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Hi Elle
I hope your family arrive safely.
Here is a link to the ferry, live webcam. I was watching earlier and saw one of "my lot" out on the water. He works for the Dorset Marine Police, just patrolling today, no incidents so far.

PS I have owned an iPad for several years. It has never let me down and I think it is totally brilliant .

https://www.fjbhotels.co.uk/liveview/?cam=2

Hello, Elle!
Heavy rain with me!
Not long home.
There is a boxing tournament on tonight and I was along helping to get things ready.
The rest of the day is all to myself!
Now, tablets!
My young ones tell me they do not use them as much as they used to, due to the mobile 'phones getting better all the time.
But I like having a tablet.
I have a Samsung (would not get another one) and it is handy.
But I have to factory reset it every few months to keep it up to speed.
I am not sure what I would replace it with.

Hi, Rusty!
It is raining heavily here, too, now.
I haven't heard from my daughter yet....she said she would text me when they arrived.
Did you look at the live link that Jazzgirl sent me?
It shows the chain ferry crossing from Sandbanks to Studland........this is how my daughter is crossing.
Also see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM23UBxXo48
The "ferry" now looks very much more like a "ship" than it used to do.
Years ago, it really did resemble its alternative name..." the floating bridge"
Quite primitive in appearance!
A boxing match?
Are you going along tonight to watch?
I haven 't even looked at today's crossword yet!





Hello, Jazzy!
Thank you for the live link of the Sandbanks chain ferry.
It looks very streamlined these days!
I remember back to when it used to look far more primitive....
It really resembled a "floating bridge" then!

Hi Elle
Great video. Thanks. I had not seen that one.
Strange that I cannot see much difference in the ferry but I have grown up seeing gradual changes.
The clanking noise and the smell of the oil . Lovely !
I wish I was there today, even in the cold and wet.
"Floating bridge" seems to be a fairly new name for it. I have always known it as just the "chain ferry"
A few brave souls were walking on Shell Bay earlier

Elle, photo circa 1926 . It was labelled "floating bridge" so my memory is not so good as I hoped !
It does look more box- shaped.

https://ibb.co/hJUR9n

Good afternoon, Elle!
It's been snowing here!
Turned to rain now, thank goodness!
Yes, I watched the links.
The chain ferry seems to be very efficient!
It's a local boys club boxing tournament.
They have them regularly.
No, I will not go.
I have gone off boxing in the last few years.
Just ordered two books on eBay.
"Famous 1914-1918" by Richard van Emden, and "Sisters of the Somme" by Penny Starns.
Puzzle done and dusted, apart from a convincing parse for 29a.
Not heard of 12a, a new writer to me.
Was quite a toughie, I thought.

Hi, Rusty!
I am relieved for you that the snow has turned to rain!
It is pelting down here!
We had planned to go for a walk, but it would be "a paddle" or maybe even " Two People and a Dog in a Boat"!
My dog may not be "Montmorency", but I am sure she would be game to give it a try!
Instead, we are taking the easy option and remaining home!
Take a look at the pic that JG sent me........this is much more the principle of how I remember the early chain ferry aka "floating bridge"!
Not, of course, nearly as primitive as that, but much more of an open "bridge" (platform) effect, than a "ship".
It has changed greatly over the years since I was a child.
You should enjoy the book by Richard van Emden - I have seen him interviewed, and he seems a lovely man.
I do not know the other author, Penny Starns?
Does the title refer to nursing sisters?
Maybe shades of Lyn MacD's book......."The Roses of No Man's Land"?
Is your son visiting you today instead of yesterday?



Hello, JG!
I wish I were there, too, on Shell Bay!
Or even better.... Knoll Beach!
Thanks for the picture...I found a few similar - but not quite so old - but couldn't isolate them to reproduce them on here.
Yes, this is more the principle of how I remember the "floating bridge" when a child......and even as an adult, for a long time it looked far more like a "bridge"/ platform/ than it did a "ship".

Hello, Elle!
Weather is wild and wet here, too!
Yes, Richard van Emden comes across as a very nice man, I agree.
I saw him on television, too.
He writes well, too. I have read several of his books.
This particular book is about well known folk who served in the Great War.
Basil Rathbone, Harold MacMillan, A.A. Milne, etc
I had not heard of Penny Starns before, but her book on the nurses at the Somme should be good.
She will do well to approach Lyn MacDonald's standards, though!
I suspect my son may visit, but nothing planned.

Hi, Rusty!
Dog and I have been for a plodge in the garden.... rain still very heavy.......
Daughter has texted ...they have still not arrived.. but she says they are nearly there!
The weather of course has been abysmal, so I do not suppose the drive down to Dorset on the motorway has been pleasant .......and she says the traffic is very bad.
At least, they are staying in a holiday apartment, and so will have the space and facilities for the children to play indoors if necessary, although I am expecting them to "gear up" and face the elements regardless!!
Wellies and rain coats to the fore!
And they have relatives to visit locally ......... so a good back-up plan!
Ah, a book about nursing in the War - yes, should be good.
It will be nice if your son comes......you can have a good chat!

Good evening, Elle!
Still raining and sleeting here.
Do you still have wet weather?
No visit from my son this evening.
He may turn up over the weekend though.