Low Tide	00:55 (0.60m)
High Tide	07:52 (2.20m)
Low Tide	13:18 (1.10m)
High Tide	19:18 (2.20m)

Sea temperature: not taken
Sea conditions: Calm and very high, not much beach left
Weather: still bloody cold but the sun was out briefly, the forecast is terrible according to a link Mertz sent me first thing this morning: BRITAIN will be plunged back into winter this week by a freezing Arctic blast – putting summer on hold for at least a month.Temperatures could plunge as low as -6C (21F) from today with some areas facing up to 2in of snow. Much of the country is braced for night-time frosts, bitter cold winds and icy rain to make it feel more like winter until at least the middle of June.
It's hailing as I type...
Joined by: The Poet and Jess
Topics of conversation:
Mabel wrangling - The Poet brought a tether to the beach for DK to try out on Mabes. It looked like and instrument of torture, a giant corkscrew that they screwed into the ground, through the shingle, to hold her in place. It was nearly as long as the ice drills we used to get water in the Arctic so it held fast. She was held in place near our bags, much more satisfactory as she was able to snuggle up in DK's clothing and be near the other dogs, who wait on the beach whilst we swim. Luna doesn't, she thinks she is superior. She's such a snob. The Pirate said he thought we could recreate the Early of Shewsbury's crest with our hounds. Mabel was fine with her stake, till it was removed from the ground and then it seemed to take on a malevolent force and she cowered away from it,  just as she had when she'd met a lead pig in our garden.
Lobsters - there was a fishing boat checking floats and we speculated about their purpose. The Pirate's father used to have a fishing boat and he would string nets between floats and often return to them to find only the heads left, seals being the culprits. We weren't sure if they were pots, as they were so close and one of the boats on the harbour has a licence to catch shellfish. There are certainly lobsters off this beach, my Father was partial to the small ones, which Freddy would bring to the door saying "I got a couple of red 'uns for you" when he'd caught them by accident and boiled them on the boat.

More circumcision and the Old Testament - the return of The Poet brought fresh discussion of the procedure, surgical or otherwise and also of the current trend away from the practice, even within judaism. The barbarity of the Old Testament is not normally something you'd expect to discuss on the beach before breakfast but as 2 of our company are very knowledgeable about the religious texts I was enlightened when The Poet retold the most gruesome story of rape, revenge, mass circumcision and the deaths of an entire city of men. You don't find those in my sanitised version by  David Kossoff, which I use in schools!
The Bridge vs the book - DK asked if I'd seen the latest episode and I'd explained the conflict I'd had last night. My new book had arrived and I'd not finished the last one so that had taken precedent. Now that my new book has arrived I doubt The Bridge will get a look in this evening either. I confessed my pathetic excitement at starting a new book, only to discover that I'm not alone, so I feel less 'sad'. DK is currently immersed in the Steve Jobs biog by Walter Isaacson and is fascinated, if a little repulsed. We discussed the missing empathy gene . My new book sits tantalisingly on the stairs, still in its cardboard. It's a home day today but I MUST NOT START IT YET - I have to make a minimum of 30 felt balls and clean the house. A friend is trying to persuade me to go to a Zumba class this evening but quite frankly anything that takes me away from chapter one and needs special shoes is not getting my vote at the moment. I also have an aversion to exercises with made up names, regardless of how much fun they are supposed to be.

And still it sits there...