Ice Screaming With The Gulls, Broadstairs

Today after nearly a whole week of relentlessly cold and grey weather the sun reappeared in a bright blue sky - hurrah! Therefore we decided to head to one of favourite destinations on a sunny winter's day - Broadstairs. This time we chose not to go through the bottleneck that is Canterbury. Instead we headed past Faversham, skirted Whitstable and Herne Bay and so arrived in Broadstairs without having got stuck in at least one sizeable traffic jam. It was after midday when we arrived so, of course,  our first thought was to find somewhere for a drink. This time we thought we'd try somewhere new and tried out a quirky and cool looking bar called Sonder (the word sonder means the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own). The beer was good and it was a lovely place with big windows, high ceilings and an eclectic taste in design. It was then time to head towards the seafront. On this occasion we chose to start our walk by the beach at Louisa Bay. As soon as we could see the waves we felt the cold bite of the stiff breeze (luckily we had enough layers on) but the winter sun was so perfect and the sand so golden that it made our meander along the beach a pure joy. As we rounded the bend from Louisa Bay into Viking Bay I saw the striking yellow hut (and no entry sign) you can see in my extra image. I just loved the punchy colours and shadows. By the time we got to the far end of Viking Bay next to the Jetty we were starving so my brother got us a big portion of chips to share. We sat on the back wooden steps of this closed ice cream parlour (shuttered for the winter) overlooking the beach. It was at this point that the screaming gulls became very interested in us or, to be more accurate, our choice of lunch. We did chuck them one or two and that's when I looked up and took the main image. It's a slightly looser composition than my usual style but I think it gives a sense of the chaos and pandemonium of the cacophony of noise and flapping wings that greeted us when we rather foolishly decided to throw them some titbits! All in all it was a highly enjoyable micro trip.