Beside the Sea

So recent work and holiday has taken me on two visits to the seaside.

For the last weekend of march, delayed by the unseasonable snow, I was in Scarborough for the National Student Drama Festival.   Scarborough is home territory for me. Years of childhood holidays along the coast at Bridlington with day trips to the grander and slightly more brash Scarborough were peppered throughout the 1960's.  Last time I was there it was to film for the non too successful BBC series "Sugartown". That was in the depths of winter, but this visit in mid March was no different.

Throughout the weekend we were  blasted by the coldest winds I have known and lashed with good solid Yorkshire rain. Emerging from the hell hole that is The Royal  Hotel, each journey outside required huge amounts of steel and determination just to get to the car.  For the participants, students from colleges and universities all over the country, it must be the most thrilling week. I never went to the student festival myself , although I remember getting the literature about it every year and being very envious of those who were going. As an older visitor, it was great to see all that enthusiasm encapsulated in one slightly dour northern seaside town. Scarborough should be grateful for the influx of people during that winter week. Impossible to find a restaurant that was open after 9 o'clock on a Sunday, the shining lights of the event were the students themselves.  From the exceptionally helpful stewards who helped us navigate from venue to venue, to the people who attended my workshops - keen, curious, and fun. If the future of British theatre is in their hands, then I don't think we'll be seeing the lights of Shaftesbury Avenue dying for a good while yet.

Last weekend saw a seaside trip of another sort. Foolish enough to head down to Devon on Good Friday,( six hours, two stops, and lots of iPod time!) Richard and I went down to visit his family. I'm an only child, and the experience of being surrounded by other family members was always limited to mum and dad for me, so it's great now that when I go out on a family outing in Devon, there can be 11 of us sitting down at a table. and it is great to see Rich in the context of his family as well. Of all his siblings, he is probably the one who has come the furthest, both in terms of career, and geographically from home. It's great to see how the family look up to him, rightfully proud of all that he has achieved, and yet glad to see him back with them.

Easter egg hunts, noisy family meals, and lazy time just sitting around with his parents all gave us a restful Easter.  Perhaps the seaside respite that I didn't quite find in Scarborough, but in  their own way way both trips equally rewarding.

 I do like to be beside the seaside.