The Wind from the East

When I was a child, if we ever had a day out at the seaside it was on the East Coast. The east wind was the stuff of legend: a lazy wind - lazy because it didn't go round you; it went through you. A very cold wind. I used to think of it as coming straight from Russia. I think of it today because July 11th was the birthday of one of my great-aunts, and she once took me to stay for a week in Bridlington.

 

She liked us to go for a walk each day along the promenade to get the fresh sea air and to 'blow away the cobwebs'. On our walk one day we saw a boatman selling tickets to go on a trip on his boat. A notice-board proclaimed the cost of the trip and carried the promise, BACK FOR TEA! - "We could be back for tea without going on the trip," she laughed, but we went on the boat trip all the same.