Giggling In The Rigging

Well that didn't last long! Dull and cloudy this morning but with a mild wind blowing offshore. I haven't noticed many cows in the fields yet - the ground is sodden around these parts and I expect there is not enough wellingtons to go round. I expect that within weeks there will be little calves all over the place poking their heads over fences and being generally nosey.Last year seemed a poor year for roe dear, and as yet I haven't caught sight of one this spring either. The year before there was an abundance of them - I remember my better half and I stopping to observe a group of five or six of them frollicking and fighting amongst themselves in field of broad beans.
I played the tourist yesterday and spent half an hour watching the goings on on 'The Grand Turk'(above), a full-size replica of an 18th Century Frigate which is moored at Endeavour Wharf in Whitby. A group of unruly schoolkids were poking around deck & jib. One pair of scallywags were using the huge steering wheel as a kind of seesaw - two hundred years ago they would be walking the plank. I believe she sets sail for Belgium shortly, let's hope they dont find any little stowaways..