Birnbeck Pier extends across tidal mudflats at low tide — the pier head, the walkway, the buildings on stilts all exposed. Closed since 1994, Victorian structure, untouched. I was comparing that — the derelict pier as fixed anchor — against the resort still operating around it: the Grand Pier with crowds, the Tropicana abandoned, Loco Mexicano still open, the town center continuing. The pier's absence is everywhere. The closed structure holds the composition together.
