At first light a village spaniel comes towards us. He's nonchalantly bounding along the top of the stone field walls. This gives him a great view of the yellowhammers flitting in and out of the brambles but must be sore on his paws. The dog looks at me as if to say ' Bet you ain't seen skill like this before '. He leaps down for a quick tickle before leaping back up again.
A man in an orange safety jacket and white hard hat has shown up to check the wooden power pylons. The man is a subcontractor to the electricity company and starts work at first light and finishes when it gets dark. He taps each wooden pole with a hammer to determine whether it needs to be replaced. Healthy ones make a reassuring 'clunk'. Rotten ones emit a dull atonal 'thwump'. You'd think there might be a 21st century technology to do this but apparently not. The village poles were put up in July 1955 and are as good as new but some of the 1990's era poles will need to be replaced. They used imported timber . This information is imparted in a tone of voice that hints that there was ill advised ' foreign wood substitution ' by the power company thirty years ago. I observe that the poles were going up when I was born . " You're like them - good for another fifty years at least " the man replies. We both laugh in that affable way only complete strangers can .
Down on the beach three Chinese tourists ask us to take their photo. They speak English with a cut glass accent that wouldn't be out of place in Blenheim Buckingham Palace. Mother and father ( and aunt ) are here from Shanghai to visit their daughter who is in her first year studying medicine . Apropos of nothing the aunt tells me she's a mechanical engineer at a 'very good company' in Nanjing. I take their photos and hand their Google phone back to them. All three say " Very quaint. Very quaint " in unison. This may be a reference to the town or equally possibly a judgement on the photographer. I come away from this interaction surprised by a) their accents b) how stylishly dressed they are and c) the fact they're using Google phones rather than an Apple. All of them have shocking pink cases on their phones which could count as surprise d) if I'd thought of it at the time.
The Chinese opt not to walk on the beach. Having photographed the sunrise they head back towards a chauffeur driven BMW 7 series that will take them back to the Fairmont. The hotel cars here have their names emblazoned on the doors in what is a rather Edwardian touch. You used to see this done in London and New York but door emblazoning seems to have fallen out of fashion. Perhaps it's a crime thing ? Why draw attention to the fact the passengers are in a fancy hotel ?
Passing the library a man is dutifully shuttling backwards and forwards with trays of fresh sandwiches. The students favourites are BLT's and tuna and sweetcorn .
So starts a quiet Tuesday morning in a small coastal town where nothing ever happens. I've got an 8:30 appointment with the dental hygienist. Last time I was there she chipped one of my front teeth which now has a super sharp edge to it. An 8:30 appointment seemed a good idea at the time but I'm now wondering if I shouldn't have gone for a later slot when the hygienist has fully woken up.
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