1207

Return to Westcliff

So here I am again.

I thought last January,

In the wet,

Was the last time I'd sit

In this bar

Looking at the mud across the estuary,

The lights on the southern shore.

In these eight months

Little has changed.

It could be yesterday.

The Danish girl on reception

Knew me without asking

And joked I could have phoned

To get a cheaper rate.

The lounge is empty

And I'm sitting by the unlit fire

A pint of cider

The notes for a service

In two weeks' time;

Relaxed in the comfort

Of the known.

Brian Hick September 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 6.8.24

As an education consultant, Brian often worked away from home. even after 'retirement'.