Downstream

hundred years ago, ‘no
features to the land . . . no
conspicuous, far-famed
landmarks for the eye’.
As I walk back along the
pier the air is silent but for the
water gently sloshing
underneath, the flap of tape
warning about wet paint, and
the rattling clatter of the
returning train. The mudflats
near the shore look like a
sheet of ice. Unlike other
piers, such as in Brighton,