I might have been taken to a dodgy link at the weekend that reported a fire at the old Wardle Storeys building at Cattawade. I was otherwise busy with a make and mend phase on the back of our house, so much so I was painting windows at 0600 Sunday morning.

After finishing off a bit of titivation this morning I threw large, medium and digital formats, tripods and ladders into the car and headed over to where Edgelands commenced. No smoke, no smouldering remains, but in some cases a hardly recognisable landscape compared to this time 2013 when I was reconnoitering my then degree project so I decided to move on.

I meandered over the river into Manningtree and began chasing an ever changing view of the cranes at Felixstowe. I don’t recall seeing so many upright  but then all of a sudden I was parked up by Trinity House Pier in Harwich and Felixstowe was all but empty apart from Walton Terminal.

Now, my memory might not be as good as it was but I seem to recall Trinity House Pier being much longer in the 1970’s. Galatea and Alert were alongside and Galatea’s huge crane was playing chess with two Cardinals (not Bishops). I learned all about Cardinals in the late 70’s and their part in a worldwide IALA bouyage system to increase safety at sea. Worldwide that is if you exclude the USA which did not accept the rest of the world’s view on things nautical and operated differently.

I see a parallel here with the way the USA might go if the Republican nominee gets into the Whitehouse.