Coast to Coast
There were house sparrows bathing in the dust and barn swallows hawking for insects above our heads. Starlings, with their electric crackle voices, chattered on the wires. The low hum of bees and hoverflies spread out from the flowerbeds, and an occasional wasp, yellow striped and predatory, flashed by. In the distance, the dull roar of waves, still pushed by yesterday’s winds, added a base background to the noises around us. The farm buildings stand solid and thick walled against the wind. Most of the windows look south and west, away from the cold fingers of the East wind. A small herd of cows adopt a similar alignment; backs to the wind, showing how good design can flow from observation. Classically black and white and wet nosed they stared over the fence, agricultural but domestic. The soil around the gates is poached to muddiness by their heavy, lingering feet. Beyond a neck stretch and tongue length, a ...