July 2013 were that hot spell folk still bring up, and the notebook has it plain: very hot that fortnight and the water low at Deer Hill. On the dam wall, a right sandal, brown, a man's, the buckle sort. A sandal on a dam wall in a heatwave is about as seasonal as the register gets.
Two photographs, one came out, which for 2013 were a decent return. I remember the low water more than the sandal, truth be told — you could see the banks where you normally can't, and I'll have walked the wall slower than usual for looking at it. But the sandal's the entry, and the entry's sound: right foot, brown, buckle, dam wall, Deer Hill. I were home for me tea and the notebook says nowt else, so neither will I.
Written up August 2026, from the notebook.