Vacancies

the coastal train began to slow as two tracks merged together it stopped at the end of a single line in freezing winter weather. the arrow on the 'way out' sign led me through a covered hall but my ticket proving I had paid was never checked at all. I walked downhill towards the sea and left behind the train motionless at its terminus and exposed to driving rain. a small boutique was “CLOSING DOWN!!” on its "FINAL BIG SALE" day but despite saying “OPEN” on its door it had long closed anyway. I walked past moving spinning lights that chased and made a noise inside a place where grabbing cranes missed grabbing plastic toys. a gull perched on a wet sea wall shrieked out its gull like sound it never moved as I walked by but stared and stood its ground. the mist and sky were grey and one and rain was teeming hard as thick wet sheets of 'nothingness' blanked out the promenade. a man head bowed against the storm and dog chasing its tail were at the mercy on the beach from rain that morphed to hail. and all those places I once knew 'were on a different street' with signs that stated "VACANCIES" and "BEDROOMS ALL EN-SUITE" I never found that B & B recalled through misty eyes and the park that I remember over time had shrunk in size. there were parts of town I recognized and parts that I’d forgot the cinema had disappeared but the beach café had not. with all its red formica tables and warm and cosy light the small café dispelled the cold and put the rain to right. there was beauty and some sadness too jolting memories by the sea I’d reached out to a time long gone.. ..and it half reached back to me.