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However, Late Summer, 2008 has been a washout here, literally, with the wettest August I can recall in my 57 years, and according to meteorologists the wettest on record, which has put a damper (again literally) on my customary Summer mode of using the beach as an al fresco "second office." One of of the big advantages of living here that goes a long way toward mitigating the lack of broadband access, a single broadcast channel TV reception, and the fact that we're an hour's drive away from most shopping, business, government, and medical services, is that I live within a 20 mile minute walk, a 10-minute bike ride, or three minute car trip of one of the nicest beaches in Nova Scotia.
I'm inclined in the afternoons to stuff a notebook and pen in my pocket and head off for a favorite spot above the high water mark where there's a weathered rock with a conveniently hollowed-out indentation that's perfect for a backrest. From there I can sit back and scribble away with the 180 degree vista of the harbor before me. Here are a couple of views from my preferred redoubt.
Whenever I begin to think seriously of moving to somewhere with more conveniences and amenities, a trip to the beach on a nice day is usually enough to snap me out of it with a "what - are you nuts?" reality check. This is a place people come for vacations, and I get to live here year-round. indeed, among my summer neighbors are families from Cincinnati, Detroit, Germany, Switzerland, and Bangkok, and they all can't wait to get back here.
But last month was enervating to say the least, with only four or five decent beach days in the whole month of August. September started badly too, with a rainy Labor Day, but the past week showed some improvement, with several days of bright sunshine, pleasant breezes, and perfect temperatures for hanging out at the beach, to which I decamped as soon as I could. The short run of decent weather was interrupted over the weekend by the remnants of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hanna, which passed through dumping a lot of rain on some communities to the north and west of us, but amounted to less than half an inch accumulation in this immediate area, and with no more than a stiff breeze accompanying it. THe forecast now is for five of the next seven days to be sunny and warm. I hope it holds up.
My beach 'office" mode is decidedly low-tech. I don't have a cell phone, so that's not a distraction, and while I do usually work while enjoying the sea breeze, bright sunshine, and the sound of waves, I do it with a pen and notebook rather than some sort of electronic device. It refreshingly elemental, and amusingly ironic, writing articles and commentary about computers and other tech topics using technology that's been around for centuries.
Sand, salt spray, and expensive electronics are not a good combination, and I'm not sure I have much interest in a computer I could take to the beach anyway. I really relish the tactile pleasure of paper and pen in hand, and being away from the wired world (or for that matter the wireless world ) is part of the point of the exercise.
On weekdays there are seldom more than half a dozen other people on the large expanse of the beach, even in high summer and quite often nobody else at all, if you didn't count seagulls and ducks.
It puts you more in touch with what's real and elemental, the seabirds, the moored fishing boats swinging around as the top of the tide passes and turns, waves stirred by a gale far out to sea rolling in on the strand of sand. Priceless.
A much more satisfactory a way to spend an afternoon than sitting on an office chair staring at a computer monitor. Time enough for that when I get home and consign this stream of consciousness into my Mac using iListen. Technology does have its charms.
Charles W. Moore
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