Living with nature 2

When I first arrived here I posted about the extraordinary way in which the weather and the sea affects everything, and the longer I'm here, the more evident that is.

I was impressed by how clean people keep their cars, often washing them twice a week, until I realised why. If you don't, your car will simply rot away from the salt.

I need to sweep my little paved terrace regularly as the crunching sound underfoot (salt) will be brought into the house. 

My dog, when she was first here, drank so much water she needed to go out about every half hour, it was salt in the air causing her thirst.

When the weather is good, it's magnificent, but when the wind blows, boy, does it blow, and straight in from the North Sea. Local fishermen tell me in the summer, the winds are mostly south westerly and much kinder.

I was recently without my car and needed to walk everywhere and my route is along the shore to the next town. I've begun to notice the different waves, their patterns and colours. Sometimes they're very green, and they're the powerful ones, dragging seaweed through them causing the green colour. 

I have begun to understand why we should treat the sea with such respect. Quite apart from its incredible strength which both my dog and I experienced recently as she was paddling and an unpredictable strong wave knocked her off her feet and I had to wade in to rescue her from being dragged off. It's seeing what washes up after particularly high tides - plastic, and lots of it. People here organise beach cleans regularly but close to the harbour next to the boat slipways, it's really evident. Our rubbish is deadly to sea life and we need to stop polluting our seas.

One morning I was treated to a very sweet, lone, basking seal in the harbour below. So beautiful, and serene.

The weather can be fierce, yet in contrast, the people are gentle and kind. I'm amazed at the lengths complete strangers have gone to to help me out with things. I realise that I hadn't really experienced that level of community before I came here. No-one looks for anything in return, it's just how they are.

I'm getting used to it being broad daylight at 11.00pm and know I must make the most of it as the winters are very dark. When the sun shines, people go out, all else can wait, there will be plenty of time in the winter to be indoors. 

Living with nature

Having recently moved to the North East coast of Scotland, quite close to the sea, I have become fascinated by how different life is here from a town in a semi-rural English Shire. In these coastal towns and villages, one of the most striking features is how people have to adapt to nature, and not in a superficial way, but in every aspect of life.

The sheer power of the sea and the wind here affects everything, from the way the houses are designed and shaped to the limited variety of plant life that will survive. The magnificence of the coastal hills and rocky formations is breathtaking with groups of cottages huddled together and folded into the hem of the land before it frays into the sea.

The sea here is the source of much employment and I'm lucky to live near the working port of Macduff, where boats of all shapes and sizes come and go, many having work done on them by very skilled people. 

"Macduff (Gaelic An Dùn) is a town in the Banff and Buchan area Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Banff across the estuary of the River Deveron. Macduff is a former burghand is now the only place in the United Kingdom where deep-water wooden fishing boats are still built.^{[3]"  - Wikipeadia} 

I love looking at the boats in port, they fascinate me with their unyealding hard shells, though, I wouldn't relish travelling on them or the only thing I'd see is last night dinner.

There's no point trying to fight nature here, you'll lose. What captivates me is how this community respects the sea and the weather that the fierce North winter winds bring with it. The locals are unnervingly cheerful, smile a lot and most things are 'nae bother' and believe me, when your electrics are decidedly dodgy and your worried face betrays your fear of a total rewire and your electrician says 'nae bother' - those are the two words you want most to hear.

Then there are the stunning sandy beaches, and the huge skies which a dear friend recently commented on by suggesting that this part of the world clearly has more than 360 degrees - the skies are so vast.

I'm off now to learn more about 'shelter belts' - used to protect plants when designing a garden - so I can transform my grey patch to something that has at least something growing in it that stands a chance of survival.