Taking a Mental Picture is the hastily-named segment where I immortalise moments I wish I’d captured on my film camera (which I vowed to use more, this year - and am not doing very well at, seeing as its currently, er, broken.) #1 lives here; #2 lives below.
You didn’t realise how much you’d miss the coast until you moved away from it. You didn’t go there that often, and certainly never in February; you went, at most, a couple of times a summer, to eat fish and chips and ice cream and attempt to catch a tan whilst wearing SPF 50 and a cover-up at all times.
You did, however, realise how much you’d miss your Mum when you moved away from her. (There’s a Charly Cox poem called “Forever”, which pretty much sums it up, starting with the line “Can you be related to a soulmate?”, and including the gorgeous lines “I sympathise my all/With those who need to find the one/When all of my searching/Stopped when I begun”.) Which is why this day with her, walking miles down the East Yorkshire coastline, is so precious. Down from London for the weekend, you’re in walking boots, jeans, and a second hand ASOS puffer; she’s in proper walking gear, a double buckled backpack, gloves, and a woolly hat.
As such, the wind whistles between your ears, but you love it. There’s a sudden burst of hail, but you love it. But you love it the most when you both suddenly notice an area of the pavement which hasn’t been cleaned, which is shaped a bit like an arrow. And you especially love it when your mum decides to follow the direction of the arrow, and starts excitably peering into the bushes it’s pointing towards. “Is she looking for a new species?” a friendly man asks as he walks by. “I’m not quite sure!” you reply cheerily, as she continues to poke her head into the fauna. “Maybe she’ll find some treasure!” his equally friendly companion suggests. You smile, and reply “Maybe!”, but you know that there’s no treasure to be found in the bushes. The treasure is the one looking in them.
#2 Taking a mental picture 📸
Loved this, brought a tear to my eyes