The labour exchange: The fisherman and the birdwatcher

[Bandit]

The labour exchange: The fisherman and the birdwatcher

Cley bank pulled a stark scar across the horizon, an obstructive fault line between marsh and sky, the North Sea hidden behind it. A stiff and cooling breeze rolled up and over the bank and, like the footprints of the Invisible Man, betrayed itself on a rolling wave of reeds, a dark ruffle of water, finally a tremble of puddle before it caught my face, my coat and was away behind me, rattling briefly in the vanes of the eco-windmill installed to power the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's Cley Marsh visitor centre, where I was due to meet the writer Mark Cocker at eight. It was 20 past. The car park was empty. Mark was going to teach me how to bird-watch.