Drift

I took the boys down for some fresh air at Levenhall this afternoon. We walked along the sea front, round the pond and off by the bird reserve. It was absolutely perishing cold. I took photos of the sea and the boys and a swan perfectly mirrored in the pond but chose to post this one. As I say, it was cold and pretty bleak out. The cold and the damp seemed to desaturate the colours from all around us - except for the red hulk of this ship which stood out like a grimy beacon among the grey of the sea and the land and the sky.

I imagined the sailors on board, waiting for some sort of clearance to be on their way, huddled around a paraffin heater in their polo necks below deck, playing cards and drinking spirits, disagreeing about something or other and coming to blows, returning to Denmark a member of crew fewer and the marine life of the Forth Estuary having something fresh to nibble on over the next couple of weeks.