Reasons to be Cheerful – A Day By the Sea

I don’t know what it is, but being by the sea always brings a sense of calm to my soul. Maybe it’s because I was actually born by the sea, in Scarborough. Maybe it’s just because I now live as far away as you can get from the sea in England, so perhaps it’s just the novelty. Either way, it just feels like coming home whenever I get to be by the seaside. Any time we are in the general vicinity of a beach or sea view I will go to great lengths to convince whichever unfortunate person is travelling with me that we need to go and see it, even if it’s only a tiny glimpse from the car window as we drive past!

Yes, there is something about the seaside that induces a childlike sense of nostalgia and glee in me that not many other things do. I love everything about it. The sound of the waves lapping, the smell in the air, the feeling of the sea breeze in my hair. Most people associate the beach with Summer and holidays, but I actually think more of trips to my Grandparents as a child, where we would wrap up against the biting wind and take a stroll along the shoreline, which would be near enough deserted in the Winter, making it seem all the more magical.

This weekend, as we headed down to see some friends in Southampton, I quietly hoped there might be a beach walk on the cards, and I was thrilled to find out they had actually planned exactly that! Even Mother Nature was on my side, because after a couple of grey drizzly days, yesterday we awoke to blue skies and sunshine – perfect beach weather, and one of those rare crisp, bright Winter days that you don’t experience all that often in England. We had a lovely afternoon with our friends and their young children at Lee-on-Solent, staring out towards the Isle of Wight, skimming stones and searching for pretty shells among the pebbles. It was one of those idyllic afternoons you don’t want to end. Well, until you get hungry and had to find a pub to eat in, because we all get a little grumpy when we’re hungry, don’t we…? A girl has gotta eat!

Anyway, it was the perfect way to spend a day in my opinion, and I really wasn’t feeling quite ready to face the working week last night, but all good things must come to an end, and the sea air certainly did me some good as I had a very restful sleep ahead of a stressful Monday morning, which makes a nice change!

 

Hope Monday has been good to you all!

Love,