Scene and heard

I had mentioned to someone that I never get to the beach, and she recommended that I should go to Long Beach, Long Island. She goes alone. So I decided that rather than another day at Union Square, I would take myself off there last Sunday.

As I was going alone, I decided to take no valuables at all and also not take a credit card. But at Flushing LIRR Station, the machines only take cards, and I couldn’t try to find the ticket office, given that the train was about to leave. So I bought my ticket on the train. It was $19 and the beach pass was another 10, as opposed to the complete package if I’d had some plastic with me, costing $18. Lesson learned!

The day was beautiful and I was surprised that the beach wasn’t crowded. People constantly left their stuff unattended, and the only thing I saw taken was a tied up plastic shopping bag, which apparently had leftover lunch in it. The thieves were gulls, which made for an amusing diversion. There had been a lot of them the entire time I was there, and I had been surprised that they had avoided walking on towels.

That changed half an hour before I left. First one bird that had been getting close to unattended belongings but not looking in open bags, discovered something that really interested it and started pulling it this way and that. Several birds swooped down, barely missing him or her. He (for sake of my telling) saw them off non-violently and resumed. This happened a few times until a little grey gull upped the ante and more aggressively made the bag his.

Several attempts were made to usurp him, and each time he came closer to meting out actual bodily harm before the upstarts left. And then my attention was switched to the excitement caused by a woman throwing food and causing aerial pandemonium. With her action, the violence became real, although no blood was drawn. As the excitement there waned, I looked back at my original focal point. There was garbage strewn over several square yards with several gulls strutting and happily pecking.

I left shortly after that, as I wanted to be on the 6 o’clock train back to Brooklyn. Definitely heading back this weekend, and I will most definitely go several times next year. Take food and drink, a book if you are so inclined, an iPod if you are more brave than me, and enjoy.