What's New

A weekend writing by the sea

¦ dialling in from Hayling Island ¦

09:13 GMT, Saturday 16th Jan 2010.  I’m sitting at a round table in the heart of a small lounge.  The wall ahead of me is dominated by a window that looks out onto a ridge of shingle, beyond which is the vast expanse of the sea…grey and angry and throwing out whips of white foam.  No lights are on and the morning is the colour of blue-grey ash, matching the colour of the dead light that uniformly fills the horizon stretching out in front of me, above the sea.

This is Hayling Island, on the south coast of England. I’m with Pete, my friend and the neighbour of my parent’s house up in Newcastle.  This house belonged to his recently deceased father.  

I’ve come here to write, acting upon Pete’s invitation.

The snow has finally melted from the roads.

Drove here yesterday.  For some reason, despite having Rocket for 6 months now, it’s the first time I’ve been on a long journey on my own.  Great feeling of freedom, and the anticipation of new things. I took the A36.  Almost no traffic.  Good speed along winding blacktop, clear of snow and ice, through rural landscape that was mostly still locked in the grip of chill white.

As I neared Hayling, the freezing fog patches and grey skies cleared to make room for a golden sunset.  After I arrived there was time for Pete and I to hurry onto the shingle beach and stroll a while before dark.

Then Pete cooked up a feast, a rack of lamb each, thick cut steak and roast potatoes with onions cooked in stock.  I worked on my laptop for a while but after the meal we just settled down with glasses of wine and relaxed.  A game of “Fury of Dracula” of course; I brought my copy down from Bristol.

The room Pete gave me overlooked the sea.  I cranked open the window and fell asleep to the pounding of the surf and the wash hissing across shingle.

Then a storm came in, and thankfully blew the window shut… I was woken by howling wind and rain slamming against the glass.  I rolled up, smiling in the snug heat of the duvet and drifted off again.

Perfect.

This morning I was up at dark; brewed a coffee and sat in my room watching the sky lighten to the colour of ash.  

Some reading of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

And now to start my day of writing.