Sea Glass Heaven and a Lovely Local

My husband and I took a much needed “staycation” last week, and went on a road trip, to the north of England. 

Although England is made up of beautiful villages, towns, cities, and counties. It is also divided into The North (West and East), The Midlands and The South (West and East). I live in The South East; right on the south coast, and on the sea (The English Channel to be exact).

Our first stop (after a quick one night layover in Leeds to see Genesis and Phil Collins) was in a a small, north eastern town called Seaham, in Durham County.

Seaham is well known for its shoreline, full of beautiful sea glass. 

Seaham, and nearby Sunderland were home to many bottle works companies, and glass making factories during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. (That’s the early 1800 & 1900!!!!!)  Back then, companies would dump large amounts glass waste, straight into the North Sea and that’s where Seaham beach gets all it’s amazing glass.

But I digress…

As we walked down the very steep, cement stairs that led to the beach, we were welcomed by our first (of six) rainbows that we would see while we were away!

Not a bad WELCOME to Seaham Beach, huh? 

I picked up my first piece of green glass (green is a pretty common colour) within 3-4 minutes!  Within 30 to 45 minutes (and a jam jar about 1/4 full), I was approached by a lovely, older woman, walking her dog.  

She asked me if I had found “anything good.” I proudly showed her what I thought was a decent haul for such a short period of time, even though it was mostly greens and whites.

She took a look, smiled and proceeded to tell me how the beach wasn’t very good for sea glass, on that particular day (Oh, just my luck!)

I then heard her say that she had “tons” of sea glass at home, because she has walked her dog on the beach everyday, for years, and picks up sea glass along the way. 

We talked for a few minutes and she said if it wasn’t pouring down rain the following day, she’d bring me some of her sea glass. 

What a lovely, generous offer, huh?

Unbelievable that she would even consider giving me, a total stranger, some of her precious glass.

Never expecting to see her again, I remember thinking “There are some really nice people in this world.”

We parted and I was able to fill my jam jar up past the halfway. Not bad… not bad at all.

The next day as we dressed for the somewhat foul weather, I laughed to myself, thinking about the nice woman and her offer. 

What were the chances of her actually being on the beach, us bumping into each other and her having some of her treasured sea glass with her? Not very probable, but such a nice thought.

About 30 minutes into our wet walk, I was approached by a man, a woman and a dog…  The woman stepped up to me and asked, “Are you the lady from Brighton?”

“Um, Yes, yes I am,”  I replied excitedly!  

I was astounded as she reached into her coat pocket, pulled out a large plastic zip lock bag, half filled with beautifully coloured sea glass, and handed it to me! Just like that!

Along with whites and greens, I saw reds, blues, pinks, root beer coloured and multi-coloured pieces of all sizes, and shapes! OMG!

I must have thanked her 100 times… as I clutched the large zip lock bag to my chest!

We exchanged pleasantries, I took her address and told her I’d send her a special shell, and they all walked away down the beach.

How incredible.

Sometimes this world surprises the hell out of me… but in a good way.