Half a Creature from the Sea by David Almond

Author:David Almond [Almond, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781406361148
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2014-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

“Sometimes, usually in winter, I get to wondering, why on earth do I live in the north? It gets so cold! It seems so far away from everywhere! Then I go to the coast, and I start to understand again. As a kid I used to stand at the top of the town and look down to the river, snaking its way past shipyards, warehouses, great cranes, the cluttered riverbanks of Hebburn, Jarrow, Tyne Dock, then flowing between the twin piers at Tynemouth and South Shields to merge with the North Sea. Sometimes the sea shone brilliant blue and sometimes it was almost black. When the wind was right, you could smell it. Seagulls squawked above our streets. When there was fog, the river bells rang, and distant foghorns droned. The lights of ships shone at night like stars. The sea was always with us, part of what we were, and it seemed we always wanted to be near to it.

On bright Sundays our family went on car trips to South Shields. There’s a photograph of us all – we’ve put up a windbreak and spread our blankets on the sand, and the beach all around is packed with folk. Granddad’s there, a huge, round, silent man, in his blue serge three-piece suit, his cloth cap, his big black boots, sitting with his legs straight out, puffing on his pipe as always. Grandma, almost as big as he is, in her floral frock, pours tea from a thermos. Dad’s still got his glasses on, wearing his green trunks, hands on hips, poised for action. Three kids: Colin, Catherine, me, all in swimming gear. Mam’s wrapped up in a cardigan and scarf because of her arthritis. I can hear her words.

“Go on. Run and play. Those that can run should run, those that can play should play.”

Soon we’ll wade into the water, dive and swim furiously out against the waves. Yes, it’ll be bitterly cold, but so what? You quickly get used to it. And yes, we’ll shudder and our knees will knock when we run back out again, but Dad’ll wrap towels around us and rub us hard to get us warm. And there’ll be hot tea, and fish and chips from Frankie’s. We’ll be in and out of the water all day long, just like dozens of other kids all along the beach. Back then I thought that all seas must be the same. I recall my amazement when I swam in the Mediterranean for the first time.

The best trips took us further. We’d drive north, up the Great North Road and across the Great Northern Coalfield, where pitheads still filled the landscape and men in their thousands still worked underground. We headed to what lay beyond: the beaches and sea villages of Northumberland; Craster, Embleton, Beadnell. These were wild and lovely places: long, pale beaches with rolling dunes behind; the Farne Islands stretching towards the horizon; the ruined castle of Dunstanburgh on its rocky black headland; Bamburgh Castle,

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