It was a day off.
Beach Buoy and Another Dog reached the beach car park at 6-58 a.m.
Beach Buoy recognised Mr. Gunn / Nunn's car as well The Distant Wave Lady's.
It was around half an hour to sunrise, give or take.
Beach Buoy sat in the van drinking coffee from a thermal mug.
A five strong 7 a.m. club passed as down by the water's edge, as a man who walked the car park wearing headphones passed too.
He was up on the promenade, for a moment they were all aligned.
A jogging silhouette passed the 7 a.m. club's
silhouettes.
No doubt they exchanged silhouette "Mornings."
One more sip of coffee, then Beach Buoy and Another Dog joined the clockwork beach.
The headphone man passed once more as they headed for the beach access ramp.
It was lighter now.
A couple left the beach, stomp stomping on the concrete access ramp, as they tried to clear their shoes of sand.
They headed south, keeping the edge of the dune by their side.
There was a slight breeze from the west.
The tide was 50/50.
A couple and their Border Collie were up ahead, near the water's edge.
The Dog was running around and round in circles.
It went and sat in the sea.
After a while, they headed down to the water's edge.
A flock of Geese passed overhead.
The Geese looked a little lost.
They sounded like a flock of children who had been given a bike for Christmas, each bike having a horn.
Each sounding their horn.
Beach Buoy headed for
Stubborn Dog Stack.
The Distant Wave Lady approached from the south.
They chatted a short while, extolling the joy of unexpected or extra days off.
The lady and Hugo the dog headed north.
Beach Buoy collected some beach stones
and climbed the dune edge to see his old beach friend.
"Morning Mate."
he placed the beach stones.
he patted
THE
stone.
They stood and watched the Sun clear the low cloud.
They said a goodbye to Stubborn Dog before heading back to the beach.
Beach Buoy was glad of the stack and what it meant, it didn't make leaving any easier.
The Geese had finally decided on a direction in which to fly; it was North.
The novelty of new bike horns still hadn't worn off.
It was a lovely morning.
They had a very very slow walk back.
Long sunshine shadows walked ahead of them.
They are so much more welcome than streetlight shadows.
A lady with a small brown dog walked by.
Another Dog did the me, me, me dance.
"Aw."
Another Dog reached for her clipboard.
"Fluffy." ✅
"Gorgeous." ✅
"What's her name?"
"Ruby."
"Aw her name is gorgeous too." ✅
They headed back to the van.
Later, with Borrowed Dog onboard, they headed for Middleton.
A lot of years since these tracks were used.
Middleton Beach.
Sea Cadet Boats at Hartlepool Marina.
Little boat, big engine.
BEACH BUOY.
