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| It had been a very warm day. Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog had left the house on foot at 7-30 pm. The wildflower beds were brilliant. |
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| It was first time the car park had opened for the first time for weeks. |
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| Trilby man... |
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| Thankfully the beach wasn't too busy. Someone had made a driftwood kite flying structure. |
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| They headed south. It was a gorgeous evening. |
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| Beach Buoy glanced north; plenty of space for all to share. He picked up some stones for the stack. Just as he approached the dunes around 20 Geese did a low level flight over the stack. No chance of obtaining a photograph with hands full of stones. He dropped the stones onto the stack and reached for the binoculars. He watched them fly over to the village then take a sharp left (West.) They had gone. He and Stubborn Dog sat down in front of the stack, binoculars in hand. A large white ship sailed out of the River Tees. Beach Buoy focused on the name with the binoculars. DORE SONG. It was 8-22 pm The beach was silent. Everyone else had headed north. He soaked up the pleasant sun, the pleasant breeze on a pleasant evening. He knew you had to find comfort and peace, as and when you could. DORE SONG cleared the wind turbines and headed south. Stubborn Dog had fallen asleep behind Beach Buoy. He was snoring. Beach Buoy scanned Hartlepool Bay with the binoculars, from north to south. Hartlepool Headland, open sea, The Sea Serpent, North Gare Pier with the cliffs of Saltburn and Staithes beyond it. Both resorts pleasantly basking the pleasant evening sunlight. To the north a figure headed south along the water's edge. It was either a fisherman or a very lost snooker player. Binocular time! It was a fisherman. He set up his gear just a few metres beyond Beach Buoy and his sleepy dog. Beach Buoy left the fisherman to enjoy the beach as his own. |
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| They headed north, squinting into the bright sunlight. Their long sunshine shadows trailed behind them as if reluctant to leave. Beach Buoy had visions of having to bribe the shady pair with the promise of an ice-cream each to have them up the pace. The noisiest boat in the world left the river. |
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| The tide came in and wiped the slate clean like a shaken etch-a-sketch. |
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| A driftwood stick flew his kite. They crossed over to the car park. As well as the cars, rubbish had returned. Seagulls picked through chip wrappers, as they did so Beach Buoy could almost hear the gulls say. ' Bang goes the diet.' BEACH BUOY. |
