An afternoon by the North Sea

lazing
Originally uploaded by Sunshine follows me.

Last week, whilst gallivanting round East Anglia with the Aged P's, we decided to spend an afternoon at the beach.

We followed the Peddars Way - an ancient Roman road along the coast of East Anglia and came across this lovely beach lying in the shade of a stretch brown and cream layered cliffs.

The sun blazed overhead whilst we lazed on the sands, warm and contented, watching the North Sea as it foamed across the shoreline. MDH stretched himself out on the beach blanket and fell asleep. The Aged P's walked up and down the beach, pointing excitedly at seagulls and breathing in the fresh salty sea air.

I amused myself by collecting striped seashells, smooth multicoloured stones and bits of twisted driftwood and dried seaweed, arranging them on the sands in what I hoped was a tasteful Zen-like pattern. I raked the sand around our blanket into neat swirls, thinking of Japanese gardens.

beach boys
Originally uploaded by Sunshine follows me.

Across the beach, parents had brought their toddlers out to play on the sands. Little boys in shorts and round sunhats dug great troughs in the sand with neon coloured spades, held nets made out of clothes hangers and onion sacks and emptied their treasures into little plastic buckets. Little girls in ribboned sundresses paddled in the water and screamed when the little boys emptied the contents of their buckets - mostly tiny crabs, molluscs and worms - on their laps.

Parents scurried after each child carrying armfuls of equipment - buckets, spades, fish nets, kites, towels, sandwiches, beach balls.

beach man
Originally uploaded by Sunshine follows me.

Meanwhile, elderly couples sauntered along together, walking hand-in-hand or pushing their partner in a wheelchair.

They perched on deckchairs in little groups, sipping cold drinks and talking about 'young people nowadays'. Some put up windbreaks closer to the sea and sat quietly enjoying a book.

I love the seaside. I love the sea, and I really miss the sound and the smell of it and the feel of warm sand underneath my feet. I wonder if this is because I associate the sea with Singapore, and it makes me feel more at home when I am near it.

It started to get very hot, so the Aged P's bought icecream for all of us.

I had a refreshing strawberry and raspberry sorbet. Yummy!

ices
Originally uploaded by Sunshine follows me.