Day XIII, Part I: Against a dark background

That is the title of one of my favourite books written by Iain. M. Banks.  If you've read it and if you've visited Mont Saint Michel, which is actually only about 50 kms from where I am right now, you may agree that Banks must have visited that mountain and drawn some inspiration from it for the story.

Just looking at the 'monastery' on the book cover should give it away ;-)





















But it's also still dark when I head down to the beach after breakfast at about 7:45 am.  It is pitch dark but the lanterns on the sea-wall cast some light onto beach and surf.

It looks like I'm descending the lunar lander of Apollo 11 !  A small step for Chris ....

The German has landed ....

Then it seems to turn into Stanislaw Lem's Solaris:  
Are there 2 of me taking pictures of each other or are these just 2 shadows from 2 different light sources?

All of a sudden I hear a sound like the one emitted by hundreds of little duck or chicken babies.  Where is it coming from?  Then I see them. They are much much smaller than seagulls.  They are hugging the surf.  The flock moves like a liquid whenever they are too close or to far from the surf line or when I approach to close.  I have no idea what they are and they won't be here once it is light enough to see them clearly.   
 Something to investigate next time I'm here ;-)

liquid bird flock

But enough of this darkness stuff.  

Today is the date of the Winter Solstice.  

For all you without Astronomy knowledge: Just know this: 

Days on the northern hemisphere are getting longer again !!!

When my pet seagull shows up a bit later on my railing, I realize it has decided to trust me a bit more.  Instead of jumping off the railing and gliding in the wind while waiting for me to throw food into the air that it can then gracefully catch in flight, it stays seated on the railing and allows me to throw the food right into its beak.  Cute !

  After I have fed the last of yesterday's baguette to it, it keeps staring at me with that look.  I rummage around the room and find some dry bread crusts.  Seagull catches the first crust and drops it instantly.  The second bread crust suffers the same fate. Seagull takes off.  Of course: I have to end up with a connoisseur pet seagull!