Tears of rain streaked across the blinded eyes of the small shops and cafes that lined the narrow High Street, as muted sounds of a Christian Sunday morning could be clearly heard from behind the heavy oak doors of the Kingdom Hall. God’s gentle music rose up upon the squalling wind into the rain only to pitch tinkling and drumming from the roof tiles until splashing down onto the shining pavement beneath his feet.

The sparkling gutters burbled an accompaniment as he made his way to the Customs House jetty which led him down into the broad parade which bordered the slapping waves of the Solent. Almost at once the wind stole his smile, whipping it out across the grey estuary past the bleak breakwater until finally dropping it, still smiling, into the heaving sea. The boy shivered as he stood for a moment watching the curtains of rain drift across the water to the distant mainland as the silent skies darkened.

‘’ I really hate Sundays, I hate Sundays worse than Saturdays’’ the boy murmured, as he pulled the collar of his thin jacket up to his chin and leaning into the wind as best he could he made his way towards the narrow coast road that lay beyond the parade