On January 2nd there was a brief gap in the wet and windy wintry weather. The sun shone and it was almost warm. My good friend Sally and I took a trip to the coast to celebrate the new year and to loosen our limbs a little. We had intended to go to Winterton but ended up at Horsey from where we walked along the dunes passing the cordoned off beach where the seals are in pup, over the heath, to the far end of Winterton beach for a closer look at the seashore. 

These two beaches are rich in wildlife and I can remember coming to see the seal pups a few years ago when the ground was frozen solid. And also a summer or so back to see the little terns nesting. 

Some places hold stories. Those two visits were made with a loved but difficult, and now ex and incommunicado, boyfriend. Returning, I suppose, woke up old feelings which made me a little sad, but also gave me a chance to lay some of those old feelings to rest. Past is past, just another layer of life history. Living in the now I was able to enjoy the sunlight and sea, and to allow my nostalgia to drift into the past where it belongs. I don't need to hold fast to those memories, they were a part of my life but not the whole. Time passes I am part of an ongoing saga. And, as cloth fades so too do memories good and bad.