My Storytelling

Have you ever been to the seaside when the sea is not there? When all you can see are miles of wet sand and mud stretching out to the horizon. Have you ever been to the seaside when the sun is not there? All there is is a grey monotone sky with a dreary drizzle filling the air.

That is what greeted me as I drove into the small seaside town of Dundorn. I was staying here for the weekend, Friday until Monday. It was now Friday afternoon, I had left work early in order to get here in good time. I had my camera and photography gear in the car as I had been hoping for some good sunset shots but the current weather did not look promising.

Truth be told; this weekend had started to go wrong days before I arrived. Originally, this was intended to be a weekend for Fiona and I to get to know each other. On Wednesday, though, I received a message from her to say, basically, that she no longer wished to get to know me.

We had been dating for nearly three months, I thought things were going well and I hoped this weekend would give us the chance to move our relationship on a step further. It seems she had no intention of moving our relationship anywhere. I only wish she had given me a few more days’ notice. Then I could have cancelled the trip. As it is, I could not cancel without losing the money I’d paid for the hotel room, so I decided to come along on my own.
Secretly, of course, I had been hoping she would change her mind at the last minute but, alas, not.

So here I am driving around this dull town, following my old SatNav, trying to find the Sunshine Hotel. As I look for it on the road ahead, it occurs to me just how ironic that name is, especially on a day like today. This road seems to run along the shore, it has old three storey houses along one side and a wide footpath on the other. Each of the houses seems to be a guesthouse or a small ‘hotel’. My guess is that the Sunshine Hotel is one of these. I look ahead, trying to see any sign or hoarding proclaiming the name of the hotel but in vain. So I drive along at a slow speed, thankfully the road is quite empty of traffic.

It turns out, the Sunshine Hotel is almost at the very end of the street. A couple of more houses and then the road drifts up a cliff and out of the town again, I assume. The hotel has a narrow drive entrance into its small parking area but, thankfully, there is only one other vehicle parked so I have no problems driving into a space.

I pick up my bags from the car and enter the hotel reception. I am surprised at how easy the checkin is; I had expected questions about having booked a room for two people but arriving on my own. Instead, everything is nicely and politely efficient. I give my name and car registration, decline an early morning call, and am given two copies of the room keycard. I take my own cases; a small shoulder bag and a backpack, up to the room, room 201. The receptionist did say they had a lift but I choose to use the stairs; it’s a ‘man’ thing. Room 201 is on the top floor, annoyingly it is right next to the lift. From what I can see, there seems to be only 5 rooms on this floor, numbered 201 to 205.

I put down my shoulder bag and take one of the keycards, slip it into the door lock and wait for the usual ‘click’. Nothing. I try again, turning the card over this time. Again nothing apart from a small light that flashes red very briefly. I try a third time, turning the card back over and around. This time the light flashes green and there is a slight click. I press down on the handle and push the door open, place my leading door against the open door, reach back and pick up my shoulder bag, then squeeze my way in.

The room is dark and has a slight musty smell. I search for the light switch, find it and switch on the lights in the en suite shower room. Press the switch next to the first and on come the room lights. BY room ,lights, I mean the two lights by the bedside and one in the entrance way, which is where I am standing now.

I throw my shoulder bag onto the bed, am more careful removing the backpack and place that on the bed too. I remove my shoes and lie myself alongside my bags. I look around, the red wallpaper and dark wood furniture, do little to add light to the room. The one saving feature to lift the gloom, would appear to be the window. It is a large bay window, reaching almost to the ceiling, it has old net curtains hanging right around its semi circular outlook and large deep red curtains tied back at either end. Through the lace of the net curtains, I can just see the cliff and the horizon.

Lying there, on the bed, I began to think of Fiona. I began once more to miss her. Already I missed having her here, I missed feeling her here. I missed feeling her. My God, was our relationship just physical? Was it only feeling her, that I missed? How I love her, how I love making love to her … How the truth pops out when we say it to ourselves.

Lying on the hotel bed, I felt quite alone. Apart, that is for my darn bags rubbing against me. I got up from the bed, took my shoulder bag and unpacked the few clothes and wash items I had brought with me. One pair of trousers and a couple of tee shirts. Three pairs of underpants and four pairs of socks. A wash bag with shower gel, shave cream, razor, deodorant and toothbrush. Darn, not toothpaste, how could I forget that? Still, it would be easy enough to pop into town to get some, so no worries there.

Shoes? Why had I not packed a change of shoe? Oh well, that might be more of a problem but only if these black office shoes were to get dirty. Which they might do if I went out in the evening up onto the cliff to get my sunset photos.
So, in just a few minutes, my thoughts had moved from love to shoes; how fickle is my mind?

The weather had not improved by early evening, even so, I still decided to go out with the camera and tripod to see if I could get a reasonable sunset photo. I had to decide whether the top of the cliff would give me the best view or if taking a shot from the beach would work better.

Looking at the beach, I noticed that the sea, or rather the tide, seemed to be coming in. Well, that was certainly an improvement on the muddy expanse that greeted me on my arrival here. Although the cliff top looked to be a good vantage point for photography, I decided that this evening, I’d try from the beach.

Toward the end of the shore and near the base of the cliff, I noticed there appeared to be some rocks. Perhaps I could try to use these to get some foreground interest in the image. So, it was with my backpack over my shoulder, camera and tripod in hand, that I walked along the sandy shore toward the bottom of the cliff. As I walked, I looked up toward the cliff top. There I fancied I could just make out a few figures walking up the path and, right at the top there seemed to be another figure standing almost on the edge of the cliff itself. I thought to myself that at least that tells me that there is a way up to the top and possibly a good vantage point to be had there.

As I neared the rocks, the weather seemed to change again. The wind seemed to pick up speed and blow off the land toward the sea. The strength of the wind, while not forceful, could possibly make its tricky to get a steady shot, even on a tripod. I hoped that the cliff itself might provide some shelter when I get there. Also, I fancied I felt some rain in the wind, though it might also have been spray from the sea. I guess I was not thinking too clearly; how could it be sea spray if the wind was coming from the land and blowing toward the sea?

In any case, the rain became most distinct and heavier as I got to the rocks and the cliff did not provide the shelter I had hoped for. Nevertheless, I setup my tripod and mounted the camera on top and started to position the lens to frame an image I could be happy with. The cloud cover had increased and it was low cloud, so there would be little chance of getting a sunset tonight. So I tried to focus my efforts on the rocks and try to get an interesting composition from them.

At one point, I looked up at the top of the cliff. I could see people walking back down the path toward the town. The lone figure at the top could no longer be seen, they may still be there, of course, but with the increasing wind it would be a bit too risky. As I watched the figures walking down the path, I thought to myself that I too had better get a move on.

I did take two or three shots with the camera before calling it quits but I was not really happy with the light or the composition, maybe I could do something on the computer to improve them. Computer? Darn it, I had forgotten to pack the laptop in my bags before I left this morning; still that could easily wait until I returned home.

Now, not only was the rain getting heavier, it seemed that it would last well into the evening. So I packed the camera back into my backpack, folded the tripod and attached that to the pack with the side straps. I then put the backpack on properly this time and set off back to the Sunshine Hotel.

Back at the hotel, I sat in the bar area feeling a bit sorry for myself. The evening had not gone well, photographically, the beer was not very good, and I was missing Fiona. I realised that it was not just a physical longing that I had for Fiona but was something more than that. I looked into my beer glass which was nearly empty.

End