I think it's not officially spring for another five days, but the weather made a turn for the better today, and all was sunshine and roses. Well, the sunshine was out, but to be honest the roses have some good catching up to do to compete with this glorious spring sunshine we've been experiencing.
I spent most of my lunch today out of doors, navigating the streets lazily; just wandering in and amongst the shops, trying and mostly succeeding to not get knocked about by fellow passerby. I was the only one, it seemed, who wasn't going somewhere. I was not on a mission. I was on a mission to not be on a mission. I headed for the beach to see if the crowds there were at least still, and they were. They were moving, but in a much less frenetic sense. They had met their destination, found their serenity amongst the crowds and the candy shops and the fish and chips, and all at the beach and were quietly anxious to get something out of it. Sitting together watching the waves come in and go out, some with children holding ice cream, some with hands holding each other, most holding cameras. I held my iPod and pressed next. Disco Donna Summer doesn't mesh with the sights at the beach, not today. Too tragic. Lauryn Hill was too preachy, Kelly Clarkson too whiny and Britney made me want to rub sand in my eyes. Not that you could find sand at Brighton beach even if you tried; you couldn't. It's just large pebbles.
I pulled my earbuds out and nestled into the pebbles and listened to my favorite sound. The sound of the water pulling the rocks and shells and sand back into the sea, a sort of wet, heavy, rainy rustling, a whooshy falling, a kind of knocking together of millions of little bits, each resisting the wet depths from their dry perch on the beach.
I kept my iPod quietly content in my pocket and just listened for a bit. Mesmerized.
A child in the distance screaming for attention brought me back. So, I looked toward the horizon and nodded goodbye, and turned back for the office. Now, I felt, walking back to work I could celebrate with a little beat in my ears to make my steps lighter. Lady GaGa is my newest cure for a sluggish uphill gait. Joyous rhapsodic pop. Glitter.
Tonight I painted this picture in memory of the sunshine.
xx
