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| Beach Buoy woke up; it was dark, then light, then dark, then light. Was he having a bit of a funny turn? No. It became apparent that the neighbours had left their flashing outdoor Christmas lights on overnight. He slowly made his way downstairs. and faffed on a while. 'I'm off today mate.' he said to Stubborn Dog 'Want to go on the beach?'.... Stubborn Dog ran to the front door. Beach Buoy almost fell over, not because the little dog had ran under his feet... it was the shock! They drove to the Car Park. An ex workmate of Beach Buoy's parked nearby, they chatted a while. Beach Buoy finally hit the beach at 7-42 am. Beach Buoy's mate headed for the Dunes; he was more of a Dune Walker than a beach man. Good pen name thought Beach Buoy; Dune Walker. The 7 am club were at the water's edge, already on their way back. They were a long way off as you may see above, but Mari the Large Friendly Poodle spotted Beach Buoy. She set off and arrived with a bounce and a lick on the side of Beach Buoy's face. Luckily Cherrywompus was no longer a concern as it turned out it was a made up ailment, made up by Beach Buoy's Dad. ' You catch it from letting Dogs lick your face' ..... he said She received a good neck scratch then was off , back to the water's edge. |
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| They headed down to the Sea. The light to the South was gorgeous. |
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| In contrast, the north of the Bay was still in the grip of early morning gloom. |
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| The Beach was quiet. Out from the water's edge, the Sea Serpent showed three humps as it rested between the relatively calm waves. |
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| Gulls enjoyed the quiet and space. A ship had not long left the River Tees and had already turned its back to land and headed out, as the Pilot Boat that had guided it out to sea was returning to the River. |
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| They continued South, like moths drawn to the light. Beach Buoy collected some stones for his stack in the Dunes. He then returned to the beach, walking as far as the North Gare Pier. |
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| The Southern end of the beach had a dusting of sea coal. Years ago it would be ankle deep at times. |
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| An Aeroplane headed out to the East. |
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| The Sun had lit the sky but hadn't showed its face as yet. The big block of a Pier didn't help its cause. Eventually the Sun appeared above the Pier as it did so the gold turned to orange. It even donated some pink from its palette of colours to blush the northern end of the beach scene a little. |
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| The tide was working its way back in. |
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| The Sun shone more brightly and their Sun shadows joined the party. Sun shadows are much nicer than the streetlamp shadows that sneak around, circle you, mug you then run off only to do it all over again at the next streetlamp on Dark Street Dog walks, be it early morning or night. Stubborn Dog looked at Beach Buoy's long shadow. ' Have you lost weight Dad?' 'No mate. I'm just 22 metres tall!' The shadows went on ahead and put the kettle on in the van making a shadow cup of tea and ate shadow biscuits as they waited for Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog to arrive. Out on the Horizon ships dip dip dipped and glowed orange; as orange as the flashing lights on the council trucks that cleaned the resort. |
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| Walkers, Joggers and Dogs all went South. |
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| As did some clouds. The sun hid once more. |
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| The Village had clouds too; Cumulusgrumpus. People shouted dogs and peep peeped on dog whistles at the water's edge. Beach Buoy reached the Car Park. A man on the promenade spoke He had a good moan about people with unruly dogs, the shouting and the whistles. 'Look!' 'They are fighting now!' he said, as if his point had just been proven. Beach Buoy returned to the van; the shadows had gone. At least they had tidied up before they left, on the downside they had used the last of the tea bags. BEACH BUOY. |
