On the promenade of St Leonards, sat sheltered from the gale force winds was this man. A couple of brave dog walkers, leaning into the wind with anoraks done up under their noses and dogs on leads practically flying like kites. They say “Hello Jack!” and he amiably waves back.

His name, he says is Jack Apps and he’s going to make a fortune on the internet. Perhaps he already has. He asks if I have a computer. He seems impressed when I say yes.

The sea is ferocious. He points out birds on the beach. Amongst the young mottled brown herring gulls there is is subtle movement. Turnstones. They are perfectly camouflaged on the pebbles. Amazing, I haven’t seen any for ages (years) and was thinking about and looking for them recently whilst in Brighton. I would not have seen them had he not pointed them out. There were perhaps a hundred as I looked down the beach.

Jack tells me he sees Herring gulls, Turnstones (which he just points at and says ‘those’) and sometimes geese flying along the shoreline. I ask him what kind of geese and he seems to get a bit annoyed. I leave him to his sports fixtures, Guinness and sandwich.