A tour of inspection

While we were in Brighton at the weekend, we spent most time on the beach; enjoying the fresh and salty air, and making the most of the cold and sunny weather.

We were also reading the book Finn Family Moomintroll the night before and, rather neatly, had just finished the chapter in which the Moomins find themselves on a beach, and Moominpappa has an idea:

After coffee we'll make a tour of inspection along the beach and see what the sea has washed up.

It was remembering this most exciting occupation of the Moomin family that inspired our walk along the seafront on Saturday morning. You can see my children, mid-inspection, in the picture above. They are trying to find strange and interesting washed-up items to show everyone - just like in the story.

Where the character Sniff found a boot without a heel and a raffia mat, my son found a pristinely white fish bone...

... and my daughter discovered a twinkly baby starfish.

Where Moominpappa found some driftwood and Moomintroll a broken buoy, we found a stone broken heart...

... and an extremely long piece of rope. This led to a lengthy game involving much mountain climbing.

Oh how they admired each other's finds there on the beach! The Moomin family had suddenly become rich. 

Although we enjoyed showing each other our finds they didn't make us feel exactly rich, so we left them on the beach for others to discover. And continuing our tour of inspection we went in search of a bit of bling. After all, in the story, the Snork Maiden finds a beautifully painted figure head, the Snork a whole seam of gold, and Moomintroll spots a glass snowstorm. Surely Brighton could offer up something sparkly for us to inspect?

If you know Brighton then you'll know that finding bling is really quite easy. You need only to continue walking along the seafront - until you reach its gaudy and noisy, shiny and flashy pier.

Here we discovered the dazzlingly painted horses and twinkly glass lights of the carousel...

... and the chance to be transformed into a glamorous bride adorned with diamonds, and a smart groom in a shiny vintage car. 

And this glitzy moment, caught on camera, is definitely the kind of treasure that makes me feel very rich indeed.