Craig – Street Sweeper
Some jobs are easy to overlook.
Street sweeping is probably one of them.
Craig is a familiar face on Sandgate. We take pride in keeping our own little patch clean and tidy, but Craig often spots something we’ve missed and makes short work of it.
It takes a certain kind of person to take pride in a job like this. And to do it well.
Craig just gets on with it. Whether that’s a chip fork stuck between the cobbles or an overflowing bin that’s been ransacked by seagulls, it gets sorted. Then he’s on his way along the street.
He’ll often pop his head into the shops as he passes, checking on the staff and catching up on what’s going on. He always seems at ease. Never stressed or overexcited.
Just steadily making his way along Sandgate, getting it done.
Just steadily making his way along Sandgate, getting it done.Just steadily making his way along Sandgate, getting it done.
Thank you, Craig.
The West Pier Extension – Lower Deck
Beyond the lighthouse, over the bridge, the planked walkway of the pier extension leads to the green signal box at the very end.
Steep steel stairs lead down to the lower deck.
On calm, sunny evenings, as the tide approaches high water, locals and visitors gather here with one thing on their mind.
Mackerel.
My son Finley and I have spent a considerable amount of time down here over the summer, often struggling to find a spot along the edge from which to cast our lures.
Each trip started the same way. We’d descend the steep steel steps with that familiar excitement, but for Finley it diminished a little each time, replaced by a niggling strand of doubt. Would tonight be the night he finally caught one?
Others would be catching around us. It surely wouldn’t be long before we felt the tug.
Would it?
Three or four trips started with that same excitement but slowly turned to disappointment as the light faded and Finley felt like the only one who hadn’t caught.
Catching a fish myself became a guilty pleasure. Mackerel fight hard. It’s exciting. But I knew I was going to upset him further.
It wasn’t that he was doing anything wrong. He was using the same equipment and technique as me and many others, but his perseverance was being truly tested.
Then it happened.
A lovely evening. Light winds. A good tide. Rain earlier in the day meant there weren’t many people around, and we got good spots right at the end.
He calls out:
“Yes! Fish on.”
Both our hearts start racing.
The rod nods quickly as he reels the fish towards the pier.
Many a fish has been lost as they’re pulled out of the water and up the wall, but thankfully this one stayed on.
The relief on his face was obvious.
With a boost to his confidence, we could now both enjoy the fishing. That night we both had the pleasure of landing several fish.
The lower deck had suddenly changed.
A place of frustration and disappointment had become his favourite place.
A Lobster Bottle Opener
There are certain things on our shelves that people can’t help but pick up.
This is one of them.
A cast-iron lobster, reassuringly heavy in the hand, with the bottle opener tucked neatly between its outstretched claws. We often see people pick one up, smile, and turn to their partner: *“How cute.”*
Perhaps that’s partly because lobsters have acquired a reputation for romance. In *Friends*, Phoebe famously describes Ross and Rachel as each other’s lobsters — meant to be together for life.
It isn’t actually true that lobsters mate for life, but it’s a nice idea. And why should we let the truth spoil a good story, especially when this particular lobster has a useful quality too.
£3 from every one we sell goes to the Whitby Lobster Hatchery, supporting their work raising and releasing juvenile lobsters back into the North Sea.
From Behind the Counter
Ludwig
As usual, I feel like the last one to find the good programmes. We hadn’t heard of *Ludwig* before the second series had already started. But now I find myself ahead of the curve, as we’ve binged all we can and now find ourselves waiting for the next episode to air.
Comedy meets mystery — well worth a watch.
Dave Van Ronk
Driving home from the Yorkshire Dales, this documentary on Radio 4 did more than pass the time. Entertaining and informative, it left me wanting to listen to the music of this now largely forgotten folk legend.
Castorone – Pipe layer
This huge ship has slowly moved across the horizon over the past few weeks. It’s busy laying pipes to transport CO₂ from Teesside and Humberside to storage wells beneath the seabed.
It’s an amazing vessel.
