Low Tide	03:23 (0.60m)
High Tide	10:07 (2.30m)
Low Tide	15:46 (0.90m)
High Tide	21:48 (2.30m)

Sea temperature: not taken (see below)
Sea conditions: ROUGH with a serious undertow
Weather: very blustery and threatening
Joined by: The Poet and Legs
Topics of conversation:
The first 10 minutes were spent assessing the safety of the water, we hadn't swum yesterday due to the conditions and whilst the sea was not quite as rough it did look pretty fierce. The Poet went in first as he'd taken his top off and was getting cold in the wind and it soon became apparent that the undertow was really strong. The Pirate and I began to have second thoughts so I went in to test it and quickly decided that my feet were not leaving the bottom or I'd be dragged too far. The Pirate sensibly decided against it but in dashed the human cork. DK was less rash than usual though and bobbed along for no more than a couple of minutes.

The sky was biblical, huge clouds were forming and momentarily splitting apart to reveal a steely sun and on the southern horizon the rain was joining sky to land over Dunwich. It looked as if it was on its way, but 2 hours later and it's still not here. I hope it stays clear as I met The Shaman on the way to the beach and she is on a pilgrimage to Dunwich this morning to visit her old family home and lay the past to rest. We are working together later today and so I must make sure the heating is on and I have plenty of honey for her tea.

Village hall committees, pantos and village life - it's like an Archers script here at the moment, in fact The Pirate (who is clearly a regular listener) says that current developments would merit the special dramatic music used for moments of huge significance. Not being a fan I'll have to take his word for it, when I hear the first strains of the theme tune I run to switch off any radio, even if not in my own home. My view of the drama is clearly skewed as I was involved, on the periphery, in the panto and have huge admiration for those who give their time for the sole reward of being part of a group of mad fools who produce something that brings a great deal of joy to the village. DK, Legs, and The Poet were all directly involved as musical director, set designer and police constable respectively, and The Pirate's No. 1 Son starred so were all supporters. The Village Hall committee, however were not unanimous in their enthusiasm for the project and some felt that the daily charges levied at the panto (as well as attempts to charge for 20 minute slots) were unfair. DK gave an enormous amount of time and waived his royalties, by contrast, and so felt aggrieved that certain members of the committee seemed to see the panto as a money making exercise and last night he attended a meeting where he made his feelings clear. To be fair, some of the committee were part of the panto, and are supportive in action as well sentiment and DK received either silent agreement or verbal endorsement from many at the meeting, but one esteemed member responded less than favourably. DK described the rant with which this gentleman responded, making his wife very uncomfortable in the process in his usual way i.e. doing a near perfect impersonation of what some of us know is typical of the ranter. It seems that his argument is that the panto has become "too professional..." this is a word being bandied about left, right and centre at the moment, more than often it's inappropriate. Even the wikidefininition is clear that it means someone is paid for their services, which none of the cast or crew were, as far as I am aware - and if they were - WHY WASN'T I?!! It has been driving me mad that one of my students keeps being sent assignments by her college that insist she presents her work 'professionally' - she's a mature student, she's certainly not being paid to be a student, quite the opposite. Interestingly the irate gentleman does actually come from one of the 'traditional professions' - you'd think he'd be a bit more Christian...
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialized set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to architects, accountants, educators, engineers, scientists, social workers and many more. The term is also used in sports to differentiate amateur players from those who are paid—hence "professional footballer" and "professional golfer".

We all understand that it's easy for some people to lose their rag under pressure though, goodness knows it happened enough during the run and The Pirate admitted to succumbing to the red mist occasionally. He told us about a trip he'd been on in India with fellow Brits, one of whom had Indian ancestry, when she had been verbally set upon in a restaurant by a local, very tall Sikh gentleman, whose turban brought his height to around 6ft 9 (according to The Pirate's memory you understand). He had harangued her for being out and about with westerners and made derogatory remarks which had made The Pirate's blood boil. Eventually he snapped and shouted at the man who responded by requesting his presence outside. I'm sure The Pirate wouldn't mind my pointing out that he couldn't have physically matched a 6ft 9 burly local with a strop on and thankfully he didn't have to. He was saved by a gentle Californian dude in a Just Peachy T-Shirt who arrived as The Pirate was bringing himself up to his full 5ft 6 height and diffused the situation with "hey guys....how're ya doin?" I think I'd like a Just Peachy guardian angel right now.