Durdle Door is probably the most famous stone arch anywhere in the world. It was created when the sea pierced through the Portland limestone around 10,000 years ago. Looking west over the beach, isolated stacks out at sea show where an older coastline once lay. This part of the coast is formed from merged bays and shows how Lulworth Cove and Stair Hole may look in several thousand years time.

By following the natural cliff path down to Durdle Door beach, or the steps to Man O’War beach, the tilted Purbeck Beds are clearly visible. At the base of the chalk cliffs a number of caves can be seen which have been carved out by the sea (wave cut notches).

The caves should not be entered as cliff falls are common. Since our visit in June there has been ground movement in Man O’War Bay so there is currently no access to that beach area.

Rabindranath Tagore

Rumi

Chuang Tzu

Our early morning call woke us at 4.20 am and we quickly showered and packed the last few items in our cases with a view to being outside ready for our 5.30 transfer  that the Ljubljana representative had told us to expect. The room phone rang at 5 am  and when I picked it up I was informed that our transfer to the airport had arrived so I replied that we would be down in a few minutes. Luckily I was already dressed but Mr C had to dress rather quickly.

When we arrived in reception we were greeted, as expected by Damjan who had been our rep in Piran. We found out that the pick up time was 5.00 am and that we had been given the wrong time!! We felt rather guilty for keeping him waiting even though it wasn’t our fault.

When we arrived at the airport it was chaotic and heaving with people who were in a queue of sorts winding its way to the check in desks. Someone in the queue quipped, ‘This isn’t a queue it is a mess’ which caused laughter all round. And one of the locals said ‘I am not sure what is going on today, I travel from here regularly and it is not usually like this on a Wednesday’. Looking at the flight board there were four flights due out within in half an hour of each other which would explain why there were so many people in the small terminal.

The people who had traveled with us on the transfer bus thought they were rather clever jumping the queue even though they had annoyed others in doing so. It didn’t save them much time as we arrived at the check in desk only a few minutes after them. At the check in desk we could tell by the body language and facial expressions of the lady who was checking us in that there was some sort of problem. She made a phone call and then advised us that there was an admin problem and that and there was nobody available to help her sort it out. She directed us to the help desk on the other side of the terminal and advised us that, when the problem had been sorted, we should go straight back to her rather than rejoin the queue.

When we arrived at the help desk there were two advisers, each with queues that were frustratingly long, and time was running out. We each stood in different queues to see who got there first. Eventually Mr C arrived at the front of his queue just 30 minutes before the plane was due to fly. The lady behind the desk said, ‘Oh I can see what the problem is, Manchester have used the inbound code for the outbound flight’. She added that my ticket was OK and then typed in a few things and gave us a new code to quote at the check in desk.

I handed my passport to Mr C, along with the flight tickets and we made our way back to the check in desk. We stood to one side and the lady at the check in desk exclaimed, ‘Oh you are back!’ and then to the customer she was currently serving ‘Excuse me this is urgent!!’ At this point Mr C turned to me and said ‘You will need your passport’ to which I replied ‘I gave it to you’. He was adamant that I hadn’t and sent me back to the help desk to see if I had left it there. He had me doubting myself so I went back to check…

At this point my stress levels were extremely high. Missing a flight is one thing but losing a passport takes it to another level. Of course my passport wasn’t at the help desk and when I returned, Mr C he was holding it apologetically in his hand along with the boarding passes. By this time it was only twenty minutes until take off and we were told to go through the priority security lane. Even that was slow; we encountered two Americans with all sorts of items that are banned in hand luggage. Eventually we got through and made our way to the boarding gate where we were greeted with an apology, ‘Sorry you have had problems checking in’. I was surprised that, with so little time left, that we were not the last people to board the plane. As we passed the couple who had jumped the queue earlier they advised they had had their breakfast confiscated due to it containing a large bottle of water. They seemed to think that they were unlucky and that it was a random check and I didn’t bother to point out that bottled water  is one of the things checked for when going through the scanner.

We took off almost immediately after we boarded the plane and everything went smoothly after that. On arrival in the UK I went through a digital scanner for the first time. As I was pondering on the fact that I was not wearing glasses in my passport photo one of the border security guards passed by and advised me to take my glasses off for that reason. This meant I couldn’t see a thing as I was standing looking at the screen for what seemed like a very long time. Eventually the screen changed colour (it wasn’t red) so I stepped forward cautiously because I couldn’t see if the barrier was open or closed. It was open and I hastily put my glasses back on so that I could see what I was doing.  Our luggage had also made it to the plane on time and once we had retrieved it, we went to find our car which was waiting for us at the Meet and Greet car park allowing us to make our way home without any delays.

William Wordsworth

Three planets are clearly visible at nightfall this month: Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. Mercury is fading – whereas Mars has already disappeared – into the glare of sunset.

Evening planets in May 2015

Brilliant Venus in west from dusk until late evening

Fading Mars lost in the glare of sunset

Bright Jupiter from dusk until late night

Saturn from nightfall until dawn

Mercury at dusk, sets around nightfall

Brilliant Venus in west from dusk until late evening. Venus – the brightest planet and third-brightest celestial luminary overall (after the sun and moon) – climbs higher up at sunset, and stays out later after dark, than it did in April 2015. In the Northern Hemisphere, Venus stays out until late evening, and in the Southern Hemisphere, Venus sets by mid-evening.

Throughout May 2015, brilliant Venus beams like a lighthouse as darkness falls! At mid-northern latitudes, Venus stays out quite late, possibly after your bedtime. Be sure to catch the wonderful presence of the moon in Venus’ vicinity for several days, centered on May 21.

At mid-northern latitudes, this dazzling world sets about three and one-half hours after sunset all month long. At temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the queen planet’s visibility improves throughout May, setting about two and one-half hours after the sun in early May, and three hours after the sun by the month’s end. From either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, Venus – the brightest star-like object in all the heavens – totally predominates over the western sky as darkness falls.

Tonight we will experience the first of three supermoons.  The other two will occur on August 10th and September 9th.

The scientific term for the phenomenon is “perigee moon.” Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon’s orbit. The Moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side (“perigee”) about 50,000 km closer than the other (“apogee”).  Full Moons that occur on the perigee side of the Moon’s orbit seem extra big and bright.

This coincidence happens three times in 2014.  On July 12th and Sept 9th the Moon becomes full on the same day as perigee.  On August 10th it becomes full during the same hour as perigee—arguably making it an extra-super Moon.

The illusion occurs when the Moon is near the horizon.  For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. When the Moon illusion amplifies a perigee Moon, the swollen orb rising in the east at sunset can seem super indeed.