Heartbeat misses Nick Charlie

We decided to sneak away from the fair.Oliver was enough with Tori and Papa, it wasn't much fun for us to be there anyway.Going to the beach is a better option.

The beach we frequent is an hour's drive away, and Charlie hooks up my iPod to the car stereo and blasts Everything Everything, Alt-J, and The Maccabees.Of course there are closer beaches, but they're always crowded and messy, full of loud kids, the kind where people fight over a place to lay the towels.

The beach we went to was much smaller, just across a long slender trestle bridge, and on the other side of the road was a huge arcade that was open until 10pm.Apart from the occasional few people who come to walk their dogs, the beach is mostly deserted, and today was no exception.With empty sandy beaches, calm blue seas and beautiful horizons, the whole world seems to exist just for us.

We walked and talked on the beach, then walked to the end of the jetty, sat on a bench and continued talking and kissing.We took out the blankets from the car and spread them on the beach, sat on the ground, and lay down quietly for a while.

We went to our favorite fish and chip shop and sat outside on the brick wall eating and talking as usual.We then decided to take off our shoes, roll up our trousers and play in the sea, but realized right away that it was better not to get our trousers wet.

We took so many pictures with Charlie's phone that he couldn't seem to get enough.We went to the arcade for an hour and played all our favorite games: air hockey, jungle racing, snowboarding, hoops, and coin pushers.We won enough coins to exchange for a bouncy ball.

We sat back on the jetty to watch the sunset, which is what you have to do on a day like this.The clouds turned a pinkish purple, the sky an orange tinge, and before long everything melted into the dark blue night.

On the way home, Charlie fell asleep in the car.I turned on the radio and thanked God for the life I had.