August29 The big blue

The beaches are wide . The stretch of sand  running from the strand to the water must be over 100 m , especially on the low tide . There’s been a weird haze that has enveloped the coast over the last couple of days . Not the normal June gloom but a golden gloom . It’s like two major forces have collided ; an intense heatwave inland has been met by an earlier than normal sea breeze. Within a mile of the coast you are shielded from a fierce desert push . The air has swirled up creating a sandy golden fuzz  . All the cars and windows have been left coated with a salty brine . I stood at the oceans edge this morning like I do most days . The waves are still not here but the water has energy . There’s movement , currents , small lines of foam just starting to appear on the edges of rock walls and jettys . It feels like the first signs of a subtle shift in the climate, we’ve just hit the other side of summer . The ocean is giving off the fist hint of change .I stand on the edge of the west coast of a major continent , the ocean has a mesmerising hold . Your tiny , nothing . It’s massive and always moving . You don’t have to be in it to love it , but you can watch it for hours . Behind you is a dusty concrete metropolis baking under a stifling summer smog . You can have LA ,but I ‘l take the coast all day , every day .