Over the last few weeks I’ve been on the beach most days looking for interesting stones. I’ve found quite a few now, enough to realise that, to my surprise, I’ve come across all the best ones close to the path next to the beach, or around cafés. According to probability they should be spread pretty evenly across the shore, so this observation has given me pause for thought. There could be several reasons for this happening:

1. I’m too lazy to go more than a few feet from the nearest cafe or pathway. Actually, that hypothesis is easily dismissed; I have looked all over the beach. Otherwise I wouldn’t have noticed the tendency. I merely note it to show i’ve considered the possibility.
2. Small children, known for their creativity, openness and inquisitive nature find it impossible to resist collecting interesting examples on their visits to the seashore. However, later when it’s time to go home, their parents, dismayed at the piles of accumulated treasure being lugged up the beach would tell their offspring to leave them behind as they are ‘only stones’ or ‘oh darling we haven’t got room for any more of them’ or ‘what do you want those things for?’ This particular moment of parting would, most likely, happen near the path or, possibly, as a result of the tears caused by this particular separation trauma, near a café, directly as a result of having to console their tender charges with distractions of ice cream.
3. Brighton is full of poets. Like children they are well known to have extraordinary powers of sensitivity and imagination, and would have no problem spotting these jewels. However everyone also knows that poets are easily distracted, tend to lose things and their pockets are always full of holes (which is why they never have any money). This would cause a higher concentration nearer any pathway. Furthermore, poets spend a lot of time in cafés.
4. The above could also be true of Jazz musicians.
5. The stones themselves really are magic. Over millions of years, the most powerful have evolved to be more attractive to humans and, during these same aeons, have slowly worked themselves up the beach to areas where people are more likely to pass by. In short, they want to be found.
6. Every night, mermaids come out of the sea to look for interesting stones. However, because they have tails instead of legs they can only make it a few yards inland before having to return to the water. This means that the stones nearest the path escape their notice. It is also widely known that mermaids hate coffee – it isn’t salty enough for their liking.

I think this last reason is the most likely as it also explains the cuttlefish mystery (see entry for Mon 10th Nov) and why it is harder to find interesting stones after it’s been raining, or when there has been a high tide.