Autumn Arrives in Minehead
As if on cue the Autumnal Equinox is starting to draw it's cloak over the Exmoor landscape, the nights are drawing in, there's a subtle difference in the temperature and the trees are taking on a distinctly more drab palette - changing from verdant green to red and brown.
On the plus side the cat has finally ceased moulting and he's getting a glimmering of a winter coat, looking somewhat chubbier and spending more time indoors!.
Minehead Food Fest August 2022
Minehead has, from what I've seen and heard, enjoyed a fruitful Summer season. Most of my excursions in to the town centre and the seafront have been met with a veritable hoard of tourists - so I hope the local traders have done well ahead of what seems to be becoming a nightmarishly expensive Winter with the proposed increase in energy costs and the cost of living in general, I fear Summer 2023 may not be so profitable for them.
A sunset coastal cruise aboard Teddie Boy Charters
The town has had what seems to have been an endless Summer (up until now) with many weeks of temperate weather which has been a boon for the local charter fishing fleet - with very few trips being cancelled due to the clement conditions and the fishing being pretty damn good for most of the year. One of the skippers, Mike Webber, has reinstated an old Minehead tourist industry - that of taking holiday makers and locals alike on trips around the bay. Which in days gone by most of the skippers would have earned a healthy income from, but in recent decades has fallen out of favour. During the 1960's special trips were undertaken to Porlock Bay to see the basking Sharks, but sadly these gentle leviathans no longer venture this far up the Bristol Channel - the last one I saw personally was off Pendeen watch in Cornwall whilst delivering a boat from Cowes IOW to Portishead in 2004.
There was some interesting wildlife to be seen on these coastal Cruise's which included Seals, Sunfish, Porpoise and on a longer cruise to Foreland point Nr Lynmouth a common Dolphin.
Currently I'm recovering from hernia surgery (big thank you to Musgrove Park Hospital for a great job), which I have to say is very little fun, so I am not allowed to engage in strenuous work or lifting for some weeks. Which means some weeks off from the day job as an assistant in a funeral home which mainly involves lifting/handling the deceased.This has as you can appreciate meant a downturn in earnings so purse strings have had to be tightened.
Thankfully there is a little design work to be done, which makes up some way towards the lack of earnings. These jobs include a couple of websites for a local event catering company
and a charter fishing boat based in Dorset plus some design work for Somerset based farm shop Pyne the Butcher and a local garden centre.
If you need a website, printing or logo design email me - I'll be glad to help!.
Heres a VLOG of a day in my life in the gig economy
Pagan Autumn
Mabon (pronounced ~ may-bone) is a modern Pagan ritual marking the autumnal equinox. The ritual gives thanks for a plentiful harvest and recognises the need to share the Earth's fruits in the coming winter months. It is the second of the three Pagan harvest festivals, which include Lammas/Lughnasadh and Samhain.