I live just a few miles away from the sea in Sussex, UK, and yesterday, New Year’s Day, I went to get a restorative dose of our English coastline. Here in the little seaside town of Seaford, the town itself might be less than exciting but I keep my back to the land and my eyes out to sea. I returned to Lewes suitably reinvigorated after my week of indoor festivities.
The little fishing boats were lying idle on the shingle but the sea itself was feeling far from lazy. It put on a different face every time I blinked. The year 2013 arrived in splendid form for us Sussex folk.
The English composer Benjamin Britten knew just how to express this seascape in music in those gloriously evocative pieces the Sea interludes from his opera Peter Grimes. If you weren’t lucky enough to have joined me looking at the English channel yesterday, listen to this – it’s the next best thing.