Low Tide	04:10 (0.40m)
High Tide	10:32 (2.40m)
Low Tide	16:20 (0.60m)
High Tide	22:35 (2.60m)

Sea temperature: not taken
Sea conditions: deceptive
Weather: still blowing a gale, frozen puddles and icicles. Sunny out to sea, black clouds inland
Joined by: no one
Topics of conversation: 
What the hell is this?

The Pirate and I found it on the way down the wooden walkway, we speculated about whether it could have been blown here but then realised that it had clearly been dumped after it had been emptied of it's cash last night as the ice had formed over it. Not the normal kind of occurrence on our sleepy beach. This evening I met 2 policemen who were looking for a missing teenager and told them about it. Within minutes they were 'calling it in" and had picked up the whole thing and out it in their truck as evidence, of what they couldn't quite decide.

The Pirate's secret is out - it was his birthday yesterday and he didn't tell us but as The Pirate's Wife rang to invite us all to his birthday supper his cover was blown and we know he's a year older. When he told us how old he was disappointed that we didn't say "but you only look 28", this could be because he's always saying he's been old for his years since he was 28... so happy birthday boxing day to him.
The moon and the tides and the sea - our usual discussion. It's full today and quite spectacular as the last moon of winter I'm hoping it brings a change in the weather. The March moon is known as the full worm moon, the time when the worms finally start to rise, heralding the return of birds who feed on them. In the north they refer to it as the full crow moon or the full crust moon, when the ice begins to thaw during the day, but still freezes by night. Our trickle drain is doing just that, thawing and refreezing each day, changing it's shape. 
The murmurations have shifted north from our marshes too and hundreds of thousands of starlings are now roosting in the docks at Lowestoft. I drove up to watch them last night, freezing my fingers trying to capture them with my camera. The cold probably won't stop me from going again this evening though, the moon was over the sea and they came drifting in small groups from inland and the big magnet in the sky seemed to be drawing them together more powerfully than ever. This time last year I was nearly lost on the marsh because they lured me further and further from home at dusk.

Legs and Alex have arrived in the US after delays, getting stuck in immigration for 2 hours and news of Odd (Legs's pa) being taken to hospital, not a good start to the trip. I hope they have better news soon and can spend time with Annie as planned. I'm not sure if they will be able to read this whilst they are there, but we are all sending love regardless.