Low Key

4.5C with rain through the night, then a dull start brightening through the morning. Sunny spells in the afternoon. An Easterly wind to 26 mph with gusts to 33 mph.

Maeve the Deerhound and I went through to Arbroath before 9am and had a walk round the harbour. The first thing I noticed was one of the harbour employees unloading and unrolling absorbent rolls of material from his car and laying them on the quayside. We walked round the inner harbour to the boatyard. The same boat was on the slipway. The fishing boat that had been on the slipway was tied up in the inner harbour today. The inner harbour was packed with boats. In one corner it looked as if you could walk across them.

I didn't see any fishermen on the outer harbour wall. The lock gate to the inner harbour was closed so we could walk round in a loop to get back to the car. My hands were aching in the cold wind as soon as they were out of my gloves to take photos.. The brighter light was only starting to arrive so I chose low key again to bring out the orange and reds in this shot.

When Maeve and I came back to the car I could see what the man had been doing with the absorbent material. Just by the quay Sea Breeze, a little boat I have often photographed, was sunk and a ring of the absorbent material was now placed on the surface of the water to surround the boat and presumably try to collect any diesel leaking from the engine and tank. Sea Breeze has been for sale for a while. Left untended, this is a sad end for one of my favourite boats in the harbour.

Maeve and I went for a walk after lunch. Northern Soul on the Nano (various artists). Just a 2 mile loop down to the shore road and round the main road and back home.

Six nations rugby this weekend. First up was France 10 Ireland 9. Next up is Wales v Scotland. Italy v England tomorrow.

E-PL5 f/7.1 1/160 sec. ISO-200 34mm