Janet Gogerty's Blog: Sandscript - Posts Tagged "southbourne-on-sea"

Meeting up for a coffee is nothing new, in England the first coffee house was opened in 1652 and the new experience of coffee was joined a few years later by drinking chocolate. Samuel Pepys declared that drink an excellent cure for hangovers and other ills. It seems the early coffee houses banned women; imagine the expression on the faces of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century men if they could see modern coffee shops full of young mums and prams. A destination and a meeting place in every town, sometimes tiny and independent, others belonging to corporate chains.
A few years back, Woolworths finally collapsed in the recession, a sad day for those of us who had been shopping in its branches all our lives; buying presents for our parents, pick-a-mix sweets, records, then DVDs, children's clothes. Suddenly there was a Woolworths size gap in high streets across the country. Many became 99 Pence or Pound Shops.
But in Southbourne Grove our Woolworths shell underwent an enterprising transformation and the 'Ludo Lounge' came into being. A lounge bar with a 'used Retro' look, old wooden tables with church pews and school chairs to sit on, made more comfortable with scatterings of cushions. Here from 9a.m. to 11p.m. you can meet for coffee, eat all day, take part in a weekly 'pub quiz', choose a book from the community shelf, read free newspapers or play scrabble. Families welcome, adults come for an evening out. The staff are young and cheerful.
Perhaps the biggest difference to Samuel Pepys' day is free WiFi, one of the reasons why coffee shops abound, you can relax and still keep in touch with the rest of the world. No doubt Samuel Pepys and the other men who conducted their business over coffee would have loved the internet.

'The Water's Lovely' is the title of the Ruth Rendell paperback I have been reading at our beach hut - you can read my review here on Goodreads. An appropriate title, though the story is about a drowning in the bath.
The only water some beach hut owners come into contact with is that which comes out of the stand pipe to fill their kettles. For myself and others one of the benefits of a beach hut is a handy changing room for sea swimming. My first swim of the year in May was at 11 degrees, yesterday the sea temperature had gone up to 16 degrees. It is not easy wading into the cold sea, but the thought of the beach hut shelter and kettle boiling for a hot drink helps boost morale.
So why do it? People go in The Solent all year round, much to the entertainment of onlookers and photographers. In wet suits they surf, body board, kite surf out to the horizon or power through the waves freestyle as if in practice for a channel crossing. Every Sunday morning at Boscombe Pier, from October to April, the Bournemouth Spartans, aged ten to ninety, extol the healthy virtues of winter sea swimming. At least they enjoy the benefit of warm showers; on other mornings on any stretch of the beach you may see a solitary bike propped up with a pile of clothes on the saddle and a towel on the handlebars. A swimmer will emerge for a quick salty rub down, then jump on his or her bike. I have seen an elderly, very arthritic man regularly hobble down to the water's edge with a human and dog companion and plunge in.
I don't possess any equipment except a swimming costume. I swim parallel to the shore, within my depth, east to the next groyne, pain turning to numbness. As I turn around, the warm glow has usually arrived and if the afternoon sun is shining in my face it is exhilarating; I know why I am doing it and the water is lovely.
Cold freshwater shower on the promenade, brisk walk up to the beach hut. If it is sunny I sit and soak up the warmth. If the sun has disappeared behind black clouds and a stiff breeze blown up, then I wrap up with plenty of layers and enjoy my coffee. Either way, it is time to scribble some more of my novel, I have usually planned another scene while in the sea.
It is a beach hut, not a beach house; a calor gas ring, enough room for folding chairs, cupboards, shelves and hooks. A tiny wooden shed; we own the wood, the council owns the square of concrete it sits on, but it is large enough for its purpose and affords a great view of the Isle of Wight and The Purbecks. For a taste of the seaside visit my website.

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