It’s all about time. Sands of: passage of: passing.
Sands … yes, I walk them every day, trowel in hand, and along
with the weather/ shape of the coast line/ wave refraction and beach gradient, the tempo of the tides and passage of time tend
to dictate the outcome. There’s a vague
area of predictability surrounding the beach-combing thing. Even people like
myself, with a cursory knowledge of beach science, can work out that the
largest particles land at the top of the beach and the smallest material at the
base. Twenty minutes amateur coast fieldwork research will tell you that the
direction in which a wave moves can be altered by the shape of the coast line,
and it’s the wave power that transports sediment across the sand. So if you
read your coast line carefully you can predict, more or less, where the best
finds might turn up.
Well that’s the theory, but interestingly there is a spot on
the beach where a group of related objects consistently wash up in the same
place. Old pocket watch pieces seem to end up there : bits of chain, watch keys,
inner workings – all lying within inches of each other. Is it a weight/density thing?
I don't care, I’m glad of it. Saves so much time!
www.beeadamsart.co.uk @beeadamsart