Saturday 17th November

I had in yet another moment of madness ordered £50 worth of CDs from Amazon.  Not quite so crazy, as three were Christmas Presents and one was a box set of all of Simon and Garfunkel’s Original CDs including the Concert in the Park (even though I had them all on Vinyl and do have their Greatest Hits).  Be that as it might, the package from Amazon was too large to go through my letter-box and I had to collect it from the Post Office in Frinton.   It is about a two mile walk, and there are a couple of ways to walk it – the main road, or along the Esplanade by the sea.

I never know quite when the buses are running here, and unlike in London where there is one every few minutes, here they are fairly few and far between.  I walked to the church where there is a bus-stop and saw a handful of people waiting.  And yes a bus came along after a few minutes.

I retrieved my package and decided to walk back along the sea-front.  The morning was cold, but no wind or rain.  I walked towards the sea and down the steps to the esplanade walk which goes between Walton and Frinton for a couple of miles.  The tide was about half way out and slowly returning, the sand not quite dry from the last high tide was a pale brown colour, and the sea a nondescript grey – dissipating out to a misty horizon and the sky only a slightly paler shade of grey.  There were a few dog-walkers on the beach, the dogs skipping around and sniffing every bit of seawall they came across.

I started at a brisk pace, and as my circulation increased I hardly noticed the cold.  In fact I felt remarkably good; invigorated and healthy, a feeling of immense well-being came over me. What could be better in life than being wrapped up warm and striding along in the misty grey morning, the sea behaving in its relentless way on my right, and a gentle sloping bank lined with multi-coloured and closed up beach huts on my left.  I passed a few fellow walkers who all cheerily wished me ‘Good Morning’ on my half-hour constitutional.

It made me wonder why on earth I didn’t do this every time I was here.