9th March from the West Cliff Green, Bournemouth
A steady drizzle and a roaring sea. The blustery wind has backed to the South West and it is slightly warmer. We certainly haven’t got the snow we were promised over the last few days. The pigeons are still busy on the short grass. The grass is luxuriating in the wet and is spreading over last autumn’s leaf litter. Thus each year adds another layer. A runner passes by in black shorts and singlet and luminous shoes. He is quite unphased by the weather. There is a tiny sliver of silver out on the horizon where the sun has fought through a gap in the clouds. It makes its way across the misty bay but as soon as it reaches the clifftop a deluge of rain crashes down as fat as a tropical storm, each drop throwing up a little mushroom cloud of water from the puddles. And as soon as it has started it finishes and the sun struggles through for a few seconds before the rain starts again. And so it continues.
From 9th March 2022
The sun peers weakly from a hazy grey sky. The wind is not as cold but still harries the dirty green waves until they roar onto the shore. Gulls wheel and cry. The flock of pigeons number 22 today; all busily munching at whatever it is they find so delightful in the short grass. A hiker in a red anorak surveys the toposcope on the Bronze Age monument as if he expects some ancient truth to be revealed to him. #bournemouth #westcliffgreen #spring #March
From 9th March 2021
The air is clean and clear and intoxicating in its frosty freshness. The sky arches over in the most delicate pale blue. Mauve mist lines the horizon. To the east there is a wash of primrose that grows stronger until the sun bursts through with an intense orange glare. And laying down a golden path over the wrinkling sea. Little waves breathe softly. The branches of as yet leafless sweet chestnut show in magnificent silhouette against the brilliance of the dawn. Three smokers move aside to let me pass. We exchange greetings and one says. "I like your beret." "Yes," I say. "I do too." I am made happy by the compliment.
