Happiness of a Nautical Nature?

The Wonder

The wonder is that magic places still exist just across the way, around the corner, beyond the seawall. Some are blind - seeing mud a spartan and sticky gloom - a hostile landscape of salt and sea, wild marsh and lonely prairie. But those that know - they return every year to wallow in the song of ducks, to smell the sea winds on the great flats, to wade the tide-lines with shank; tread the vast sandbanks in solitude, and to witness the melody of a new dawn and smile - invigorated by all that glitters - sleeping sound at the day's magical end... Tony

Blood Moon & Ghosts

I was yet to see one, a ghost that is, until tonight. To catch a night tide I often have to walk the seawall in complete darkness. Well, the Blood Moon may be causing all manner of strange happenings from Heybridge all the way over to Clacton. The last time I thought I had seen a ghost was at 01.00 am a couple of years back. There was no moon to blame for it and I had to use a torchlight to avoid tripping over and stumbling into the sea. Anyways, a dark silhouette and a red flash appeared at the bottom of the club slip as I approached. This could be Black Shuck I thought, the 1000 year old dog as tall as a trestle of oysters and long as a truck. Tongue swinging side to side and as red as a port lateral light. A rough old dog with hair as coarse as straw... I called out, " is anyone there" and listened for a canine response as I quickly donned my sea-boots for the wade over the mud to the boat. Maybe a lesser man would have run the other way but ghost or not I was intent on going sailing in the morning. The silhouette grew bigger as I clip clapped a way down to the foreshore in the creek and suddenly there were three red lights... I called out again "is that a member" this time a group of blokes answered in unison - 'no mate, just avin a butchers'. Now, I'm a reasonable fellow but here was a bunch of grown men, and at this point 15 to 20 feet away and still invisible, in the middle of practically nowhere, at 01.00 hrs 'avin' a butchers! Alas, I survived three cigarette smoking strangers having a butchers but to push this story on, as my bed is calling..
Something just swept past down the mud and slid away over to Fingringhoe Marshes, heading in a Tollesbury direction. It came straight off Rat Island... A friendly warning to anyone on the coast roads or in a boat: Black Shuck could be out tonight👻:-h