Seaside

*Listens to Seaside by the Ordinary Boys*

Reminds me of Wednesday. I went to the seaside at Southwold with Mike.

Southwold is such a lovely place, and with good company you can't really beat it. Even if you are getting extremely sand-burnt by high long-shore winds. I'm still finding sand in my car and on my person.

We set off about lunchtime, and had a very picturesque drive over, down the little country roads that Suffolk has in abundance. Lots of really pretty old houses that we were both somewhat drooling over. Managed to confuse the sat-nav a bit, but eventually we got there. Parked to the south of the town, behind the dunes, and walked along the seafront to the pier for chips.

I could probably fill a whole post just talking about the awesomeness that is Southwold Pier. It has several quirky little shops, cafes and exhibits. The best of which being the room full of unique hand made arcade machines that do amazingly unlikely things. If we'd had the money, Mike and I would probably have been in there some time. Contraptions like the Autofrisk machine, Gene Forecaster, Rent-a-dog, and Whack A Banker. You can see more of them here.

After exploring the pier, we walked back along the beach, stopping to buy a super-duper spade from a stall on the way, and picked a spot to build our fortifications. We laid out the blanket we'd brought with some difficulty (wind), and had to weigh it down on the upwind side with sand so it didn't blow away. Within very little time it had acquired a thin layer of sand across the whole thing. We were worried we'd end up losing it! After a lesson from Mike on skimming stones with mixed success, we got to work.

We initially wanted to try and build a maze, with trenches and walls, and an epic entrance with bridges and archways, however after I'd been trying to build the maze itself for a bit, we realised that the first bits I'd done were already being eroded and filled in by the strong sand-burning wind . Since Mike had got some way with the entrance we decided to change plan and build a hill fort.


Contractor Mike reports works complete. Given the working conditions I feel he has achieved quite impressive results. He gets points.... then runs off with them.

 Next time... and we hope there will be a next time... I think we'll allow more time for fortification building and try to find a less windy day. That way our castle might not look pebble dashed, and the blanket wouldn't be lost in sand.

The journey home was, if anything more scenic than the outward journey, as the sun was getting low in the sky and drizzling everything in treacle coloured light. I love that time of day. Everything seems just that little bit more magical. If I hadn't been driving, I might have taken more pictures.

Anyway, I think this makes a change from my usual job/angst related burblings. I hope you enjoyed it anywhere near as much as I enjoyed the day itself.