Wednesday 5 June 2013

Low Tide02:47 (0.70m)
High Tide09:33 (2.30m)
Low Tide15:14 (0.90m)
High Tide21:25 (2.30m)
Sea temperature: 12.8
Sea conditions: waves, swell, drag, brown but fun
Weather: Cold
Joined by: The Artist, The Poet, The Light Entertainment, The Entertainer and Abs
Topics of conversation:
Abs is back! It was lovely to see Abs again this morning for her "first proper swim of the year". The water was considerably warmer than her first tentative dip at the end of April and the conditions were lively too. The Entertainer didn't swim, she took her dogs further down the beach for a walk and when she returned she said "That was obviously a very cold swim - I could hear you all squealing from miles away!" Abs took responsibility but frankly I think we were all guilty. There was a lovely atmosphere in our chaos this morning. I'd been talking to DK's son about the benefits of rising early regardless of your mood how the routine of swimming at the start of the day has changed my life, even saved my sanity on occasion. He's not a morning person. As a result he finds it fascinating that his father is, and that he can be can be so positive at the start of the day. This is one of the reasons the morning swims are so important, DK has no truck with ill temper in the mornings and always lifts the spirits as he did this morning even though he was very tired - having been woken by 'dogs various' rather than 'the black dog' that sits on the end of the bed in the night. It seems that Mabel and the visitors were all free range during the night, and hadn't settled but wandered from room to room making sure everyone was awake.
The Poet was still on the trail of dog urine and he turned up with his latest contraption, a pee collecting device - a broom handle with a pan on the end  for 'taking the piss'. On the way back Abs took hold of it and in silhouette she became a lollipop lady. 
Not surprisingly, Jess was not keen on being chased around with a lollipop so kept her distance most of the morning.
Nettle rash bum - this is the term for the feeling you get when you've been in for too long and most of us had it this morning, The Pirate declared that it sounded like a german philosopher, not an early warning sign for hypothermia - Herr Dr Nettlerashbaum. 
The L.E. had had a lovely birthday and brought down a present from Miss Lush to show me, it's an unusual and rather beautiful book, which I was so excited about that I bought it the moment I got home. Sadly I was in such a rush that I 'one-clicked' it to my Kindle instead of buying the hard copy, which is a shame as it's such a beautiful book and there are times when you need the real thing in your hand. Never mind, I'll just have to look at the pictures in The L.E.'s copy. The watercolour paintings of water are particularly mesmerising for me.

The book is called Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton There is a wonderful passage at the start of the book, which she read out to The Poet and I:
Water is elemental, it's what we are made of, we can't live within or without. Trying to define what swimming means to me is like looking at a shell sitting in a few feet of clear, still water. There it is, in sharp focus, but once I reach for it, breaking the surface, the ripples refract the shell. It becomes five shells, twenty-five shells, some smaller, some larger, and I blindly feel for what I saw perfectly before trying to grasp it.
The Artist had made her a wonderful card, showing off the shocking pink soft shuffle shoes.

Found on the beach - I've been photographing things people have made with stones on the beach this week and this morning there was a very interesting arrangement, I couldn't work out what it was at all.
Some kind of game?




Drowning - an article passes on by a friend about recognising the signs of someone in trouble in the water and worth sharing - article here: Drowning

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