Tony Grist (poliphilo) wrote,
Tony Grist
poliphilo

I Love Hastings

We went to Hastings and it rained tremendously. There was a downspout across the street from the restaurant where we ate lunch in which the pressure was so great that the water escaping from a crack was fountaining  five feet up into the air.The restaurant was a family business- mother taking the orders, one older red-headed girl waitressing, a younger one sitting in the corner eating frites. We had moules marinieres- the mussels fresh in from Rye that morning. We were the only customers. An American woman came in and explained that someone had booked a table for her but she wouldn't be eating there because she was a vegan and it was against her principles to eat in a place that served so much fish.

When the rain stopped we went and did our Christmas shopping. The old town in Hastings is full of quirky shops- junk shops, new age shops, a shop selling ceramics in which the guy behind the counter turned out to be one of the potters, a wonderful shop selling, rocks and crystals and fossils. Afterwards I went and stood on the stony beach for a few minutes. By this time the rain had stopped and the sun was beaming sideways between cloud banks. The tide was coming in and the waves were quite big and smashing up in huge explosions of silvery foam and I got too close and a wave came for me and I found myself paddling. 
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