He feels very fortunate. He doesn't even need to wear sun cream and protect himself from the dangerous UV rays of the sun because he feels it is extremely unlikely that he would get any form of cancer. Blob's skin is cancer free and it'll stay that way. He may get more worn. He may lose some of his beautiful pink furriness. He may even need to be stitched back up one day or have a patch if he gets hurt. But he knows that his species isn't prone to cancer or to dangerous things like bubonic plague or even to little inconveniences like the common cold. Lucky Blob.
The route ahead on that day looked amazing. The path, the cliffs, the sea. And then rising up there were stacks in the sea. Blob thought they were stupendous. How could such things exist? Perhaps a giant or an alien had carved them in a distant mountain range and placed them there. Perhaps the alien had taken pictures and exhibited them as part of an alien creativity competition. Which alien could make the best stacks. These ones were pretty impressive but Blob wondered whether they would be enough to win a competition. He now knows that the alien who made these wouldn't have won. They wouldn't have even won a medal. Blob saw a better stack later that would have had a much better chance of a medal. He doesn't know about stacks like The Old Man of Hoy, stacks that dwarf the ones he passed that day.
[Edit: He does know now because he wanted to find out about The Old Man and now he wonders who the old man was and what his crime might have been. It must have been something very serious if the punishment was to be transformed into a sea stack for a thousand years. Blob Thing says he doesn't want to be a sea stack. The view would be very nice indeed but he thinks that after about three hundred years he would be quite bored with it. There are only so many different types of wave in the sea and he would have seen them all by then. Many times. And the birds would keep going to the toilet on him and wouldn't care about his feelings. Probably after five hundred years the only interesting thing would be when someone tried to climb him. But even Chris Bonnington wouldn't worry about his feelings and would keep hammering nails into his skin to help him get to the top. No. Blob doesn't want to be a sea stack at all. Maybe one of the birds on top of the sea stack. Especially if he got very good at flying. He would like that. He thinks he's mentioned that before. Yes. Jonathan Livingston Blob Thing.]
Blob was enjoying walking along the top of the cliffs. It was quite an easy path with not too much up and down. But then he was horrified. Because the minister leading the walk said that they were about to climb all the way to the bottom of the cliffs. And then they would have to climb all the way back up. Blob didn't like that idea. He didn't know why all the refugee walkers couldn't just keep walking along the cliff top. Wasn't the journey to North Shields hard enough already without making it even harder. Blob actually got a bit grumpy about it. Not for long, but he was grumpy. Blob's person told him that the next part of the walk would include a sea stack. And that Blob wouldn't just look at it from a long way away. He would be able to touch it. Touch the alien sculpture.
Maybe the alien would come back with some of their friends and show off their exhibit. Maybe the alien would come back with a big pot of paint and turn the stack pink in honour of Blob's visit. Maybe there would be time to have a pot of tea and a slice of cake with the alien and they could use a rock as a table, drink out of the sea shells and use flat pebbles for plates. Maybe. Although even Blob had to admit that was a very unlikely possibility. Perhaps it would be utterly impossible. Blob can see that. It's all very possible. Except how would a giant alien drink out of a small sea shell? Unless the giant alien had some kind of technology to shrink themself. Or maybe they could use it to make Blob bigger. A bigger Blob Thing. That would make his walk to North Shields a lot easier. Walking so many miles is very difficult when you're only a few inches tall.
All these thoughts cheered Blob and he stopped being grumpy. The intrepid walkers reached a giant staircase at the top of the cliff. It was a long way down. And a long way up. At the top of the steps was a plaque that quoted from the Bible. Blob apologises for the photo quality. It's hard for his person to take pictures when she has to hold Blob in the picture and hold the camera in a funny position where she can't really see what the picture will be.
It's lucky Blob doesn't take the Bible literally. He would have been very worried to know that the hour of God's judgment had come. He would hardly have time to go and see the stack before God swooped down or swooped him up and judged him and then he wouldn't be able to finish the walk. Blob didn't want to be judged. He's got so many other things he wants to do. He's not worried about being condemned though. Blob knows he wouldn't be thrown into a burning hell for eternity. Blob knows that nobody will suffer that fate. Because there is no eternal burning hell. And there is no God existing who would be so incredibly mean and evil to put anyone in a burning place for eternity. It's a disgusting idea. A God like that would be worse than the most evil person who ever lived and Blob wishes that nobody would ever believe in such a story ever again. Blob doesn't like that story.
If Blob wanted to think about that Bible verse he would drop the judgment words. And he would swap the word God for something less theistic - or try to understand the word in a way not tainted by supreme being myths. And he would swap the word fear because it's ambiguous. The word is about being awestruck not about cowering from something that is going to judge you or might strike you down. Blob likes awe. Being awestruck is good. There was a lot to be awestruck by that day. Blob doesn't ever want to take things for granted. There is always awe. Always adoration. Always glory. Blob doesn't believe in the God that John believed in when he wrote those words. But he believes in awe and in the spiritual experience when being washed by beauty.
Once Blob reached the beach he realised that the journey down the cliff hadn't been that bad and that he would be able to manage to get up again. He looked back down the beach and there were those stacks again. This was Marsden beach and Blob decided it was a good place. Here he is, posing in front of some stacks. One of them used to have an arch leading to another stack but the other stack was destroyed in a storm a few years ago. Many years ago that stack had stairs leading to the top and Victorian tourists could climb it at low tide. Blob would have enjoyed that.
As Blob and his person and all the refugee walkers continued along the beach, Blob's person looked back and took some photos. Blob wants to include two of them here. The first is of a cafe on the beach. It's got a lift from the top of the cliff to the bottom. Blob thinks that he would like to drink tea at the cafe one day and he's quite jealous now because he just learned that his person had a drink there on the walk a few weeks before when she had forgotten to bring Blob out with her. That's not fair at all is it?
This photo is of a stack on the beach. There is a person there so you know how tall it is. Blob Thing had been able to touch this sea stack. The walkers had made a human ring around the stack, a ring of peace. And they had played a little game there.
Blob had been grumpy about having to climb down and up again. Now he was very happy indeed. He was glad to have made the effort. Marsden beach is worth the effort. And when touching the stack Blob was completely awestruck by his non-theistic god and he gave glory. How can there not be some form of worship in the face of such things. Maybe for a non-theist like Blob there is should be a more appropriate word than worship. For now, it is the vocabulary he has.
Onwards! There was no more time to spend on the beach being awestruck by the amazingness of the universe and glowing with thankfulness. It was time to walk back up to the top of the cliff and continue to the journey to North Shields. Blob was determined that he would make it to the end and wouldn't have to give up. Onwards! And upwards!
[1756 words]
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