11th September from the West Cliff Green, Bournemouth
Whilst most people were fast asleep the Event was under way. Competitors scurried hither and yon riding push bikes, running up and down and swimming backwards and forwards. Big wire and steel enclosures had been built and a rag tag fringe of wellness stalls had been erected. Spectators wandered about in an uncoordinated way.
And then by lunch time the banners and fences have been dismantled and everything packed away leaving the green to a pleasant unhurried sort of day. The sky is blue criss crossed with filaments of white cloud. The shadows lengthen. A fresh, warm little breeze springs up. Out on the bay where the sea is puckered and crumpled, fishing boats catch the last of the sun.s rays. Long shadows are cast along the paths. Couples saunter. Gulls swoop and glide. A perfect late summer evening.
From September 11th 2021
It's been a day of three halves: Grey and cloudy, then bright and warm, now deeply gloomy again as the sun and the clouds chase each other across the sky. Meanwhile the West Cliff has divided itself in three with a large sporting event surrounded by high wire fences enclosing some sort of arena at one end while the Wanderers and the Waggy Tail Walkers take the other pretending to ignore what is happening . The sporting event itself also appears to be comprised of three parts. Running about, riding up and down on push-bikes and then having a bit of a swim. I shall not be participating. Later: The clouds scramble aside briefly to reveal a fat golden slice of moon which make a rumpled silk golden path across the bay towards the fat golden land of Sandbanks. And then the clouds slide back and the moment is gone.
From September 11th 2012
5.00 and there's screaming from the end of the road. No, not that sort of screaming, I decide, sticking my head out the window. Just full bore drunken exuberance. Not many years ago this area would have been populated with crusty old colonels and delicate ladies of a certain age. I wonder what they would have thought.
