Six pebbles

5th

The girl in Cafe Nero
stopped to make a note in a notebook - -
Two consecutive pebbles?

6th

Flight delay -
Walking a carpeted mile
of hotel corridor,
repeated pictures,
and finished room service trays.

7th

The engine noise drops a few tones
and we're still for a moment
before the helideck comes into view.

8th

Snow on the portside
muffles the mechanical hum.
Somewhere above, a steam line,
below, the sea.

9th

Somewhere
just beyond the orange pipework
and girders,
beyond the halogen glare,
it's nighttime - -
a hundred miles
from the nearest streetlight.

10th

The sun sinks early tonight
behind some distant cloud.
The coppered waves rush west,
leaving us with ordinary birds.