Up Channel 3

 

An English autumn day, in Eastbourne. Trees aflame, in their seasonal finery. Phone booths, red as a beefeater’s tunic, standing sentry duty. Before a hare-eared church tower.

Fish & Chips is served, naturally.

Or, if preferred, tea on the terrace is available across the street.

Beneath Union Jacks, aflutter on a Georgian facade.

With views of the glittering golden domes, of the pleasure pier. Which paddles, straight legged, in the briny. Trouser cuffs figuratively rolled.

Serried ranks, of weathered wooden groynes, hold the beach shingle in place. Lest the sea, on stormier days, should carry it off, along the shore.

Today, the winds are light, the waters calm.

Tomorrow, the forecast is for a passage-making breeze. With tides set fair, Stargazer watches and waits.