SEATON SANDS 31 JAN. 2020

Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog arrived at 3-34 pm.
They parked up next to a Small Silver Citroen Van.
It had two rusty front wheels.
The rear wheels had plastic hubcaps; one a Suzuki the other a Renault.

There was a strong wild but mild wind from the west.

The wind had blown much of the soft sand out to sea.
It left behind a badly cobbled street effect.

There were only a couple of clouds to the north.
They hung there like the Zeppelins that bombed the town over a hundred years ago.
The southern sky was different story, looking like a cloud warehouse during a sales promotion.
The tide was more out than it was in.
The sea rippled but the wild westerly wind was patting down any waves that dared to show their hand.
As they continued south they passed a Crow at the water's edge.
He looked like a 1950's policeman with his arms (wings) behind his back in his black tunic as he strutted the beach.
They said 'Evening all' and headed for the dunes.

The dune stack is coming along nicely.
Beach Buoy added a few more stones and a piece of beach coal, for those long winter nights, waiting for the dawn to arrive or beachcombers to pass by.... when the time comes.

Beach Buoy watched as a mucky-coloured Gull almost  kissed the sea surface as it travelled like a skimming stone.
It lifted its right wing and was taken out to sea on the breeze.
They headed down to the beach.
They were spotted by a Tiny Terrier.
The little dog made a bee-line for Stubborn Dog but all was good. 
The Terrier arrived with a parachute roll and laid in a  'rub my belly' mode.
Beach Buoy complied and the little dog went and returned three times in total.

They went down to the North Gare Pier corner, beyond the Grey Rocks. The exposed WW2 tank traps were showing their age.
There are others that curve off into the dunes, now mostly covered and protected by the dune sands.
Large Darkened Driftwood pieces were scattered on the  Grey Rocks, looking like arms of Ghouls from a Scooby Doo Cartoon.
Of course it was just the Mayor trying to deter people from coming too close to his smuggling operations.
He'd have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for .........

They had a slow walk back to The Mystery Machine  aka The Van.
 They passed P C Crow once more, the bird took off, promoted to the flying squad no doubt.

Stubborn Dog slammed the anchors on.. because he could.

And again.
He is a Stubborn Dog!

Later that night as the blog was being written, he enquired if he was featuring much in today's blog?

Although he was told that the was, he decided to keep a close eye on what was being typed.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
GOODBYE JANUARY
JANUARY

A LATER JANUARY

BEACH BUOY.
🏳

SEATON SANDS, 29 JAN 2020

It was a Wednesday.
It was 4 pm.
A cold wind blew from the North West.
A lone figure stood down by the water's edge.
The sea and sky were contrasting colour, as opposed to the usual mirroring effect.

It was moody sky

As with yesterday hundreds of gulls sat just offshore.
They were bobbing about a little more than they were yesterday.
Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog headed south and eventually up to the dunes as two ladies with a Border Collie headed back to the North.

Triangular-shape shingle patches pointed to the sea.
A squadron of Oyster Catchers swooped over the dunes and down onto the beach.

BEACH BUOY.

SEATON SANDS 28 01 20.

Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog arrived at 3-50 pm

The Council had been busy removing the sand that builds up against the wall. If the sand builds up it creates a ramp for additional sand to blow into the village. 

The tide was more in than out.

Hundreds of Gulls sat just a few hundreds metres from the beach.
They bobbed about on a rippled but fairly calm sea.

They called up to the Dunes.
The sun faded and the sky turned to the colour of a bruise.

BEACH BUOY.

SEATON SANDS 27 JAN 2020.

Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog headed
down to the sea.
It was 3-34 pm

It was bright and breezy.

BEACH BUOY..

SEATON SANDS AND DOWN BY THE RIVER. 26 JAN. 2020.

It was 7-33 a.m. by the time Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog arrived in the car park.
It was light; light grey.
The Promenade lights were still shinning brightly in the gloom.
The bright LED lights resembled a line of road cats eyes , lit by a high beam as the promenade curved like a country road.
Beach Buoy had a mate called Dennis, he's dead now.
What a character he was.
He told Beach Buoy about a man he knew.
Well... Dennis was a big speedway fan,
he was all of five foot tall, so big in an enthusiastic way.
He would travel around to various tracks.
He had been to Halifax a few times and always ended up, stood in the same area and got on first name terms with a local chap called Percy who also frequented the same place.
One particular night after the races were over the headed to the car park.
This night they walked in the same direction and Percy unlocked his Rolls-Royce.
'****ing hell Percy.' said Dennis,
"What do you do for a living?' 
'I invented the Cat's eyes that they use on the roads.'
He had never said.
It was Percy Shaw OBE; a Halifax lad.

