Seaside Conversation

It was already two hours after sunrise,when I arrived at the seaside. Apart from the students building up the terrace of the beach club - and the man on the photo - I was alone at the seaside. Most of the Gulls were still dozing on the sandbar. At low tide no business. So, there we walk, splash and dive into the slow curling surf. Seawater temperature being 21 C! Its like gliding into a lukewarm bath, infinite is this tub, infinitely moving, streaming, rising or lowering. Swimming around as sheer pleasure not only energizes but it elevates your soul, still a bit heavy from the dream night. Drying in a slight and fresh breeze.

Looking to the North I still could follow that older man. Dressed in rain jacket and blue cap. Sharing his breakfast with some blackjacks and gulls. Perhaps he had been working in the dark and at dawn, driving his Beach Dragon all over the sandplains to clean an rake. Leaving an unnatural virgin landscape for the visitors to come. Now after hard work taking delight in the birds that followed him on his plowman’s course. But this is all speculation. As I learned yesterday, it is much more thrilling to leave all these interpretations on ‘what was the case’ out and cherish the twilight of the Unknowable.

And what we may ‘know’ is what we can see. He is having his conversation with the birds. And that is a rare and exceptional attitude among most beach walkers. I’m not referering to that lonely birdwatcher. Usually the beach walkers are uninterested in the seabirds, the blackjacks and crows. Many animals are seen as obstacles, not as beings to share your playtime with. One need not be a Holy Francis to leave the seabirds their resting or fishing place. There is still so much to learn about surviving trics and other behaviour of these birds.

Take for instance how the blackjacks know to fetch something edible out of your backpack. Or how gulls can operate strategically around a family with kids and - of course lots of cookies, bars and other snacks available in open bags. I love to see such raids happen. Sometimes little children react very freehanded and happy. Others start chasing the birds, also in very aggressive ways. Therefore I love seeing this older man with his sharing hands. The blackjacks looking up to their friend, expecting more to come.