Stones Of A Hundred Shores
The reddish stones in this photo are from England. They're from the beaches of Seven Sisters in Sussex. They are probably the remnants of brick buildings that collapsed over the cliff's encroaching edge, smoothened out by the water over decades, or even centuries.
What is significant about this photo, however, is that it was not taken on a beach. Far from it. This was taken in someone's garden in rural Czech Republic. What's even more significant is that these stones are not all from the same place - in fact they are from over 100 beaches around the world!
Believe it or not, before Instagram, and social media generally, people travelled far and wide on adventures. People did take photos too, but they made albums that are highly cherished since the number of photographs were usually limited to a couple of rolls of film.
This lady, now in her late 60's, has been to that many places over the decades. I saw some photos of when she visited England and walked along the same paths I have many times - up and down along the chalk cliffs.
The Czech Republic is a totally land-locked country and has no coast, so a beach was always a priority for her when she travelled. She would always bring back stones or shells from the beaches she visited. Apparently stone beaches aren't actually that common around the world even though in the UK they're very commonplace.
It wasn't always easy to travel for her historically. There were no direct flights from nearby so she had to journey on trains and buses. For long intercontinental trips, she's have to first travel to Prague, Vienna or Berlin! Imagine that. There were also many socio-political issues associated with having then Czechoslovakian travel documents and ID.
I compared my trip from London to her town today to what she would have experienced back then and had a bit of a laugh.
To date, she has no social media accounts. What she does have are dozens of very precious photo albums, and these stones in her garden that are testament to her nomadic soul.
Peace and Love ✌🏿
Adé
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Greato see memories captured but even better to see them taken back home! My daughter brings stones and seashells back from our travels. Maybe they will be part of her memories of me!
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That's very nice. I bet it will be :)