Sea Fever Part I with apologies to John Masefield

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a transvestite and an owl to steer him by.

Don't you just love wind turbines?

There are times when a virtually irresistible urge comes upon me to

not only see but also to dip my toes into the waves and I cannot rest

until I have done so.

On other occasions I am prepared to move heaven and earth to have

a cuddle with a giant, hairey running do or to bury my face in a

horses' neck and breathe in the whole heady experience.

Definately for those in peril on the sea.

This afternoon at round about 14.30 it was the sea that called to me

and as I'm only about ten minutes by car from the coast I was off and

away without stopping to wash the dishes from lunch.  I can be such

a slut when the mood is upon me.

Seaside shabby chic.

In next to no time I rocked up in the rather tatty car part behind the

Caister-on-Sea Lifeboat Station amongst the tractors and fishing boats

and owls.  No Alice dear I haven't just said the wrong word for seagulls

because there I was in the middle of some bizarre "owl fest" run by a

scrawney little Owl Meister complete with obligatory inkings of said

creatures about all visible parts of his body and a burly, transvestite

chum wearing a rather fetching paisley print shift dress.

As usual when I find myself in a slightly surreal situation like this there

wasn't another living soul about so, armed only with my camera and a

broad grin, I approached the "elephant in the carpark".

Now you see him .....

Turns out the pair run an owl sansctuary nearby and were on a fund

raising mission but had grossly underestimated the numbers of

tourists they had expected to find at the beach during half term week.

..... now you don't.

Before proceeding on over the dunes to the beach I made what I

considered to be an appropriate donation to their funds in return

for a couple of snaps of their extremely sleepy and bored looking charges

who every time I went to take a shot managed to turn their heads away

at the last moment.

He just would not smile.

Never work with children or animals, still it was

all a bit of a "hoot" I suppose.