Aber day 3 - Strange Goings-on!

The wind whistles constantly through the rigging of nearby boats and the constant slap slap slap of halyards against masts, a reminder that another depression is on its way from the SW. Bouts of heavy rain and F7 gusting winds preventing me from sailing north; although one bilge keeled yacht, also circumnavigating the UK, headed off for Barmouth , a short hop up the coast.    In between showers a long solitary walk around the University and town, was rudely interrupted, when a uniformed policeman wearing blue rubber gloves grabbed my attention when he started smashing the front passenger door window of a parked Ford. His truncheon proving not a very effective weapon as, again and again, it bounced off before the glass suddenly succumbed. Sadly, the occupant had parked to watch the impressive waves batter the seafront and had, it appeared died, behind the wheel. An ambulance crew took her away, while the police cleared up the broken glass with a handy yellow plastic dustpan and brush they produced from their car’s boot. Seems it may be a regular occurrence in Aber, so well rehearsed were they at cleaning up.
  Mind you, she might have just pulled over to have a quick lunchtime snooze. The noise of the truncheon on glass, loud for me a bystander, must have been horrific in the car, a catalyst for a heart attack!
  The two rivers called the Rheidol and Ystwyth that meet in Aber are very swollen and although appear crystal clear, are actually iron brown and make an extraordinary stain, in the proximity of the harbour entrance, as they run out and mix with the sea. This iron, I leaned yesterday, reacts with the sea water and produces the weird fishy smell mentioned in an earlier post.
  Another rather quirky occupation is for, what appear to be seemingly normal middle aged men, to get their partners to photograph them standing right on the edge of the seawall as spay spectacularly bursts skyward accompanied by a wonderfully deep crump from below. Absolutely soaked, itching and cold, they go home happy in the knowledge that they can show friends what a wonderful time they’ve had in Aber. The giggling and rather embarrased, photographers often messing up their first attempts to get the composure just right meant that two had to go back for a second ducking. Leaving the scene, after first checking the camera that the act had been captured, between gritted teeth and wondering what the hell were they thinking of!

‘Daft Buggers!’ You can almost hear onlookers mutter in unison, as they wander off shaking their heads in disbelief!