Our good deed for the day

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This week we are away from home for a little break, and the girls were keen to go to the seaside. To be honest, none of us are massive beach fans – lying about on hot sand all day just doesn’t excite any of us, and we’d really prefer a cliff walk or an hour or two spent rock-pooling – but we do like to be beside the sea now and then, maybe have a little paddle, wander up and down the beach looking for pretty shells, interesting pebbles and the like, and just have a bit of a change. And all the beaches within a reasonable distance of here are sandy. The nearest beach to where we are is not a big resort but it does have quite a lot of visitors in summer. At low tide it is an extensive sandy beach, backed by miles of sand dunes with extensive salt flats behind. The last shop on the road to the beach sells the best ice-cream. The only real down-side is that there is only a small block of rather horrible public toilets quite a long way back up the road. So we headed to the beach for a couple of hours, equipped with blanket, swimsuits, towels, suncream and books to read. When we arrived the tide was in and just turning, although the water was only just above knee deep. Having made up my mind to swim I was determined to do it, so spent a little while floating about as the water was surprisingly warm. The first time I have swum in the British sea without a wetsuit in several years! The girls mostly just paddled about as Little One was afraid of bumping into any jellyfish. Then we sat on the beach for a little bit, dried off and read our books and tried to avoid getting sunburnt. But before long we had had enough and decided it was time to do something else. Along with us to the beach I had taken a couple of disposable rubber gloves and a carrier bag so as to collect up any litter we came across (I opted for the gloves because with the toilet situation, you are always a bit dubious of what you might find!). I hate to see litter on the beach (or anywhere) and it’s frustrating when I can’t do anything about it. In spite of the number of visitors on this hot day, there wasn’t a huge amount of litter but I did collect up a couple of mesh bags, some plastic and a couple of drinks bottles and ice-cream tubs from ‘our’ patch before we set out our blanket. Then as we were leaving I put a glove on again and gathered up a few more bits and pieces, mainly baby wipes but also food containers and a pair of socks. Then I found a nice pair of sunglasses. I asked the two older ladies who were sitting on deckchairs nearby if they were theirs, or if anyone else had been sitting there, but they said no, so I kept those. But then as we walked through the dunes I saw a purse. I picked it up – it was heavy, and inside was a quantity of cash along with bank cards etc. Of course I got a name from that, so back I went to the beach and asked the same older ladies if either of their names was Pilkington, but they said no. So I looked around and approached the next nearest person (although the beach was quite busy, it’s so big that they were all quite spread out) and asked her name. Thankfully she immediately replied that she was Kirsty Pilkington (the name on the card, and no I hadn’t told her that) so I was able to hand the purse over. She was very happy to have it back (she was trying to convince herself that she must have left it in the car) and I was happy not to have to try to figure out what to do with it. The days when one took any ‘lost property’ to the local police station are long gone (along with the local police stations). So I feel like I accomplished two good deeds in one day! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2022.