August 4th

The clouds push and shove across the blue sky in heaps and pillows. There are Teddy Bears, Snow men and jousting knights. There is a camel backed by a weasel and something resembling a whale. Very like a Whale. Strange how the great white piles and puffs are so transitory. So insubstantial and yet there are quite clearly the same pictures that Hamlet and Polonius could see all those years ago. A summer day like so many others, warm but with a sea breeze enough to keep the air fresh. The sea quite calm and the beach, not crowded, but filled comfortably and the general hum and little screams of delighted children. But sit quite still and as well as watching the clouds there are the little sounds of the Green. Little slap slaps of flip flops on the path. The sound of the wheels of a walking frame. Even a few chirrups and twitters as the birds begin to find their voices again after the summer lay off. And when the sun manages to emerge from the cloud show, there is gentle warmth. #Bournemouth #WestCliffGreen #Summer #August.

From August 4th 2021

The dawn is sharp and cold. There's a north-easterly airstream coming directly from the arctic. But as soon as the sun bursts through the murk the temperature climbs rapidly. The sea is flat and calm as though dreaming of more exciting, stormy days. The year seems to be on pause again.