Movin' On - Down on the beach

A fine day. We head for the beach.
Big. Big. The beach here is really big. We're told it's better than California beaches. The tide is more benign or something and the sand remains clean and soft.
Seems like half the town and all of the tourists have bought into this. Hundreds. Kids with their shovels and kites and frisbies. Moms and Dads with their coolers and umbrellas. Oldsters with canes and wheelchairs. Grey heads in convertibles and fancy hats.
Big cement picnic tables.
"Look, see that family packing up? Let's see how long it takes".
The last plate is packed away. The last hat is donned. The last mouth is wiped. And suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a huge family appears. Lawn chairs and blankets get smacked down right close to the picnic table. One little camera gets put in the centre and it's theirs! Such is the politics of the beach.
People watching is my lifeblood. I can get more joy out of this pastime than anyone. And here - on this beach - it's one giddy sensation after the other. No newspaper for me. No poetry or Ipod or sand castles. Snapping the odd photo is about as far as I go. I decide I need the "long shot" of the beach with the town behind. Light is right. Angle requires a bit of a walk. Away we go getting sand in the sandles - (where are the crocs and the flip-flops when you need 'em).
We try this and that - but it's not what I'm keen about, and we plop back down again to finish the coffee.
"Look at the Dad - isn't he something! And the little boy - he's a treasure".
"Wow - the sweet young things! We've gotta do this more often", he says.
An elderly man with 2 canes. Youngish woman - tanned and blond. He's struggling to walk. They settle onto a bench. Stay for a half hour there. Talking a bit and smiling. He's loving it. When they get up to leave, he's hesitant. Takes a few steps, and then stands for a minute. She is quiet beside him, not saying anything. Just there. Then he goes on again.
2 crows hang around in a small tree. Every time a piece of food appears, they watch closely talking back and forth.
The huge tree trunks that have found their way here - many of them make a perfect bench - gnarled and weather beaten in dramatically beautiful designs - probably painted a million times. Nature has a way of outclassing us all when it comes to originality.
How easy it is here. How easy in this little town to spend a day with your family at the beach.
The ocean calls to us in some way. The ocean and the sand. The sun and the breeze.