BBA & HBWC Administrator
Andrea Reece
30 Winton Avenue, London, N11 2AT
Tel: 0208 889 1292
Mob: 07807 893369
Email: branford.boase@gmail.com
Press Enquiries
Andrea Reece
Tel: 07807 893369 | Email: branford.boase@gmail.com
We only go to beaches in winter:
the forecast is “cloudy but dry”.
The wind pricks our eyes, piercing them to
tears, that trick us as we trip beachward:
an obstinacy of small arms and legs
have been peeled of already-wet clothes
and we brood into bathing costumes,
already longing for the plump pull of drying towels
and of sunnier days. It’s hailing now.
A smack of waves slice our pale pinked limbs
and I am merely (really fearfully) cold. Here we are:
a colony of chattering children clinging to
one another, shivering the cold off our goose-fleshed
limbs as hail collects in our hair and between
shouldered blades, and a blizzard of brazen birds screech
melancholy melodies into a barrel of squeals
which erupt as we bask and frisk in frosty
frothy waters. It’s snowing now. My teeth
clash and a choir of cries between gulls and
girls startle a lone walker.
A clutter, a cluster of credulous children clump
to holey towels, using, confusing
someone’s shoes for another’s.
Knots of toes squeeze into soaking, leaking shoes
and in a bleak patrol we set off for our car
and wait again for the better weather of another
year; between static strips of News we hear announced:
“The forecast is overcast but dry”.