Saturday.
The sunrise times had just began to start with a seven.
Beach Buoy and Another Dog reached The Esplanade at 7-21.
The first family of the day were already heading for seafront play area.
Three men in hi-viz jackets, stood chatting near the equally bright beach huts.
Beach Buoy and Another Dog headed down the northerly access ramp.
A man stomped sand from his shoes as he left the beach with his dog.
"Morning."
"Morning."
Beach Buoy held a hand out to the dog, a Labrador.
The friendly dog gave his hand a lick.
They walked towards the sea.
The air was still.
Not sunrise yet but bright enough for now.
Pebbles with legs did the beach hokey-cokey at the water's edge.
The tide was more in than it was out.
The sea was rippled, not rough.
A slight breeze from the north was noticeable once close to the sea.
A young lady stood at the water's edge with her dog, phone in hand.
It looked like she was waiting to capture that moment of sunrise?
Around the minutes short of sunrise she gave up, heading back to her car.
Beach Buoy and Another Dog carried on south.
Two hoods up, hands in coat pockets.
People and their dogs were up ahead.
Beach Buoy wondered how long it would be before the sunrise appeared over the sea, not land.
The Beachcombing Border Collie Couple stopped and talked their way north.
Up ahead a small dog ran from the dunes to the sea.
It lay in shallow water whilst waiting for it's owner to catch up.
Two figures were up on the dune heights.
Instant suspect's in the case of the missing wobbly driftwood plank.
A couple walked by at a quicker pace
Beach Buoy does tend to dawdle along.
Nearby, two dozen or so Crows picked at the strand-line.
Not a Gull in sight.
A large driftwood fence post lay on the sand.
It's tapered end made it look like a giant pencil.
The sun broke through.
Beach Buoy and Another Dog clambered over the grey rocks to reach Stubborn Dog Stack.
"Morning Mate."
Beach Buoy added some stones.
He patted
THE
stones.
He had placed a sloping log with a bit of a roll of the front of the stack.
It was no wobbly driftwood plank but it would do for now.
The log was about metre long but was as heavy as iron.
Beach Buoy sat, sloping, rolling and drinking coffee.
Shafts of sunlight broke through the cloud over towards the river.
They looked like searchlights from an alien craft.
A large Ship headed into the river.
Tugs waited.
Four Oyster Catchers kissed a wave as they crossed the bay.
"See you mate.'
Beach Buoy and Another Dog returned to the beach.
Beach Buoy had stumbled across the grey stones.
His sunshine shadow seemed to have leapt from stone to stone like a child, showing off.
A man stood looking out to sea, plastic carrier bag in hand.
Beach Buoy took a sip of coffee from his thermal mug.
It looked like the tide was going out.
Two Horses thundered by, heading south.
A couple chatted to Beach Buoy as their dogs all sniffed at one another.
They had Lhasa Apsos too.
They shared stories of the stubborn little breed.
They went their separate ways.
A man squeezed by Beach Buoy and the sea.
Beach Buoy and Another Dog continued on towards the village.
Barefoot.
Hand in hand a couple head south by the water's edge.
BEACH BUOY.
