Lyme Regis, a short tale

I'm looking at town names on Google Maps as we make our way to our yurt campsite (wouldn't you like to visit Puddletown?) when I notice how close we are to Lyme Regis.  We decide to make an unplanned stop.  Jane Austen wrote about this seaside town in Persuasion, and I find her descriptions online and read them aloud as we near the roundabout for our detour. 

The first thing I notice from The Cobb car park is a bright pink building, first in line of the long row above the bay.  The beach is made up of small brown, white, and gray stones, but there is a small strip of sand running into the sea as well.  The expanse of sand is probably much bigger when the tide is completely out. 

Three children are laughing and squealing as they swim in the sea, one last swim before summer vacation is over perhaps.  It’s not too windy in this protected bay.  Big boulders are piled along one side, and I can see tall rolling hills of green and brown in the distance.  They disappear slowly into the mist.

I spy a promising looking corner bookshop on the main road.  It is filled to the brim with stacks and shelves of books--so many books!  But there aren’t just books in the shop; it is filled with all kind of things.  Random things.  There are lava lamps, old paintings, and a trombone leans against a bookshelf in the corner.  Rickety wooden steps invite you to go downstairs, but I’m afraid the shop is about to close, and I don’t go down.  Ella finds an ordinance survey map of Scotland K.J. is looking for, and I give the preoccupied shopkeeper a two pound coin before stepping back onto the main street. 

Red, white, and blue bunting hangs across the street joining the two rows of shops and restaurants.  It’s a low uphill climb to the top of the street.  When I look back I can just see a rectangle of blue sea and sky beyond.  It starts to rain lightly.  It lasts just long enough for me to put my camera in its bag to keep it dry.  We turn around to walk back down the street, and shining through the rectangle is a rainbow curving gently toward the water.  I’ve almost forgotten what a land of rainbows England is, with its constant shift of rain, cloud, and sun. 

Suddenly a man steps quickly out of a bakery on the opposite side of the street with a big bell in his hand.  I'm just beginning to wonder what he's up to when he raises his arm and rings the bell loudly, calling out in a deep voice:  “World-class quiches one pound fifty!”  Clang!  Clang!  Clang!  World-class quiches one pound fifty!” and walks back into the shop in two long strides. Ella and I look at each other and burst out laughing.  She supposes that it’s closing time, and everything is marked down.  I love the idea of a small town crier coming out into the street every night to let everyone know the price of bread is now reduced. 

The rainbow lingers over the sea as we meet back up with K.J. and James at the public toilets and get back into the car.  It’s just a quick stop, but I'll always remember it.

"A very strange stranger it must be, 

who does not see charms in the immediate 

environs of Lyme, 

to make him wish to know it better."

- Jane Austen -