That sinking feeling

I try, I really do, to carry some sort of (film) camera with me as often as possible.  But why is it that the times when you don't have one with you, there's something worth snapping?

Take the other day, for instance.  It's been blowing a gale here since about 2015 and so when I take The Hound to Portstewart Beach in the morning I usually stick the little Yashica T4 PointNShoot in me pocket.  Perfect, it is - I can operate it (i.e., press the slider to open the lens cover and press the button to take the snap) with my gloves on.  And if it were to fall on the sand or even worse I probably wouldn't be too worried.

So, there I was on the beach and snapped away at nothing in particular except the roaring sea and what have you, when it indicated the film was finished.  Now I didn't hear it automatically re-wind the film into the cassette, as it normally does at this point.  But this didn't unduly concern me, since a) I have very poor hearing at the minute, since my tinnitus is back with a vengeance and b) it was blowing a gale.  Back in the house I made the mistake of opening the back to see what gives and of course it hadn't rewound anything, so most of the film will be horribly light-leaked - as you will no doubt see over the next few days.

Anyway, I threw the camera into the darkroom as fast as I could when I realised the situation and left for my Tai Chi class in Portstewart (which is going Great Guns, by the way).

But that's not really the point of the story - which is coming, OK?  Just to set the scene, here's a shot of the Usual Situation in Portstewart Harbour sometime in 2014.  The Pilot boat there does the job of guiding larger boats into the Barmouth and up the Bann Estuary, which you might remember from these snaps.

Yes I know there's something going on there with the old sprocket holes along the top there - I think my agitation was a little too energetic in those heady days.

So...all the talk in the Tai Chi class was of the Pilot Boat sinking in the harbour.  But since I only had me phone with me, humble apologies for the pixelated snap.  In my defence you don't see many of those in This Place.

Now it's a bad job when the Pilot Boat sinks, I can tell you.  The sea has been particularly rough as of late but still, you'd think it would be all right just sitting in the harbour there.  Just goes to show, eh?  Now how are the bigger cargo boats going to navigate the Barmouth?  The Liberties won't get no...whatever-they-bring any more.  They used to bring coal, but I'm not sure what they bring nowadays.  I suppose I'll find out when I go into the shops and there's empty shelves...