Life's a beach

How stormy was it last night? Throughout the night, the wind blew, sending anything not nailed down or under a few kilos spinning off around the garden; and the rain, the rain belted down and the ratta tat tat on the lean too roof became deafening at times. This continued until midday when the weather suddenly broke for a short while leaving a bright afternoon, which encouraged me to leave the house for a walk along the beach. Strangely the sky was blue and clear of clouds (other than on the horizon), the wind although softer now still made itself known, the swiftness of this change was startling. The waves rode high up the beach, a beach now scoured of much of its sand revealing the pebbles below. Flocks of birds (what type I know not) played in the surf of the intertidal, whilst the flotsam and jetsam from the recent storms piled up just out of reach of the waves. Did you know that jetsam refers to something that has been voluntarily cast into the sea (jettisoned) traditionally in order to lighten a sea craft in an emergency; while flotsam describes items that have found their way in to the water without having been thrown in deliberately. Either way it all looks like crap to me.

This respite in the weather was short lived, for as quickly as it began an hour later the skies were leaden again and the rain returned as did the strong winds.