Low Tide 06:18 (0.30m)
High Tide 12:32 (2.60m)
Low Tide 18:24 (0.70m)
Sea temperature: not taken but it felt pretty similar
Sea conditions: shallow and choppy
Weather: wet and windy
Joined by: it was just DK, The LE and me today and there weather was pretty foul so we used the beach huts to change. 

Miraculously we were also joined by DK's son, who obviously didn't swim but made lots of brouhaha about having been in earlier of course. As I don't think he's ever swum in the sea as an adult this is unlikely, but we all duly nodded and asked how it had been. He hadn't woken early, that really would have been a miracle, he'd just been living on 'cricket time', which I understand means Sydney time, so he's 11 hours ahead of us. There was lots of cricket chat, the only information I'd had was a post online this morning which said "Yawn!! This is so boring!! England team in Ashes!!! Disturbed, Disintegrated, Dismantled, Dismayed, Destroyed, Disgusted and finally Dispatched to oblivion!! Stop the Press! Stop the massacre!" I'm guessing that's not good. (I had to take a photo of Il Faccino as I didn't think anyone would believe he actually came down to the beach, it's blurry, but if you are reading this over there in the good old USofA Legs, there's proof.)
We snuggled into the huts to change and DK had the 'boy's room' to himself whilst The LE and I had the smaller but cosier hut. She and I got chatting about children turning 9 and the way we address the issues they face, in Steiner schools, with a practical curriculum - farming, housebuilding, gardening etc. It's known by Steiner teachers as The Rubicon (and occasionally 'the tummy ache time') and I promised to find details for her interest, there's a great article here: Your 9 year old isn't crazy which approaches it from a parenting angle and I found one book particularly useful when I was teaching in schools and still use it for private tuition: Encountering the Self by Hermann Koepke and the stories of Pippi Longstocking are particularly good for girls, due to the lack of parents in her world.
Once we got down to the water's edge the depth of the trough became apparent, even though the tide was very low we were able to swim where we used to walk as it was up to our necks. The current was very strong, swimming north made me feel like an olympian - gliding through the rough waves towards the river mouth, but once I turned and tried to wade back it was like wading against treacle. It's very unsettling, scary even, so I didn't stay in for long. Il Faccino taunted us for getting out so quickly and nearly saw the back of my very wet, neoprene gloved hand. Not quite a Millwall Brick (yes I've been enjoying Lilyhammer again) but I suspect it would have stung a little.
As we got dressed again the sun did a strange thing to the sky, which wasn't easy to photograph - there was a strange peach coloured glow, which grew and then stronger light burst through like a poor man's aurora. We were transfixed. Then we started to have a mildly philosophical meander about Romeo and Juliet, the sun and the moon, male and female elements, and DK ran for the hills.