Seaweed...

Nature arranges her own works of art, creating such beautiful jewellery for mermaids to wear. Just look at this, it’s truly fantastic. I defy anybody to arrange those swirls in such a perfectly fluid and natural way, even the sand echoes them.

I’ve never understood most people’s reluctance to go near seaweed, ‘Stay away from the weed!’, my Mum used to shout on our beach summer holidays. I didn’t though; the weed was such fun, even if it was a little smelly and slimy. I would collect the delicate red fronded weed and float it in a saucer, inserting paper underneath so that it stuck, making a picture when dry. The green lettuce weed looked great on top of the sandcastles we made, and of course, in the days before bubble wrap, bladder rack was a great substitute.

I knew that seaweed could be dangerous though. I’d read about the weed in the Sargasso, long thick strands that clogged the propellers of Chinese merchants, dragging them down to the depths of Davy Jones’ locker, and seaweed is where the sea monsters hide, it’s full of them, everybody knows that. Sometimes they even get washed up on the water’s edge.