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| Beach Buoy woke in darkness. He looked at his mobile phone. 2-34 am. More sleep. He woke up again.. in darkness. 5-46 am. His sleepy mind thought...shame it's not 5-67am to follow on from the earlier wake up. Of course the whole timekeeping system would need alteration. A decimal time perhaps? 100 minutes in an hour? Too complicated for a dozing and dopey Beach Buoy mind to make sense of. There would have be public information films etc. See link below.... decimal The smallest room called. Beach Buoy hadn't turned a light on. The bathroom was bathed in moonlight. It turns out it was a foggy moonlit morning. Beach Buoy did hear the electric fog buzzer from across the bay. He returned to bed for a while. But then he decided he needed a coffee. coffee The mist made the long narrow window to the world, look like it had an old and dirty net curtain drawn a cross it. He said the "BEACH" word to Stubborn Dog and whereas yesterday the response was a twitch of the dogs tail, today he went a little mad. It looked like he was trying to run in four directions at once! He then stood up on his back legs and hit Beach Buoy with one of his front paws. It reminded Beach Buoy of the lion in The Wizard of Oz saying "Put 'em up, Put 'em up." Put 'em up. They left for the Beach. Once the front door was open, the roar of the not so distant sea could be heard. The air was chilled and damp but not too cold. The fog meant you could see about two lamp posts ahead as you drove. They arrived at the car park. They could see the Moon. They could not see the other side of the car park. Once the van door was open it was clear the extra coat would be needed this morning. The old orange one might have been a better choice in the mist but only the grey was to hand. 7-08am saw Beach Buoy do a promenade wall lean. ( Not an after-jog warming-down lean; just a lean.) That would be more of a wall droop! He thought to himself.. " I can hear the sea but cannot see the sea from here." as he played with words win his head. 7-12 am and they were at the water's edge. Beach Buoy wondered if the 7 am club were on time? If so they would be to the right of him (South.) A Sunday lie-in would have them to the left (North.) Dressed in grey coat and grey Hartlepool United hat he was in stealth mode in the fog. Mari, the big friendly poodle might have a job spotting him today? Beach Buoy noticed foot and paw prints heading north. He turned for a short while into Sandlock Holmes. "Four People, four dogs have gone ahead no more than twenty minutes ago, judging by the distance from the receding sea. He removed the deer stalker and went back to the grey wooly hat, with his grey coat .... it was FOGMAN! As if by magic and right on cue, the grey dog that was starting to become another beach / neck scratch regular appeared. FOGMAN'S new sidekick?.. well it was grey. It could all end up badly like Scooby Doo after Scrappy Doo muscled in. "Have your neck scratch and be gone!" thought FOGMAN ... I mean Beach Buoy. Talk about multiple personalities! |
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| They continued south and paused for the usual but very pleasant, big poodle, nice little brown dog situation. The little brown dog chanced its paw for an additional belly rub too! One of the 7 am club ladies asked if a ball on rope was Beach Buoy's ? Maybe thrown, out of view in the mist? "Not ours." replied Beach Buoy. Beach Buoy pictured himself throwing the ball for Stubborn Dog and... the dog's response ... "So, you didn't want that then ?" with a raised paw, pointing to which direction the ball had been thrown as it shook its head. "Ooo Beach Treasure. " she said. Upon hearing this, the large poodle danced on her two back legs trying to claim it as her beach treasure." |
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| Still heading the right way, the two continued south. The sun was trying to burn its way through the fog... then it faded again as the fog thickened. |
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| For a while, the sun and moon looked like they were trying each other's costumes on..... |
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| One of them was half-dressed..... |
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| By the time they had reached the grey rocks, the sun had managed to the claim the sky a little. The two sat down for a sit and think and also to enjoy the atmospheric scene that unfolded in front of them. The light was stunning.Sea birds all seemed drawn towards the sun as they all headed south across the brightening bay. The beach was deserted as far as the eye could see. Ok! the eye couldn't see very far today but at least there was nobody nearby. |
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| They stayed a good while. It was like visiting another planet for a time. |
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| Beach Buoy headed back but couldn't resist looking south again and again... now he was wrong way man. The sun became brighter, lightening the colour of the sand as it did so and guild the the grass high up in the dunes also. The two's shadows became more defined in the brighter light as the sun grew in confidence. They arrived back at the van as 8-30 chimed out from the church. As they drove off it was clear an event was due to be held in the car park. Horsey people were claiming some of the car park for today's event. |
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| The foggy day brought Beach Buoy's great grandfather to mind. He would ring the fog bell for the fishing fleet to guide them back to port on foggy days. The photo above was taken on Hartlepool Pier around the early 1930's by his daughter who worked in a camera / photography shop. |
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| Later that day it was back to the sea for a cuppa. It was a lovely day. Seaton and the car parks were packed. Beach Buoy ended up on the grass near the clock tower... Shame eh? The view was terrible... or maybe not! He made a coffee and people watched a while before heading for the beach .. it was 3-15 pm. He saw. People in shorts, People in shirts, People in trousers, and people in skirts. A family tried to hold a BBQ and maybe only succeeded in tempting almost every dog not on a lead to come over to investigate the source of the aroma. |
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| The tide was well out beyond the Seaton Carew wreck. Mid point between the strand line and the sea, a family erected a wind break; it was the colour of a jam sponge cake. It wasn't a bad idea ... well maybe the colour was ? But the breeze was picking up off the sea and the offshore mist made sure the temperature was more spring than summer. |
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| The sea was sparkling blue. The lowish tide made the beach seem wider than ever, Even with a wide beach available, Beach Buoy felt a little out of place, for no good reason really. He turned back earlier than he would have done normally. He wasn't a day tripper, not on this beach anyway. The cosiness and comfort of the van called him back. As they left the beach, the fog siren started up again to the south, after being silent for two or three hours. ........ BEACH BUOY. |
