SUN, SEAGULLS, STORMS AND SHADOWS

"I say!" I said out loud, thus proving it to the surrounding old-age pensioners. I was sitting on a bench watching the world go by. Suddenly without warning, and rather like an old friend turning up out of the blue, the sun was out.

The man next to me rustled through his copy of the Daily Express and muttered something about it being 'about flaming time' and then went back to the folds of his newspaper.

Everything is happier when the sun is out - especially at the seaside. The water glistened and sparkled, the clouds parted and shadows appeared. It was a very pleasant morning. And not at all what the lady in the fudge shop had predicted.

"It'll be settin' in now," she'd said with a faint Irish twang, "Just like yesterday. You here for long are you?"

"I'm going home tomorrow," I said, "But I was out yesterday and I got soaked,"

"Ah did you love, that's nice," she said, twiddling the ends of a pink and white stripy bag. She went on to tell me that it would probably thunder today and that would be that. I thanked her and went on my way.

It was so nice that I decided to spend the morning on the beach, reading. What a treat - a light breeze, some cloud but mostly bright, warm sunshine. I threw my rucksack behind me, shuffled into the stones and lay back with a book.

Would you believe me if I told you that a seagull stole my sandwich? I mean the other day, one had a go at half-hinching my cod and chips - surely it couldn't happen again? It did though. It swooped in from behind me, fluttered its wings in my face and swooped off again. I didn't really know what had happened at first. I looked down and my last tuna sandwich had disappeared, leaving only a trail of bits of lettuce, and me holding a crust. A lady a few metres away, looked at me, looking bewildered, and laughed uproariously into her hand. I didn't think it was that funny.

It did start raining eventually, so I went back to my room to watch football. It struck me today how absurdly young the players are. That has happened all of a sudden, somehow.

After all that, I thought I might venture back out again but when I looked out, the sky had turned a deep shade of purple and rain was tumbling out of it and cracking the pavement. Then the world flashed bright white for a moment before thunder split the heavens open. I decided to stay in for a bit longer. I wrote another poem while I was sitting inside listening to the storm. It's about thunder and lightning but I'm not quite sure what to call it. Maybe...

Don't be Scared of Thunder and Lightning

I don't think it's God moving tables around

I don't think it's Zeus taking shots at the ground

I don't think it's Thor with that hammer of his

And I don't think it's Bel getting into a tiz

I don't think it's Perun, or Indra or Bin

Nor Teshub nor Tarhunt nor Chinese Xin Xing

It's not Aunty Mavis in one of her strops

And it's not someone angry at harvesting crops

No, ionised air is the reason it booms

And it cracks and it rumbles through windows and rooms

A discharge of current from sky to the ground

It heats up the air and it propagates sound

So the next time it flashes and rumbles about

It isn't a deity trying to shout

It isn't responding to something we've done

It's weather, like fog, or the snow, or the sun

There's nothing to fear from a rumble or two

So you can enjoy it and savour the view

There's never a need to run or to hide

Just don't use a tree for shelter outside

Storms don't last forever of course, so later I did trek out for the evening. As beautiful as the morning had been, so the evening turned out to be. The sea was calm and golden, the sky was laced with coloured clouds. Long shadows fell across the rain-washed stones. Golden Cap was lit once again in the evening sunshine. This will be my last evening here this time, and it was great to end it the way it started. I sat on a bench and tried to process all the things I've thought and prayed about - in the woods, on the beach, up and down the stones and sand, on the cliff tops, in the corn field with a cup of tea and some chocolate buttons. I certainly do feel relaxed, which of course, was the whole aim in the first place. How long will it last? I wonder.

I stood up to zip up my jacket and make my way back to the hotel. The lettering on the bench caught my eye as my own shadow fell across it. For Gwendolin and Charlie, who loved this view, it said, just as it had said on Sunday. I can see why. Thanks Gwendolin and Charlie. I loved it too.