Grinning at an empty puddle — plaice, low tides and stripes on the sand

There is a particular sort of morning here when the tide goes out further than seems reasonable, and the whole beach turns into somewhere else entirely — flat and shining and pale, with the sea reduced to a rumour somewhere off in the distance and, boy, we’ve just had a cracker.  I check the tide times the night before like other people check the weather, and if it’s a good low one I’m up, dogs bundled into the car before I’ve quite worked out whether I want to be awake.  Here on the south coast we have a few dog friendly beaches and my favourite is behind somewhere called Hove Lagoon where I used to spend my childhood holidays, feeling vaguely sick from too much back and forth on those 1950’s swings ! As we get one road away from the beach, noses poke out of the car windows and excitement levels go barmy.   And then, we’re there with dozens of other happy, salty sea dogs. What I love best about a really low tide is the puddles. Great shallow pools left behind in the ripples of the sand, warm on the top and freezing underneath, and if you stand still long enough and stop letting the dogs charge about, you’ll see them — little plaice, no bigger than a beer mat, flat and speckled and absolutely convinced you can’t see them. Which, to be fair, you very nearly can’t. They flicker off across the bottom in a puff of sand and settle again two feet away, entirely invisible, and I stand there like a fool grinning at an empty puddle. Seventy-odd years old and I’m still delighted by a small fish pretending to be the seabed. The dogs, needless to say, take no interest whatsoever in the plaice. They are busy with the important work of running in enormous pointless circles, finding one particular bit of dried seaweed and carrying it half a mile, and rolling in something I will regret later. There’s always the one that goes in properly, right up to the chest, and comes out looking astonished and pleased with himself (Wally natch).   And there’s Eff standing at the edge, refusing to go any further. Then home, sandy and salty and starving, everyone flat out on the kitchen floor by ten in the morning, and me back at the sewing machine with my hair full of wind and the shiniest toenails ! Do you know what looks right at the seaside ? Stripes. It’s not complicated. Something about a Scrufts stripe against pebbles and a big blue sky just works, and I’ve been making them for years because they never look wrong on any dog, scruffy or smart and they really do last !  My striped dog collars come in blues, reds, pinks, greens.  Check out Mivvi in pinks and Ice Pop in blues.  Delicious !  Have a nosey over in the Stripes category …. I dare you ! Check your tide times. Go early. Take a towel for the back seat — you will need it.

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