At night time down by the harbour on a summer's evening you come back to me. I know it was a long time ago but some things stay with you for a life time, even when more important and momentous happenings grow dim. The gently rocking reflections of lights on the water and the smell of seaweed and tar. We'd been out for a drink at a pub and were diverted, drawn down the hill, following the old Tram Track road down to the harbour. You were unemployed, hanging around arcades in your DMs and skinny turned up Levi's. Named after a star - you had blue eyes. We sat close, not saying much, teenagers wrapped up in the night and our own thoughts. Above the harbour the hotel lights of the Cornish town flickered orange high up on the cliff. In the distance we could see the railway station where the old Tram Track begins its route along the cliff edge. Half way along the track was a view point with an old bench and Victorian railings, where you could sit and gaze out to sea. A few months later, on another dark night, you jumped over the railings and went flying into the darkness above the harbour. The black sea 200ft below. Stars have their moment and then they die. Now the railings have been replaced with a high fence and a warning 'danger cliff'. And I wonder who you'd be today if you'd stayed.
Other posts you might like:
Night Ocean Surfers
On the shore, Polzeath
Painting:
Newquay, Cornwall .... as we talked the stars came out.
