Beside the seaside. Beside the sea.

1. A bad day made better by being by the sea. Particularly this sea, this view. I grew up with this view - or one a few miles down the coast. There is something that is a huge comfort to me being here. I can't explain it and nor should I try. As I sit and watch the sun go down, a light show so beautiful and happening right before my eyes, I remember some other times by the sea.

2. Douglas and I used to come and play on the sand together when we were small. Not just on sunny days, but winter days, blowing a gale, gray skies, big wave days too. Those were great days where wind took the sound away and carried your breath and laughter with it.

3. There are photos of a family picnic - the four of us - down at Girvan beach. We're eating crisps called 49ers in the picture and I can, if I try, remember the flavour. I probably remember this because there are photos, but also because it's the moments when we are all together that I want to remember most. Those are the photos, the memories, the tastes, the feelings that are the best to take out and look at.

4. Later, the beach came to represent other things - freedom, dreaming, solitude or somewhere to be with friends. There are plenty of those memories but there was a night, not unlike this, when Lynn and I hung out as teenagers, singing songs from Mermaids, which was our favourite film at the time. We started to throw stones into the waves and with each stone we'd shout a name of someone we knew. We kept going for ages. I don't know why we did that.

5. And even later, there's still a wall to sit on and watch the sun go down. No matter where I am, a road still leads here.