online: 23 march 2009 modified: 6, 19, 27 march, 5 april 2009 6 march 2009 seaside nature
coast of Brittany
...seat on a coastal path near to Trelevern... a few primroses and a single daisy (the first i've come across this year) growing in sheltered spots beneath thorn bushes and other scrubland plants that flourish alongside this much-used path... in the distance are islands of rock and sand and seaweed that are submerged at high tide... and there are fields in which crops are grown and two horses and a long-haired goat are grazing between the holiday houses and the granite rocks and pebbles of the shore...
...everything that is so wild and direct (and i think right) about the seaside is evident here... the never-ceasing waves, the seabirds and the rocks, the clean air and strong wind... to me these things embody the whole gestalt of the seaside... they make me wonder why i live in a city... i could sit here all day on this path, looking at the single daisy flower, the indescribable complexity of the bushes above it, the Atlantic Ocean and its immense coastline... of which all these are intricate parts...
...and on a seaside building i see two words in Brittonic ('awel' and 'mor' meaning 'breeze' and 'sea') that are almost identical to their Welsh equivalents... but other Brittonic words (for instance St Brieuc and Peros-Guirec) look to me more French than Welsh...
..further along the coastal path is a gorse bush in full flower and of the brightest yellow i can recall...
...between holiday houses is a dump containing toilet bowls, a glass-fronted refrigerator, other abandoned industrial products... and an ancient wooden wagon wheel with dished spokes*... vivid evidence of the eccentric craziness and the often broken culture of the seaside... a borderland where official culture can break down and nature can easily overide it... and that i suppose is another reason why i like it so much... the place where i was born and lived my early life...
*i learned much about the nature of craftwork and industrial culture (Design Methods, Chapter 2) from the dishing of cartwheels, as described by George Sturt in The Wheelwright's Shop, Cambridge University Press - in print since the 1920's.
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