Suzanne Harrington: As a child, summers meant sitting on cold beaches and having soup

The pandemic had reset our attitudes and relationships to pretty much everything, including the sea

Suzanne Harrington

Have you noticed how we categorise the sea? Caribbean good, North Sea no thanks. Mediterranean good, Irish Sea bit nippy. South Pacific good, North Atlantic forget it.

 I’ll stop before I start sounding like the shipping forecast, but for decades now we have had the luxury of rejecting the seas we didn’t fancy. Not even climate change could stop our sea-picking. We went where we wanted, when we wanted — all we needed was the cash. Note the use of past tense.