Beach Buoy was at a bit of a loose end.
He had been wandering around the house both mentally and physically.
He hadn't planned to return to the beach until he had taken Stubborn Dog up to the stack for the final time.
Then he would go as much as possible to see him, a reason to go, a reason to carry on with the beach.
His ashes should be retuned next week sometime?
He went for a walk.
On auto-pilot, he ended up at the beach.
It was sometime after 6 pm.
He hadn't brought his beach book for notes, he hadn't intended to come.
There were tears when his boots touched sand.
He had come to the beach before as Stubborn Dog slept, but the this was the first time for years and years that he was on the beach as a truly "Dog-less Man."
He wandered to the sea.
He headed south as they always did.
He paused after a while to look at the sea.
Then two paws were up on his legs.
A small black dog with a bright orange ball in its mouth was there, wagging its tail and looking Beach Buoy in the eyes.
'Hello' said Beach Buoy as he gave the friendly little dog a stroke.
The dog trotted part - way back to its lady owner before returning to repeat the action, then again.
The lady owner walked across, smiling and shaking her head in disbelief.
'What a lovely Dog.' said Beach Buoy .
They went North, he continued South.
He headed for the stack.
A stack that was going to be needed a lot earlier than Beach Buoy had planned.
He added some stone and gave it a tidy.
He paused as he often tends to do, looking out to sea.
He looked at is shadow.
For the briefest of moments, the small shadow to his left threw him.
It was just the shadow of a clump of dune grass, so often it would have been his little mate's.
He took a photograph, it is shown above.
He headed back.
The lady with the friendly dog was stood talking to some beach friends.
Beach Buoy passed at a distance.
After a while a ball bounced onto his leg.
The lady had thrown it for her dog and scored a direct hit.
Beach Buoy just carried on.
There was a commotion in the car park.
Police Van.
Ambulance.
Three Coast Guard Trucks.
BEACH BUOY.
