Oh we do like to be beside the seaside.....

My Funny Valentine

It is a blustery February day in Hunstanton, but at least it isn't raining, and I am walking with my valentine, who seems to see the funny side.....

My funny valentine 
Sweet comic valentine 
You make me smile with my heart 
Your looks are laughable 
Unphotographable 
Yet you're my favourite work of art

Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers

The lights are coming on, under a cloudy sky.....

There is something of a holiday atmosphere

- a little something.....

Parents have wrapped their kids up for the fresh sea air.....

Enraged, perhaps, that, when not striking, teachers are themselves now taking holidays.....

Not all the pleasure palaces, entertainments or vendors of delicacies are yet fully functioning (Perhaps they are on strike? Ed):

But some are creaking open their shutters:

Though without the candy floss enthusiasm that will no doubt explode later in the year:

But there are some places open where you can sit outside and enjoy (?) a warm drink:

And indeed others where you can stand and enjoy (??) a warm drink......

Or go inside for an ice cream..... (Yum, just what we need....)

Or have a breakfast by the window with a view (of the clouds):

Or, my favourite, fish and chips, to take away (and give to the seagulls):

And then you could of course buy a net to catch your own...... (fish - not chips, stupid!)

And when it's nearly over, you can stock up on souvenirs and personalised gifts (though you can't take your fish and chips inside - The Management says so!).....

Ah, yes! My valentine and I, we do love to be beside the sea, on our heavenly never-ending holidays:

Oh! [We] do like to be beside the seaside! 

[We] do like to be beside the sea! 

Oh [we] do like to stroll along the Prom, Prom, Prom! 

Where the brass bands play, "Tiddely-om-pom-pom!"

So just let [us] be beside the seaside! 

[We]'ll be beside [ourselves] with glee 

and there's lots of girls beside, 

[We] should like to be beside, beside the seaside, 

beside the sea!

John H. Glover-Kind

1907

{By the way - and far be it from me to intrude here with pedantry, but I thought you might be interested?  February derives from the Latin word, februa, which meant to cleanse.  This period was named after the Roman month-long festival of purification and atonement, then known as Februalia....

Which is obviously why we have half term holidays ..... a bit like dry January perhaps?}

Oh! And there they go!  Barnacle geese flying off into the sunset...

Back to the grindstone.....

February, month of despair,

with a skewered heart in the centre.

Margaret Atwood

February