It made such a change to have a sunny day with blue sky after all the rain and grey skies. We had a day trip to Cleveleys on the northern coast of Lancashire. The light was sparkling, more so probably after the relentless grey light of winter. The sea was at high tide and rushing up the promenade steps in a foamy swathe. The power in those waves was still visible after the recent storms and I dash over as little legs were getting closer to the steps in open curiosity at the big bank of water in front of them. The damage caused by the storms is apparent in the broken tiles and holes in roofs around the front. I realise how lucky we are as a family, although there are many trees down where we live and lucky escapes by those that we know.
After the boys scootering and biking along the prom we had a fish and chip lunch, with not much negotiation needed with the boys, they were as hungry as we were! Then it was wellies on for a spot of pebble throwing into the sea, the waves rushing at their toes. We had a final walk along the prom looking at the large nautical themed sculptures which really encourages a thoughtful walk along this stretch. The huge carved wooden oar reminds me of a Maori artifact for some reason, the carvings of barnacles and seaweed are beautiful. There are nautical themed poems with accompanying illustrations engraved into stone, my favourite of which is a poem about a girl called Mary losing a golden shell. Facing the sea and the huge sky of the horizon above we are faced with a vertical rectangle of sheet metal about 15 ft high, into which the name and date of every ship to be shipwrecked of the Fylde coast since 1642 to 2008 has been cut so that the light of the sky which has witnessed such wreckage is used to read these names. At first I assumed such a list was names of those lost in the first or second world war, the kind that can be seen in many town or village centres, once I realised what it really was, it was perhaps surprisingly so, no less poignant.
Tired little legs and a few scraped knees determined ice-cream was called for, an ice-cream parlour (yes they do still exist apparently!) was of course doing a rip - roaring trade on the first sunny day in months. We then headed home tired after our blast of sea air and sparkling light.
