Dead Starfish...

This weekend the West Pier in Hove gave what could be potentially it's last gasp. The ticket office that had stood resolute against all the recent 'mishaps', escaped two fires and a damned good battering by the sea, finally succumbed and, after a brave attempt to cling on 'till the last, crashed into the sea. It's so very sad. That brave little ticket office has been through so much, sitting like a country singer's dog besides it's dead master's lifeless corpse. I miss it.
Anyhow, what with the collapse of more of the pier and the stormy seas we've been getting of late, a load of flotsam & jetsam has been washed up on the shore. Mostly this is bits of old wood, seaweed, (particularly that purse-type one), and general detritus. On Sunday however things were that little bit sadder, the ticket office had gone, the West Pier was on it's last legs and to cap it all in amongst the debris were lots of dead starfish. Loads of 'em. I can only assume that they were attached to the pier when it went.
There's something about starfish that make me smile, live ones of course. Maybe it's because, as a kid, thye exist in that weird undersea world along with Sea-Horses, that kind of 'are they real or aren't they?' kind of place. They're not fish as we recognise fish but neither are they similar to anything else... They're just starfish. Oh, and there was a drowned rat.