Morecambe Bay (and Lowry)

Dan having a job in Morecambe is, to be frank, pretty inconvenient. But each week I look forward to chatting with him in the car and then the opportunity to look out across Morecambe Bay when I've dropped him off.

The 'shelf' from the Kent Estuary out to sea is very shallow, which means the tide comes in very quickly, which has caught many people out over the years. A chap I used to work with had a catamaran and he moored up in the bay one evening. As the tide went out the boat settled down on its twin hulls. In the morning, this colleague told me, you could hear the tide coming in over the mud flats, faster than walking pace.

Actually, when the sea is as it is in this photo, it reminds me of some paintings of Lowry's. Until the Minx and I went to an exhibition, two or three years ago, I hadn't realised that he painted seascapes. They ought to be boring but they aren't; they draw you into them, bringing a sense of deep peace.