Was woken by the phone. I tried to ignore it, but heard the message when the answerphone picked it up. It was LBC breakfast, chasing a story on a new virus. I got up and called back, and agreed to do a live piece at 08h15. In the meantime, showered and got online to check my facts. Fortunately there was plenty of information on the Symantec site, so I was keyed up for the interview by the time it came around. It felt like a Thursday morning.

Took dad to the station to begin the long trek home, and stopped in at Sainsbury’s on the way. They don’t do much for Christmas in France, so he invites his friends around to his place to give them a Christmas from home. Of course, that means he has to buy all the bits and bobs he’ll need over here and cart them back, so we plodded around the aisles throwing crackers and Christmas puddings into a trolley and feeling rather foolish for buying them so early.

What the airport x-ray machines make of a Christmas pudding hidden in the middle of a suitcase full of clothes, I don’t know…

The trains to London were delayed, of course, so I sat with him in the smoky platform cafe for a chat and a Capri-Sun. I’ve not had them in years. Did the whole Brief Encounter ’standing on the platform waving’ act when the train finally arrived, then mooched back to the car to consider my options. The sky was pure blue, so settled on Leigh on Sea.

Thanks to the deserted roads I was there in half an hour, despite a wrong turning somewhere along the way. Dumped the car at the station and set out on what I’d planned to make a short stroll, but somehow ended up in Southend, about three miles by road and slightly further by the wiggly seafront. The tide was out, and the shore was dotted with beached boats.

I paused in Westcliff to sit in a deserted shelter. A fantastic structure. It had lost all of the glass in its windows, and as the sun streamed in through the unblinking frames it cast long shadows on the floor and the smoothly curved seating that ran the full length of the wall. Arcing gently through a full 180 degrees there must have been over a hundred seats, all looking out at the water. In its heyday it must have been a very trendy place to sit and watch the Victorian world go by.

I should really have turned back when I got to Southend as my legs were already ready to stop working, but being off season access to the pier was free, and I decided instead to walk to the end. Perhaps not entirely wise - at a mile and a third it’s the longest in the world. Two and two third miles round trip.

Second mistake was setting off feeling hungry without realising that I only had a couple of quid in my pocket. By the time I’d got to the end I simultaneously discovered the money situation and realised I’d walked up quite an appetite. Fortunately had enough for tea and a teacake at McGinty’s, so ducked in to shelter from the sea wind and ate my pensioner food sat by the window so I could be in the sun.

McGinty’s claims to be world famous. I don’t know how it can be. I doubt it’s even famous outside of Southend. It reminds me of a cinnamon cake shop I saw in Cincinatti airport once. That claimed to be world famous, too, but outside of the terminal building I’d never seen or heard of it before.

I sipped my tea as slowly as I could, eeking it out to I could stay in the warm, but you can only do that so long and twenty minutes later I was back out on the cold decking, walking back towards the shore.

Now that the sun had moved around I wanted to go back to the shelter and take some more pictures, but it was further than I remembered, and it took almost three quarters of an hour to get there. By then, the clouds had rolled in across the sun and the light was gone. I did make a lovely new friend there, though. I sat down on the floor (why I did this when there were 100 seats right behind me) and he climbed up and sat on my lap for a tickle and a cuddle as we looked out at the incoming tide. I could feel his bones, so in spite of the collar, I’m guessing he was stray. He had the most beautiful big paws that he used to knead my legs while he purred, and big cute kitten eyes.

We sat together for twenty minutes, and when I stood up to leave he followed me some way down the road before turning back and squeezing through an empty window frame into the shelter again.

It was turning cold and with the wind picking up again the signs to the train station were too tempting to pass by. I rode the two stops back to the car in what felt like the most comfortable train seat ever, my legs giving praise for the short rest.

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