By the time Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog reached the water's edge, the 7 am club had been and gone.
They headed south. 
The beach was mostly quiet.
There was a Darkly Dressed Dune Walker travelling the rise and fall of the sandy mounds.
It was slowly becoming lighter but as slowly as an energy saving light bulb. Those that require a weeks notice in writing of someone entering the room.

After a while Beach Buoy glanced back.
The Dark Dune Walker had morphed into a Dark Beach Walker, with a Black Dog in tow.
The headed from the beach like two disappointed shadows that had became disillusioned, waiting for the sun.

They headed up to the stack in the Dunes.

The Large PEASE house brick that had disappeared from the stack was spotted in a nearby clump of dune grass.

Beach Buoy replaced the brick on the stack.
All he was hoping was to give Pease a chance.

They headed to a slice of Orange and the beach beyond the Pier.
They climbed up the vomit of Concrete.
Two Fishermen were at the top of the Pier.
' Morning.'
The camouflaged fishermen headed down to the riverside with Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog not far behind.

The Sun brightened a little.

It seemed to form a new Tees crossing.

They faffed on a while, then it was back to the Bay.
Beach Buoy messaged the Sea Serpent to warn him to keep his head down.

Beach Buoy paused and looked east towards the Dunes.
He wondered how long it would be before the Skylarks would  be singing their songs, high above the dunes.
The melody trickling down to the beach in streams of sound.
Stubborn Dog just stood sniffing the breeze.

They headed back as the sky glowed.
Two rat faced dogs approached, off their leads.
'Terry!' A bit of growling and snarling took place. Beach Buoy scooped up Stubborn Dog and just kept on walking on. No doubt the other rat-faced dog is called Bill? thought Beach Buoy.

BEACH BUOY. 

SEATON SANDS, HARTLEPOOL, 25 JAN 2020.

Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog left a dark house in a dark street at 6-50 a.m.
January birds sang as though it was spring.
They drove to dark car park and parked in the dark.
Beach Buoy jumped into the back of the van and put on the van's LED lights.
It was bright.
He changed into his beach boots.
He looked out through one of the tinted side windows.
The Wind Turbines red lights twinkled like strange stars.
An Orange light flashed to the north.
It was a Council clean up truck.
More flashing lights appeared as two cyclists reached the south end of the promenade and turned back to head north.
Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog reached
the beach at 7-08 a.m.
It was still dark.
The 7 a.m. club were a fair distance way, down by the water's edge.
Mari the mega friendly large poodle must have sensed Beach Buoy was around as she came bounding over in the darkness to say hello.
The only light in the sky was artificial, from the industry that  edged the River Tees.

There was no bright sunrise, just a fade to a lighter grey.
They did the dune thing and headed to the North Gare  Beach via the dunes.
The tide was out, the breeze chilly from the west.

Down to North Gare Beach it was....

They crossed the drained lagoon and headed for the riverside.

They found a zipped up Purse that had clearly,
 (once opened ) had been to sea.
Later in the day Beach Buoy would travel the ten miles to nearby Norton to reunite the purse with the purse owners mother thanks to an address, written on a driving license , enclosed in the purse.
She was both surprised and delighted. 

They headed back to the van searching shingle spreads as they did so.

Beach Buoy went to a football match.

BEACH BUOY.

SEATON SANDS, 24 JAN. 2020

The day started with a 5-20 a.m. alarm
Ten minutes later it was the first dog walk of the day.
Stubborn Dog wasn't keen and had to be carried like a big baby for the first few minutes.
Eventually he walked.
Beach Buoy went to work.
Beach Buoy came back.
They headed for the beach, only after a neighbour had stopped Beach Buoy for some driftwood advice, as in where best to find it.
The neighbour was doing a taxidermy course and needed a piece of driftwood for his "Subject."
They arrived at the beach at 3-33 pm.
It was like a summer's day; so bright.
Two large German Shepards were running about,
(looking for their sheep?)
Beach Buoy picked up Stubborn Dog; carry time again!

It was a lovely afternoon.
The tide was high.

They headed south, the tide had started to recede, leaving a smooth surface.
Gull bobbed in the bay as a loud helicopter went overhead.
It sounded more like a 1965 B.S.A.

Two crows walked the water's edge down by the grey rocks.
One held a mussel shell in its feet and pecked at it.
The sea came in making the bird jump and leave the shell behind.
The sea claimed the shell and sent it out to sea.
The bird watched and shouted after it....
Michelle!
 Or was it Me Shell !

Beach Buoy took stones to the stone stack in the dunes....

He spent a while in the dunes, thinking, taking photographs, soaking up a sun-setting sky and generally just relaxing.

The light changed

and changed.

and changed.

and changed.

Later that night Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog went for a dark promenade walk. (No carrying involved.)

The Sea was dark.
The Sky was dark.

It was dark.

BEACH BUOY.