PERSONAL
This picture of coastline is very close to where I grew-up — for summer swimming and play on the rocks/sand – a happy time for a young boy. But I often sat infront of the North Sea ahead, or walked the tidal edge and wondered about other places far away across the blue/grey water. At thirteen years-of-age I went aboard MV Glenside; delivering coal to London (Battersea power station); for summer adventure as cabin boy and the same next summer…
Both sides of my family were involved with ships and shipyards, for generations and I came to know this was in my blood too. Because I still love boats; specially sailing yachts, the sea and any shore place. I now belong to a small yacht club in West Vancouver; though, sad to say, have no boat of my own at the moment. I also belong to the West Vancouver cricket club, as nostalgia for home and the past…
Lucky for me, my daughter lives near London; so I return each year to visit and usually try for a few days in the northeast. Where I wander the beaches and sea-walls, the promenades and childhood memories — enough to realize how my homeland still pulls at me…
July/Aug (2016), I returned to the NE and lodged for over three weeks. To frequent old Saint Peter’s church (674-AD), at mouth of the river; where my parents were married and the kids baptized. The yacht club, where my father sailed upon the North Sea, still functions and kindly hosted me several times…
