We are so, so fortunate to have these many miles of almost deserted sandy beach within a few minutes' walk of our front door, particularly on bright, sunny days, and we should bless that good fortune and be deeply satisfied. The trouble is that I look at a Scottish beach with its chill wind and grey sea and recall....
....beaches we have walked before, tropical beaches, where a light wind caresses our skin, the sun is warm across our shoulders, and the sea is inviting; and when we look at the thin collection of birds along the local beaches we recall....
....the exuberance of the life along tropical shores.
Would it have been better, then, never to have visited Maziwi Island - no more than a shelf of shallow water with a bank a few hundred yards long formed of coral-white sand off the coast of Tanzania - to spare myself the pangs of memory?
No. I'm glad we visited it, experienced it, and that I remember it so vividly. I just wish I could dampen the yearning to be back there.
Ah but Jon, there may be a few Terns among them that you have seen over a Scottish bay, making a connection for you. It is like your blog, it helps the reader cope with the pangs of separation they feel from not being on a Scottish coast.
ReplyDeleteArctic Terns, do you think?