An Early Christmas Day

We had some of my family come to stay for the week before Christmas, and so we had an early Christmas Day on the 23rd December. After putting the chicken in the oven we put on our warm clothes to go and have a closer look at the Lifeboat (as the men had to do an exercise).

After warming up with cups of hot chocolate, we set about cooking our first ever Christmas Roast Dinner! Infact it is the first roast dinner Pete and I have done on our own (well, with some guidance from my Mum). It was actually a great success, and the dishwasher did not have to work too hard as we all left clean plates!

My brother and his girlfriend.

Pete and Me :)

My parents and Pete's in laws (nearly!)

Us getting into the Christmas spirit!

Despite the Christmas dinner being a great achievement, we had a bit of drama later that night. We had put the remains of the chicken into the slow cooker, and we decided to drain the stock before we went to bed. However, Pete decided to add a bit of flavour in the form of his arm by accidentally tipping the boiling contents over his arm! So we ended up having to drive to the nearest hospital in Hull, to sit in A+E for a few hours. His arm was covered in cream and bandaged up and we had to go back on Christmas Day to see how it was recovering. Luckily for Pete they re-dressed his arm and he was told he could go back to work and was also allowed on the boat if the pager went off.

This Christmas on Spurn Point will be in our memories for a very long time :)

A Bright Family Day

With the Christmas season upon us, many of the residents of Spurn Point have had full houses with family and friends visiting. There was an exceptional number of visitors the day after Boxing Day so we all got together, the families and visitors, to watch the crew of the Humber Lifeboat in action and have a closer look at the boat.

Christmas Day 2011

The residents of Spurn Point were lucky enough to have a visit from Father Christmas himself on Christmas morning. Each of the children were presented with a gift, which they were very excited about. A bit later in the morning we all gathered in the square to see The Sea King fly overhead, with santa waving at us all! Spurn Point was full of life and it was fantastic to see all of the children playing outside with their new toys :) This has definately been a Christmas to remember.

It was very exciting seeing the Search and Rescue helicopter flying so close above our houses! The kids were so excited (and so were the adults)

Its a bit dark, but look closely and you'll see Father Christmas!

The skies cleared towards the end of the day, and we were left with this stunning view from the bedroom window.

Get your hats on!

Its seems like we may have all caught the Christmas bug! I think we might need to invest in a few more Christmas hats though! Spurn Point, and its residents, are really enjoying the celebrations of Christmas this year and are looking forward to the next few weeks. There will be plenty of gatherings over Christmas and New Year, and Spurn is going to continue to be full of life and colour :)

Martyn was in his element being a bald santa, with all of santa's helpers!

Just a few more lights!

This morning we were up, whilst it was still dark, to get a lift with the kids on the school run so we could go shopping. Whilst I was rubbing my eyes and silently cursing Heidi and her mum for wanting to leave so early, I was pleasantly surprised to see the large moon shining over the Humber Estuary and the Lifeboat.

I was told that I was letting the corner down with the lack of Christmas lights outside, so I succumbed to the peer pressure and got a few more. I may have to get more in the January sales and we'll compete harder next year! Pete might kill me if I spend any more on lights this year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It has certainly been feeling quite chilly this past few days, and this morning I looked out the window over a white field and square. Despite living a few miles out at sea we had a layer of ice with what looked like a light dusting of snow on top. We have our fingers crossed for a real covering of snow, but not until we have had chance to fill the kitchen cupboards!

Today I went with Heidi, Chloe and Alfie into Hull. We got a lift in a 4x4 to get off of Spurn Point, and to collect my car so we got to see what the sea did to the road last night. The mounds of sand that were beside the road are now on top of the road. The sections of bricks that make the road are now buried deep under the sand! What we really need here are some proper sea defences and a proper road. The residents of Spurn Point are just ordinary people who live in an extraordinary place, and all we want is to be able to get home!

Whilst we were waiting to be picked up by the 4x4 I couldn't help but grab the camera to capture this fantastic wintery sunset. The skies looked amazing, and the sinking winter sun reflected over the mud of the Humber Estuary. Also, if you look closely at the second image you'll be able to make out Spurn's lighthouse, on the horizon. I watched whilst the birds stomped on the mud looking for worms, but not for long as my fingers were rapidly turning blue!

