喺伯克郡住，想睇到海，閒閒地要揸兩三個鐘車，所以通常要計劃定、做少少功課先出發。今次嚟喜士定，純粹係因為碌IG見到推介，撞正銀行假長周末，咁啱想睇海，話行就行。
For someone living in Berkshire, the sea is a good two or three hours away by car, so reaching it usually takes a little planning before setting out. Hastings, this time, was pure impulse. An Instagram recommendation, a bank holiday weekend, and a longing for the sea. There was no reason not to go.
白禮頓夠潮、馬蓋特成幅畫布咁，般尼茅夫則有黃金細沙。去過幾個海邊城市，可能有點審美疲勞，只覺喜士定並非特別靚，無咩特別景點；居然，旺到不得了。肩摩轂擊，同倫敦驕傲大遊行有得揮。
Brighton has its cool. Margate is a painter's canvas. Bournemouth has its fine golden sand. After a few such towns, a certain fatigue of the eye must have set in. Hastings struck me as nothing remarkable, with no real sights to speak of at first glance, but it was heaving. Shoulder to shoulder, wheel to wheel, a crush to rival the Pride march in London.
兜來兜去，幾經辛苦泊到車，由舊城區慢慢行到海邊，見一排排高窄木屋棟喺石灘，外邊塗上柏油防水，黑到反光。
After much circling and no small effort, I finally found somewhere to park in the old town. The stroll down to the water was an easy one. There stood rows of tall, narrow wooden sheds planted on the shingle, tarred black against the weather, dark enough to shine.
呢排黑屋叫做「網店」，以前漁民晾漁網用。初初建成時，底下有木樁撐住，留條罅等海水喺下面流過。年月過去，鵝卵石愈堆愈高，蓋過木樁；海岸線亦褪到老遠，黑屋戙喺度，同潮水進退再無關係。
These black sheds are the net shops, where fishermen once dried their nets. When first built, they stood on timber posts, a gap left beneath for the sea to run through. Over the years the shingle rose higher and higher, until it swallowed the posts; the shoreline drew back and back, and the sheds were left where they were. The tide may come and go, and it is no longer any concern of theirs.
沿海灘一路行，炸魚薯條香氣混埋柏油味，竟然令我有點肚餓。叫返份坐喺石灘上，聽海浪捲起圓石嘩啦嘩啦咁，正以為寫意，旁邊忽有一隻海鷗鳩叫，嚇我一跳。
Further along the beach, the smell of fish and chips mingled with tar, and somehow made me hungry. A portion bought, a seat taken on the shingle. The waves dragged the round stones back and forth, a clatter, then a hush. Just as the ease of it settled in, a gull beside me let out a squawk, and I jumped.
我扭轉頭望住隻海鷗，隻海鷗望住我手上條魚。一場無形戰爭，靜默展開。雖然唔係咩人間美味，我只知不能鬆懈，戰戰兢兢咁食。連最後嗰粒鹽都收埋入肚一刻，我微微一笑，宣告勝利。
I turned to look at the gull. The gull looked at the fish in my hand. An invisible war began in silence. It was no great delicacy, but I knew better than to lower my guard, and so I ate on, tense and watchful. The instant the last grain of salt was safely down, a small smile, victory declared.
願所有戰爭都係如此無害。
May all wars be as harmless as this.
一零六六年，喜士定戰役改變英格蘭以至全歐洲歷史。征服者威廉由諾曼第渡海而來，在喜士定築起座木堡，然後調頭殺入內陸，擊敗哈羅德二世，開創諾曼王朝。
In 1066, the Battle of Hastings changed the course of English and European history. William the Conqueror crossed from Normandy, raised a castle of timber at Hastings, then turned and struck inland, defeated Harold II, and established Norman rule in England.
近一千年前，喜士定其實無戰事。所謂喜士定戰役，係喺森拉克山開打。
Nearly a thousand years ago, all was quiet at Hastings. The so-called Battle of Hastings was fought on Senlac Hill.
近一千年過去，威廉座木堡已經冧咗，剩返一片廢墟。
Nearly a thousand years on, William's timber castle has fallen, and what remains is a ruin.
當地居民形容，廢墟就係廢墟，無咩好睇。我亦去過一望，廢墟就係廢墟，的確無咩好睇。
The locals put it plainly: a ruin is a ruin, nothing much to look at. I went up and looked. A ruin is a ruin, and indeed, nothing much to look at.
歷史大龍鳳，有時就係咁鳩。
Such is the grand opera of history. Sometimes, it is all just squawking.