing weird about that per-se, but it does add a certain frisson (or should I say fission) to the ambience. Oh, I’m so funny!

This piece of land belongs to a person (not sure who) – you have to drive through gates to get to it. It was a wise investment – it has to be the only stretch of British coastline that is actually getting bigger (rather than eroding). This is made very apparent when you observe the numerous lighthouses (well, two) that have required erecting to keep up with the edge of the shore. It has extended about half a kilometer in 60 years, which is pretty epic in geological terms.

They have a railway station. This railway seems to be of a gague totally unique to the rest of the British Isles and only special little steam trains can use it. (By this point nothing is suprising me). (And please note, I’m no railway expert).

Many of the little dwellings (you really can’t call them houses) that are scattered randomly over the shingle have been constructed from old railway carriages – plus any other stuff that has been washed up onto the beach. Some are a bit more substatnial and built of wood – like Derek Jarman’s little cottage which I wrote about yesterday. I think you’d need to be a certain sort of person to want to live here – reclusive doesn’t even begin to describe it. You would need to not need people. You would need to want to only have your brain for company.

They do have a pub. A scary pub. It was the only amenity I could see (apart from a post box). The pub was closed, of course. There’s also a little wooden walkway that led to nowhere – why would it? This is Dungeness.

I don’t think I saw another human there, just crows. Crows and starlings. Where is Mr Seagull?

This should be Land’s End (the actual Land’s End in Cornwall is more akin to Scratchwood Services). This should be the end of the world.

I’d love to hear if you have any weird or eerie places near you – I think I’ll make a bucket-list of similarly odd places to visit around the world!

Look at this…

…it’s the most perfect fairytale castle ever, don’t you think? This is Bodiam Castle in East Sussex – it’s one of the places we visited earlier in the week during a (much needed) mini-break. Do I sound a bit ‘Bridget Jones’y calling it a mini-break? It’s what we call them!

East Sussex isn’t really all that far from where I live – any of you who live in vast countries – even medium-sized countries – will probably think it’s rather amusing that I consider somewhere 120 miles away to be worthy of needing overnight accommodation and military planning! That’s what happened though – it was great!

On this little island you only need to travel a handful of miles to be in a completely different sort of place, and this is very apparent when you’re in East Sussex – so one day it was all fairytale castles and medieval architecture, the next it was Dungeness.

Oh, Dungeness! There needs to be a whole post on you, yes, definitely. I can’t sum the place up here really, suffice to say it should be called Weirdsville.

Then a few miles more and you’re at Beachy Head – again, jaw-dropping.

We took in lots of other spots in the area too and obviously I took lots of cameras with me, so expect quite a few views of East Sussex coming up in the next few days – it was very photogenic and I took over a million photos!