A mysterious presence

The strange and unexplained disappearance of the budgie woman put me in mind of another mystical disappearance that I experienced many years ago, whilst still a young, slender and vulnerable young woman.

This is the scene. Me and my partner (were we married at that point, I can't remember and it doesn't matter) went for a long walk amongst the marshes at Wells next the Sea. We walked out and out, until finally we could see the sea lapping at a small distance - it looked shallow and with only a gentle wave system going for it. We meditated a while on the stillness and beauty (coming from London its always a bit of a shock how quiet and empty the country can be - the space with no human habitation! the space with no human!). We then, realising that the light was beginning to fail turned back, retracing our steps. However, what we didn't know was that the tide had turned and the sea was coming back in and at Wells next the Sea, when the sea comes in it comes in fast. Really fast. So we are threading our way through the hummocks of the sea grass in the rather mushy land, jumping over the creeks which are many and intersect the land unexpectedly, and as we walked we began to realise that these creeks were getting very full, very quickly and indeed the one that we had just come up to was like a small torrent. In fact, to our alarm we realised that it was uncrossable where we were. We started walking alongside it, hoping to find some kind of bridge or a low point, but instead it seemed to get deeper and more malignant in its attempt to cut us off from the rest of the land! I began to feel worried. In all the three hours we had been walking we had not come across a single soul, and there was no real path, just a myriad of tracks through the gorse bushes which appeared and disappeared with no explanation.

But then looking ahead I saw a man. A young man in a long coat with a beard (yes!) at some distance and he paused a moment, looked at us and held my gaze briefly, and then stopped by a stick which was at the side of the creek and crossed! We hurried forward. We realised that the stick was not just some arbitrary twig someone had jammed into the mud but a sort of marker (it was quite solid looking). We knew we absolutely had to cross soon or be cut off so we decided to trust this strangers example, and plunged into the strong current of foaming white horses (well, shetland ponies but the current was strong and it was of unknown depth). In fact, as I was unwilling to either take off my trousers or get them wet, my noble partner at this point carried me across (as I say I was young and slender) to safety, getting soaked up to his waist, barely able to stand (I wasn't that slender - no, really, it was the depth and power of the water that was so intimidating, not my hefty form.) Having arrived on the other side, we heaved a sigh of relief and scanned the empty land for a glimpse of our saviour, and anyone who has been to Wells-next-the-Sea knows just how empty and flat those marshes are and guess what there was no sign of the man.!!!!!! Yes he had appeared, saved us by indicating a safe place to cross and then disappeared!!! Amazing or what? And he looked like St Christopher or possibly even Jesus Christ!

That night we asked our next door neighbour, the Colonel, about the safety of the marshes and he told us how dangerous they were when the tide has turned and that the only safe place to cross those creeks is by the markers, of which there are very few. He himself once, on a shooting expedition had been caught by the tide and had to spend four hours on a tussock (seriously, it wouldn't have been funny, I can tell you) whilst the tide lapped about him! No mystical saviour for him then!

So I am all for mysterious presences - they can enrich and even perhaps save your life in my limited experience.

I have also recently had several mystical visions (ok, so its pushing it I admit but you know, when you've got the visionary gift, you've just got to go with the flow, haven't you heard of the ancient Sybil? I could end up like that - obviously many years from now, but still, a career change could occur) but I shall save them for another time............