Those of you who’ve followed my blog for a while might be wondering what’s happened to the stone of the day collected pages, these having made regular appearances until a few months ago. Well wonder no more, here’s the first of several catch up pages of them.

I’d like to say that there have been less images of stones lately because there was so much else to photograph. Indeed there is some truth to this, Brighton has been jumping with activity this summer and I’ve found myself quite carried away with so many collisions between the everyday and the picaresque. But I confess, the main reason is because it’s harder to search for interesting pebbles when the beach is covered in people. They get in the way. Some days I could hardly see the shingle for bodies.

Also, combing the beach slowly and attentively, especially if you haven’t got a metal detector, can get you labelled as a weirdo, particularly since your audience consists of people wearing next to nothing. Indeed I suspect it’s far more dangerous to hang around bathers while carrying a camera, than creeping up on policemen, drunks and scallywags; something I’ve developed a bit of a penchant for.

And of course it’s harder to run away on pebbles.