Two Swallows alight. Resting from their swooping, soaring, skimming, acrobatics. Resplendent in red white and blue finery. They know that today is the lull before the storm. A day suspended languidly between two weather systems. Tomorrow it will blow hard from the west. Today the air is still.
It is a day to explore the world of 'betweens,' beyond the Butt and Oyster.
On the shingle foreshore, somnolent wooden craft lie waiting, for the touch of the tide to reawaken them. Eager to put to sea once more. Travellers on the wind.
Further on, weary craft, their sea going days now over, rest well worn hulls in an unctuous ooze. An unnamed element, between earth and water.
A new lease of life awaits them, between the end of their seafaring days and the ultimate fate of all things wood or steel. They will see out their days as houseboats. Neither afloat nor ashore.
Moored in an orderly, yet bohemian, row beneath the wooded bluff. Think Bilbo Baggins' on sea.
Battle scarred veterans are loved and cherished once more.
Reconstructive surgery begins.
Disheveled decks are set to rights.
Wounds are healed.
An indomitable spirit will be required, to fully effect the transformation.
Stargazer lies afloat on her deep water berth, homely, trim and in the prime of her sailing years. The high, wooded, slopes of Woolverstone hill protect her to the south and west. Our bulwark against the coming gale.
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