The road may wash away...

After the road being reopened just a few days ago, it is looking quite likely that it will suffer a beating from the tide again tonight. With a high tide of 6.3 metres predicted we are potentially looking at a surge of at least another metre. It is around an hour until the tide will reach its peak and water is already beginning to lap over the road. At least we are fortunate that the winds have subsided somewhat and there is little swell. However, we have all moved our cars off the point in preparation of the road becoming unpassable over the next couple of hours.

This is what the road looked like last time!

The Christmasy Homes of Spurn Point

Now all of the houses are starting to look very Christmasy, with the flashing lights and figurines! The relief house is looking a bit dark and lonely though, so we may have to find some spare lights to get it more in the Christmas spirit! Most of us gathered together this evening to enjoy the lights, despite the cold! Maybe we'll even get some snow (we hope so anyway!)

Some of the residents of Spurn enjoying the lights and a cheeky glass of mulled wine :)

Superintendent Coxswain Dave and wife Karen.

Crew Steve and family: Rach and Thomas.

Crew Col Junior and family: Sarah, Lacie and Masie.

Mechanic Max and family: Heidi, Chloe and Alfie.

Second Coxswain Martyn and his family: Gail, Dane, Shaunie and Shannon.

Our house may need a few more lights outside!! Looking a bit dark in our corner.

Seal on the beach :)

This morning I got a call from my neighbour Heidi saying that she could see a seal on the beach, overlooking the Humber Estuary. I grabbed the camera and we climbed over the beach ladder to get a closer look. The little thing seemed quite happy on the beach, and we just watched it for a bit. It looked right at us and then went for a swim and disappeared out of sight. The sun was shining, but it really was a cold wintery morning!

After getting the feeling back into our numb fingers, we decided to put the little Christmas trees up on the side of our houses and put my outside lights up. Seeings all the men were out on the boat and Pete is away we figured we would just get the saw out for the trees and get up that ladder! It was probably quite a sight watching Me and Heidi carrying the ladder around the square and attempting to lean it up against the house, but we managed it somehow.

There's no stopping us!

A fun photoshoot with The Yorkshire Building Society

The RNLI has been selected as the Charity of the Year for the Yorkshire Building Society, and today the brave crew of Humber Lifeboat took part in a fun promotional photoshoot on Spurn Point. Here are some of the shots I took, from behind the scenes:

Bend... 3... 2... 1...

...Jump!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Seeings as it is now December I thought a Christmasy theme would be good :) We actually put the tree up nearly a week ago, but lets not dwell on that! Most of the decorations are edible, and the only reason they may last until Christmas Day is because Pete is not here!

I think the Square is being decorated over the weekend (well hopefully!) and then I'll make sure there are plenty of pictures for that! We are having a big tree in the middle of all our houses and a little tree on each house. Then everyone will be competing to have the best looking house with lights and snowmen, reindeers and santas!

Work has started on the road, which took quite a beating this week! I am hoping to go and have a look tomorrow, and then photographs will follow!
It is not only the road that suffered at the hands of the weather this week. With all the wind, we were confused by what sounded like things hitting the windows and side of the house. It turns out that the wind was picking up the soil, from the back garden, and throwing it at the house. Some of the soil was even thrown right over the house!!

It has uncovered a few hidden carrots!



Road Washed Away 27/11/11

The tide tables warned us we could have a high spring tide of 8.4m last night, however Spurn was faced with an incredible tide of almost 10m! One lady attempted to drive through the flooded road, only to become stuck. With the waves hitting the vehicle and the lady unable to get out the lifeboat men were called to help. The road was buried under around a metre of water, but the lady was safely removed from the vehicle, and a few hours later the men returned to a scene of devastation. The car and road have taken quite a beating from mother nature, which I captured this morning.

The Humber Crew Returning from Grimsby

The weather forecast predicted strong westerly winds, and that is exactly what we got! Last night the Humber Lifeboat Crew were forced to 'bail out' from their station on Spurn Point, and take the boat to Grimsby for the night. This means getting up throughout the night to check the boat and move it if required, so not a lot of sleep.
It was a bit of a challenge taking these photographs of the boat returning home, with the wind trying to knock me over and the sand whipping my face. However, I managed to get a few with the strong winds and lumpy swell making for some interesting pictures.