25 YEARS AGO: MOUSEHOLE AT MIDNIGHT 1999, GOING ON JANUARY 2000... (My poem written at the time...)

 Mousehole at Midnight 1999, Going On 2000…

Drizzle swirled, typically.

Moonless.

Low clouds hinted at mist.

Barely a tide,

Revealing well-rounded stones,

Displaced and scattered,

Weathered and cast aside.

Unique lights glowed,

Reminiscent

Of a star cluster in a black sky,

Clicking on the quay,

Bearing the season:

Goodwill and tradition

Displayed by the sea.

Rockets penetrated the Millennium.

Explosive.

Lights cascaded on lights

And I hugged the shore,

Balanced on rock, sherry in hand.

Lantern flamed a New Year’s birth,

To silence the celebratory roar…

Pete Ray

Drove down to Mousehole, Cornwall on New Year’s Eve, 1999. 

Ate in a pub en route, spent the late afternoon and evening around the village and in Lamorna Cove, then returned to Mousehole as the new century approached. 

THE ROCK POOL...

LAMORNA, WHEN THE HARBOUR WALL WAS STILL FAIRLY INTACT... 

Drove home just after midnight, arriving in Solihull at some extraordinary hour in the morning…