An English Beach Holiday

In England, there are some glorious days to go to the beach and soak up the sun. Unfortunately, 362 days of the year are not those three days. So today I would like to tell you all about our beach holiday to Southwold in late June and about my impressions of the English spirit and determination when it comes to enjoying a beach holiday no matter the weather.
Southwold is a beautiful little English seaside town that is a bit sleepy in nature. It has a pier, but differs from the bigger more Victorian seaside pier towns like Brighton and it also differs from cities like Yarmouth that are mainly focused on the seaside arcade-type and entertainment attractions. Sure, Southwold has a little pier with a little arcade with various video games, but the overall impression I took from it was that it was mainly known for the working fishing port, a small lighthouse, and the Adnams brewery. (Adnams is a Suffolk cask ale that is absolutely lovely!) Here is a picture of what most of the town looks like -- including the lighthouse: This is a view of Southwold from the sea (or rather from the pier):Those little beach houses/huts seem to be a typical feature of the English coastline in this neck of the woods. One of the days there, we took a walk down the coastline to the working fishing harbor and found this little gem of a restaurant where you can bring your own beverages (wine) and enjoy seafood fresh out of the ocean. The trip also left me with an appreciation of just how determined the holiday-makers there were to have a nice beach vacation -- despite the driving wind and cold weather. And when I say wind....this is what I mean:We were bundled up the entire time! Yet, I was amazed to see so many beach-goers. In fact, it appears as if England has invented a beach accessory hitherto unseen by anyone on California's beaches -- the wind-break. The below picture illustrates how English people, determined to have quality time on the beach despite raging wind and cold, use windbreaks to ensure proper beach enjoyment. (Note: this picture wasn't from our trip, it is just an illustration of the type of windbreaks we saw and forgot to photo.)Even more perplexing, I've come to believe that young English boys are born with five extra layers of skin that provides extra insulation to the cold weather. These four went charging into the ocean despite the fact the rest of the world was bundled up in winter gear. I think it generally speaks to the iron will of all English holiday-goers that we saw many scenes like the above. We saw parents forcing children to have a picnic in the sandstorms on the beach behind their windbreaks. Of course they were all huddled in blankets. We saw couples all bundled up in scarves eating ice-cream cones that -- as they licked -- sent streams of melting ice cream in parallel to the ground flying into the faces of passers-by. We even saw one old man in front of his beach hut, lying on a beach recliner in the "sunshine" covered with three blankets while nursing a thermos of hot tea. We saw several families walking out on the pier -- children frantically trying to hold on to any stable surface to keep from blowing away -- and heard the following out of pretty much every father:

We have driven all the way here and by golly you are going to enjoy our time at the beach today!