The clocks had gone back...
Beach Buoy had stayed up until around 1-40 a.m.
He kidded himself that it was only 12-40 a.m.
Sunrise would be 7-06, not 8-06.
So he thought that waking about 6 would leave plenty of time to catch the sunrise.
Fast Forward...
It was 4-30 a.m.
The kettle was filled and turned on.
He made two thermal cups of coffee.
He faffed on.
There were a couple of croissants left from yesterday, they were still good to go.
If they had been doughnuts it would have been a different matter.
They would have turned to stone at midnight and would have made a good addition to Stubborn Dog Stack.
They reached the beach at 6-06 a.m.
It was still dark.
Beach Buoy changed the van's clock from
7-06
to
6-06
by means of a switch, not a flux capacitor.
He went to the promenade wall to photograph the scene.
It was 7 degrees outside and breezy.
He returned to the van.
He had a coffee and croissant.
He put the heater on.
He sat in the back with Another Dog.
There was only the small colourful lights lit in the van.
Steam rose from the thermal cup like a Genie from a bottle.
A council truck came flashing into the still dark car park .
It drove around, cleaning as it did so.
Beach Buoy had dug out an old coat.
It was bright orange, an old friend.
As he put it on he realised it was now a three dog coat.
He remembers sitting and thinking with his old mate Bonnie.
Beach Buoy, Another Dog and an Old Orange Coat headed for the sea.
It was 6-43 a.m.
The breeze was fresh, from the south west.
The tide was well out.
There were more Crows than Gulls on the beach.
Plenty of sea coal today.
The odds of a visible sunrise were good.
Mari the friendly poodle trotted over for a neck rub.
The 7 am club arrived and a chat ensued.
They headed off in opposite directions.
You could almost hear a pre-sunrise drumroll....
Sadly an arm of low cloud pushed in and hid that special moment.
The drum fell off it's stand and fell into the audience below.
They dodged a bouncing drum, picked up some beach stones before heading up to into the Dunes.
The beach was far from busy.
"Morning Mate."
he placed the stones that he had just collected onto
the stack.
He patted
THE
stone.
They watched the sea and looked at the sky.
"See you mate."
They headed down to the beach, before continuing south.
Snakes of dry sand snaked towards them in the strong breeze.
Cold fingers were stuffed into welcoming pockets.
The old mate of a coat was warm.
It reminded Beach Buoy of a song
by Donovan
"I Love my Shirt."
They turned to head back.
The sky was becoming darker.
A red ship took aim at The Gares.
Beach Buoy pulled up an Orange hood.
They passed The Sea Serpent Marker.
Gulls continued their search for the creature.
Its not been seen since there was boat activity in the area.
Rumour had it a diver was sent down.
Some signage had appeared whilst they were on the beach...
Aw good.
Back to the van.
Coffee and croissant.
Only one find today.
BEACH BUOY.
