A new year has to start with the sea.

Two thousand and nine. Lots of things have changed over the past few years. I have grown up, I have developed my own sense of who I am and what I love, but I am very pleased to say that the experiences that shape you when you are little, play a great part in shaping you as you grow up also.

Ever since I was little, I went fishing with my Dad on beaches around the county of suffolk where I live. For me, the word "fishing" brings to mind memories of freezing cold weather, wind, rain (sometimes hail), sitting on a bucket beside my Dad, clutching onto a flask of tea as if my life depended on it and usually returning with no fish at all. That was proper fishing.

I took great pride in teasing my little sisters about how they went "sissy fishing" in the summer with Dad on freshwater lakes and how I alone braved the elements at the shoreline. Little sisters however will always tease back as I have discovered. They now boast back about how they are unafraid of the maggots with which one fishes in freshwater whilst I run terrified from them.

I love the sea. This will not change for me. Ever. It has the power to comfort and yet amaze and horrify at the same time.

The chance came today to go to my favourite beach for a New years day walk and so I took my camera and took a few photos.

Dunwich is slowly dissappearing. About a yard vanishes into the sea every year and now so many of the paths that I walked on as a kid are gone. Dunwich will always be there in my memories however, no matter how depleted it may be in real life.