It could only happen in Poole… sorry, I've lost count of the chapter number!


Another one for the people who think what I’m writing is rose-coloured or unlikely. Last week, when we were out for our walk, we saw a surprising number of the fast motorboats that we don’t notice on principle. We very carefully didn’t notice or photograph the formation of helicopters either. Now it’s in the public domain, so here we are - https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/emergency-services-test-multi-agency-response-to-terrorism-on-a-cross-channel-ferry/

This happens fairly regularly, and as far as I know, they only ever boarded the wrong ferry once. We also see boats breaking down in the harbour whenever the RNLI training school need to practice rescues, and it’s quite normal for unexploded World War 2 mines and modern-day ordinance from the firing ranges over on the Studland side of the bay to get washed up. There was a memorable occasion when someone found one, put it in a shopping bag and brought it down to Poole Police Station on a bus. The road was rapidly cordoned off… Similarly, someone brought one n to the National Trust Cafe at Studland, which was rapidly evacuated. So please, folks, dial 999 and ask for the coastguard. Report it, and take pictures and keep other people away, but don’t pick it up!

They also find some interesting stuff when they’re dredging, so it’s pretty much a fact of life that sometimes places will be cordoned off, and writers like me will start thinking ‘what if?’ The same goes for cliff falls, and yes, I have seen a couple of minor ones, so again, please, friends, do not sit right under cliffs or scramble up them.

Odd things also happen with drugs , as they did here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-67045784 They catch people traffickers as well, so when I write about Peter Cunningham’s and Lucy Williams’ adventures, there is always a solid basis of fact behind it. It’s just that it suits a lot of people to think of sleepy old Poole, where nothing ever happens. And mostly, of course, it doesn’t, but you wouldn’t want to read about Lucy doing the spring cleaning or Peter having all the time he wants in the garden, would you?

Somewhere that rather less happens is the little village of Windy Bay on the Studland side of the Harbour and this week’s special offer is the first six books in the series, which are;

A fresh start

Starting Over

Second Chances

Endings and beginnings

Building a future and

A Healing Time.

And today’s picture is of the Harbour on the day of the exercise, when you wouldn’t think anything unusual was happening ,would you? And it probably won’t happen if you come to visit. You can enjoy the sea and the pubs and the boats and the wildlife and I hope you do.