Beach Buoy woke at 5-23 a.m.
He toasted a teacake and made three coffees.
One to drink and two thermal cups to take to the beach.
He loaded the van for the very short journey to the beach under a moon-marbled sky.
Every cloud had a silver lining.
If only.
It was 6-37 a.m. when the van crossed dark "Seaview." car park.
The white lines of the parking bays were picked out by the van's bright upgraded headlights.
Beach Buoy felt like the van was a piece in a board game.
A jogger dressed in pink was caught in the beams of bright light as she moved from parking bay to parking bay.
She had thrown a five.
Beach Buoy parked up.
All that he could see was the red lights on the Bay's Wind Turbines and a hint of white as waves broke down on the shore.
He lit the coloured fairy lights that ran the length of the dashboard.
He climbed into the back of the van.
He had a coffee as Another Dog slept.
He made some beach notes as he listened to the sound of the sea and a distant barking dog.
6-52, a man in shorts walked the promenade with the bike-fall lady, their progress lit by the flashing orange lights from a council truck, as its driver emptied the promenade waste bins.
7 a.m. came.
A car door thudded.
Voices.
The distant wave lady and her mother headed for the beach access ramp, Hugo the rescue dog followed.
It was still dark.
The Gulls wanted daylight
They cried overhead.
Two illuminated Cyclists headed to the south end of the promenade.
Moments later they returned to the North.
At 7-13 a.m.
Beach Buoy made a move for the beach.
A couple, that Beach Buoy hadn't seen before, came up the access ramp as Beach Buoy and Another Dog worked their way down to the beach.
The Dogs sniffed at one another.
The owners chatted briefly.
"See you next time."
Beach Buoy and Another Dog headed for the water's edge.
The 7 a.m. club had been and gone.
The most recent tide had thrown seaweed well up into the dunes.
There was a very unusual bird call from the west, up in the dunes.
There was a very unusual silhouette of a bird that briefly headed for the sea, before turning to the west.
It had a rectangular wing-span.
More familiar bird sounds and silhouettes were down at the water's edge, waiting for one of them to be the first to take flight.
They eventually followed the leader.
A couple were walking behind Beach Buoy and Another Dog , but they did only half a beach as they returned to the north.
The Distant Wave Lady approached with her companions.
She made a fuss of Another Dog.
Beach Buoy made a fuss of Hugo the rescue dog.
The group chatted briefly, before going their own way.
The recent rough sea had repositioned driftwood seating.
It also trimmed the dune edge as if it were a lawn....
They found a sloping access to the stack.
"Morning Mate."
He placed a large stone on
STUBBORN DOG STACK,
he patted
THE
stone.
They paused.
Beach Buoy scanned the Bay.
The north looked as if it were a misty day.
It was just the spray of an angry sea.
There was a slight breeze on their backs as they stood dicing the swirling sea.
To the south, some Wind Turbines turned slowly , others not at all.
Around Twenty Oyster Catchers flew North in two Vee formations.
The breeze seemed to pick up as the temperature dropped a degree or two.
"See you mate."
they returned to the beach.
Beach Buoy did a beach clean.
The active sea had taken the dead and dying crabs out to sea.
Beach Buoy stopped to chat to relatives.
Coastal erosion, the subject.
Beach Buoy made a sea glass yacht.
