Places 12 - Gorleston on Sea, Norfolk, England:

This is the last of this current series of musings that I will be doing for a little while. But don't worry I will be inflicting a new series of different photos on you before too long.

I couldn't do a series based on my favourite photos of places without including Gorleston. I have lived here for well over 25 years, both my kids were born here.

Under normal circumstances there is an attitude & a pace of life in Gorleston that I find really appealing and I never cease to appreciate it.

The reality is that I have lived in Gorleston far longer than I have lived anywhere else in my life. The irony is I suppose that in my many years of living here I have generally been somewhere else, missing home.

The Welsh have a word for this kind of melancholy 'Hiraeth' it is a word that conveys the homesickness, a longing or an aching for home or for the familiar. And I can't count the amount of times that I've been in some far-flung place just longing to be at home.

But we know the wheel is always turning. We find ourselves now in a position where we are all at home and all experiencing Hiraeth at times. We are missing the people and the familiar places. All of us have our routines broken, at times this can leave us feeling a little out of place I suppose.

Today's photo was taken a few days ago. It's a self-portrait taken during a walk along the seafront. From my house the route that I generally use takes me about 45 minutes to do a circuit of the seafront.

However often I take this walk and in whatever weather I never fail to appreciate what a fantastic place this is to live.
Location: Gorleston-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth NR31, UK

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