Backroom Sunrise

We spent a few days over the weekend up in the western Lake District, on the Cumbrian coast. This is a world away (if only twenty miles) from the tourist honeypots of Ambleside and Windermere. On the Saturday evening we went down to the beach at St. Bees just before sunset and saw the sun dipping behind the headland. The Isle of Mann was clearly visible on the horizon. 

The following day we headed to Ravenglass, a small village on the coast with a Roman bathhouse a little inland and an archaeological dig taking place. Two thousand years ago there was a Roman army camp and town inhabited by several thousand Roman and Roman- British people. We stopped at a spot overlooking the estuary and had our lunch on a bench in the sunshine.

All was well, with some very welcome spring warmth, our picnic, a new place to be and a great view. An old woman was hovering nearby, looking out at the two boats moored in the river. She said hello and pointed to the boat (in the pic above). She said her son and husband built it from scratch, had recently brought it back from Portugal and were giving it a spring clean up. We nodded and chatted while eating our sandwiches. 

'Have you been out in it much?' we asked. 'Oh yes, all weathers, very rough sometimes, over to Ireland. My son's been to the Caribbean in it', she replied. 'Once, we were off the coast of Ireland and my son shouted up, ''Don't come up on deck Mum''. There was a body in the sea. He called the coastguard. They said 'can you get it on your boat?'. We didn't want to do that obviously so we just stayed with it where it was until they arrived. They found a Romanian passport in his coat pocket. His head had been caved in so it became a murder inquiry. Sorry, I've interrupted your lunch haven't I?'

Yes. Yes, you have a little, yes. 

This came out at the end of March, nothing to do with boats or bodies or murder- but it is to do with sunrises, loveliness and chugging, throbbing cosmic acid Balearica. Backroom Sunrise is by Dirt Bogarde and is magnificent life enhancing, life affirming stuff, in the way that music and sunrises can be. You can buy it at Bandcamp. Dirt has more coming out later this month.