The rain washed them away. All those mobile homes and campervans that littered the harbour have gone. Fair weather visitors, they’re not here for the long haul. As I neared the harbour I could see a light bobbing on top of the water. It was a boat, a fishing boat, a small one setting off for a day’s fishing. There are still lots of boats on stilts on the harbour’s edge. Some are for sale, some grow shabby for disuse and neglect while others await a coat of paint. They seem sad out of the water, cumbersome and plain wrong. Though I like to look at them, even in the gloom of the early morning. They are statuesque, noble beings, that in their simple wooden forms withstand so much.
I woke from dream after dream about The Moonstone, which we are currently immersed in. I know the book, and the theatrical adaptation, having being FOH at The Royal Exchange in the nineties when they had a long run of it, but this film from 1996 is new to me. It has a stellar cast, including Keeley Hawes, Greg Wise and Patricia Hodge and the glorious Anthony Sher as Sergeant Cuff. They all look so young and fresh-faced. A lifetime away.
