Archivist note: This post is from an older recovered archive.
==Initial Post==
((Posted by Tepic Harlequin on May 2, 2010))
i heard as Miss Bilavio an Mr Frakture were having an adventure down in Shanghai (you hear a lot restin behind boxes down by the airship place….), so decided to wander down an see what happened, cus i ain’t been to Shanghai fer some time. Well, i’m sure i took the right route, left by Miss Writer’s place, second right, the carry on fer a bit an you should come out by Mr Hung’s Fish Shop, but, i musta made a mistake cus i found myself walking over a hill, an there was the sea, not a building or path to be seen.
It was quite a nice place, the grass covered the rolling hills, almost like huge green waves, and a breeze blew cool air from the sea, with just a hint of saltiness in it. i wandered along the cliff edge, back just a bit, cus with white chalk cliffs you gotta be careful, they can tip you down onto the sand an cover you with rocks sooner than you can do anything!
There were Fulmars playing along the cliffs, flying up an over the edge, far more graceful than the gulls, but you have to be careful not to annoy em, cus hey can spit an awful oily and smelly stuff at you that sticks an is very difficult to get out.
The sea looked nice, waves breaking on the sand an rocks below, so i hunted for a place to climb down to the shore. Wonderful thing about chalk cliffs, there are usually bits worn away to make nice gentle ways down, and it was not long before i found one.
i stopped wearing my shoes when the weather started getting better, no sense in wearing em out, and the sand was wonderful and warm between my toes as i walked along the shore, listening to the waves crashing on the sand. it was too nice, so i piled my stuff neatly, an ran into the water! (bet if Skyler ever hears this he will faint!).
Ooohhh! it looked nice, but it was cold! i dived through the waves an swam a bit in the calmer water beyond, keeping a careful eye on my stuff, not in case some one nicked it, like they would in New Babbage, but in case i got pushed along the shore by a current. Then i surfed to the beach, diving landwards with a wave, letting it carry my ashore, then raced back in, splashing as i went until i was tired and cold.
There was loads of driftwood about, above the tide line, so it weren’t long before i had a good fire going. Would have been nice to have some stones to put in the fire, to hold the heat all night, but chalk ain’t any good fer that, and the flint, well, if you daft enough to put flint in a fire you deserve all you get!
The tide had dropped by the time i got the fire going, so i searched along the shore for supper. There were mussels on the rocks, an some nice seaweeds, an it weren’t long before i had a good soup on the go. Course, it’s better if you can rinse the mussels out fer a bit in fresh water, but they are still nice straight from the rocks, if a bit gritty.
i snuggled up beside the fire, and settled in fer the night, the sound of the waves soothing in my ears.
The morning was bright an clear, i could see fer miles over the sea, and thought i saw a sailing ship in the distance, but not sure. Mussels are a nice tea or supper, but really ain’t right fer breakfast, so i was lucky i saw some sheep up top the cliffs, grazing. They had lambs, so i climbed back up, crept close to one of the sheep, an pretended i was a lamb! Sheep ain’t the brightest of creatures, an it weren’t too difficult to cadge a nice tin of milk out of em. Not quite the same as cows milk, and a step up from the vole milk i been using recently, all in all a good breakfast!
i spent the day swimming an walking, going further along the coast. There were clams in one bay, an i found a couple of crabs hiding in a hole in the rocks, but they had just changed their shells, so i left em to grow a bit first. There was all sorts of interesting stuff washed up – the sea throws most of the stuff it takes in shipwrecks back to the shore, an i got some new stuff to play with, including a length of line an a couple of only slightly rusted hooks! i managed to catch some fish fer supper, using some of the clams as bait, an baked in the embers of a fire, stuffed with clams and wrapped in seaweed fronds, they were lovely.
The next day was more coast, an although swimming and scavenging is fun, i weren’t getting near to Shanghai, an was missing my friends in New Babbage, so in the afternoon i climbed back on to the cliff tops, and headed inland till i found a path. It weren’t long before i turned a corner, and there was the Old Imperial Theatre, so i knew (even without the smell…) that i was back home. It’s nice to have a holiday sometimes, an i hope i can find my way back sometime, but it is nicer to come home…
And what a surprise! i head off fer a few days, an people start burning half the place down! Guess i will have to stay around a while, an get things running right again. i dunno, the adults just can’t manage to stay out of trouble unless you keep a firm eye on em all!
==Comments==
*Comment by Ryne Beck on July 6, 2010 at 6:53am
Tepic my boy, what a wonderful wee holiday you had – I can’t help thinking that more New Babbagers would benefit from blowing the soot from their lungs with a jaunt to this beautiful place. It sounds like some of the coastline and inlets away to the north of Steelhead, maybe you took a right turn at Albuquerque instead of left?
((Sorry it’s taken me so long to find this – I’m still trying to find the best way of following news from the Nings and my friends without getting swamped. I’m glad I did find it though, it’s beautifully written and smacks of love of the coast :) More Tepic Travels, please! ))
*Comment by Tepic Harlequin on July 6, 2010 at 1:06pm
Thank you Mr. Beck, never really know where i am going when i wander off, but i do see some lovely places!
