Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog set off for the beach.
It was still dark, but there was a hint of light in the direction of the beach.
The faint light acted as a backdrop to highlight the bare branches of winter trees that seemed to be like skeletons reaching to the sky to be saved.
They reached the car park around 7-50 am.
Moments afterwards, The Hungry Seagull drove into town aka the car park.
They were earlier than usual, maybe just good preparation for the bank holiday rush?
The earlier faint light was now a pre-sunrise orange glow.
Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog headed for the water's edge as the village church bells rang out for 8 across the beach.
A regular couple were already leaving the beach along the dune edge.
Two joggers and their dog ran by.
The dog kept running ahead then returning to the joggers, before running ahead once more.
He had the look of an excited child
"Come on quick!"
They followed as quickly as they could.
By the end of the run that little dog will have ran twice their distance.
The south glowed orange in a chilly north west breeze.
To the north, along the sea front, an ambulance flashed blue lights silently as it travelled along the sea front.
Gulls stood in the glow down by the sea as if the orange was warming their feet.
Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog journeyed south.
Beach Buoy knew the glow would go quickly.
As often happens the glow faded.
A pale lemon flash was all that remained.
They headed up to stack the stack with a half dozen beach stones.
Beach Buoy's finger ends were cold.
He was wearing fingerless gloves.
He opted for these so he could still use his mobile phone for photograph and sharing his walk.
Yes, he knew that you can but gloves that allow you to touch the screen.
They are usually black with a whitened on a finger and thumb.
Beach Buoy would rather have cold fingers than look like the idiot that touched the paint near a
WET PAINT
sign.
Once the stack was stacked they headed back to the beach and continued south alongside the grey rocks.
A Dog-less man walked nearby, he overtook them.
Stubborn Dog barked loudly at the man.
Dog-less man walked right up to the Pier, disturbing around ten Oyster Catchers as he did so.
They flew off whistling like a minibus full of bricklayers leaving a building site on a Friday afternoon.
Beach Buoy and Stubborn Dog passed between the WW2 Tank Traps to search some North Gare corner shingle.
A dully-attired jogger ran to the Pier, then scaled its sloping side to the "Extra ' beach that waited beyond like some magical kingdom.
The bright had gone.
So far gone it seemed like another day.
Once more the drumroll was more exciting than the main event.
Beach Buoy looked up to the sky.
An aeroplane's vapour trail matched the wind direction exactly.
Foe a brief moment Beach Buoy felt like he was walking on a TV weather map.
Whenever Beach Buoy finds creatures on the beach, he always checks for signs of life.
He can place them in a rock pool etc for the sea to come and save them when the tide turns.
The poor chap was dead.
Beach Buoy returned him to the sea anyway.
They had a slow walk back as the beach began to become busier.
Owners shouting dogs made more noise than the dogs did.....
use a lead maybe?
A lone Oyster Catcher flew north, whistling as he did so.
"Anyone seen a minibus?"
Beyond the Oyster Catcher, four cargo laden looking Cormorant rose and fell in flight, as they travelled south just above the sea, looking like any minute they might fall into the water below.
