mystery gliding preparation

Last year we saw a girl lying face down on the sand a couple of feet from the edge of the sea. Her handbag lay beside her and her chestnut hair was spread about her head. She seemed to be alive but there was something worrying or perhaps tragic about the way she lay. After an hour or more we drew her to the attention of the pharmacist whose shop faces the beach. He called the police, who we saw in conversation with the girl on the promenade a few minutes later. She seemed in good shape in voluble conversation using her hands expressively. We later came to realize that she was completely deaf and that she was lying on the beach to capture through their vibration the sound of the waves.
Yesterday we notice first thing in the morning a check shirt and a pair of men´s sandals almost precisely in the same spot, just above the tide line. There is nearly always one or two people swimming at this early hour. So, although we can make no connection between this apparel and a specific person in the water, we are not concerned. The sea is completely calm. What is disturbing is that the pile remains there all day, all night and so far all of today. Its position is clearly such that it arouses no suspicion until  you note the length of time that it is there. Will it remain there until a higher tide washes the clothes and shoes away? You would have thought that someone other than ourselves would have noticed.  I must now tell someone.

Tonight beyond the table where we are dining skateboarders glide past profiled agains the dark of the sea and the sky, lit only by the light from the restaurant. The paving stones are smooth; the sound of the boards seem no more than a murmur. Illuminated shadows.

A pleasure to watch local people getting ready for the day. There is a woman who sets out sun beds on the beach for those who want to grill themselves; the men who sweep the sand; the restaurateurs who arrange their tables and lay them for breakfast. We are part of a working community, and help as we can by consuming rolls and coffee after our swim.