Struggling

When I saw these winkle pickers I thought it nice that somebody appreciates the bounty of the sea. Through the Celtic Tiger years we have forgotten how to use what is available to us in case we might be typecast as "unsuccessful"...

Then I saw a different picture. They had no transport to carry off their spoils. They had been there hours judging by the bags they were filling. They were working for somebody.

Then I spotted the two baby buggies in the lee of the rocks. They had two children with them. Nobody to mind them.

They would have been dropped off in the morning as the tide receded. They would be there until they were collected at the end of the day. Nowhere to rest. Nowhere to shelter. And paid a pittance. Nothing for them except hardship. They are East Europeans trying for a better life....for themselves...and their children. And it started in my head by a glimpse of a red hat out in the mud slops.....just saying

Deportees