Sunday 24 May: Wind!

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL IS NOT CURRENTLY RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE SOCIAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE 

Thank you for swimming at different times of the day and maintaining 1.5m distance.

AND WEAR A CAP SO THAT YOU CAN BE SEEN BY OTHER SWIMMERS, KAYAKERS AND SURFERS.

Very quiet when I arrived at the surf club this morning.  The strong wind was probably the reason why people had stayed in bed.  It was hard to escape it, but the ramp and the steps at the bottom offered shelter.  Dribbles of swimmers entering the water:

Ann and chums looked radiant after their early swim, and reported good conditions:

However, as ever, Jo and I timed our entry with a set of waves, so we had to hang on tight to our goggles as we slowly made our way out the back:

A pod of fast swimmers were heading out of the bay and swimming wide, as if towards Freshie:

We decided against chasing after them, and made our way through the bay in the lumpy conditions:

Near the Bower I bumped into Nick with son Shaun and pal Sophie:

We watched a bird with a large wing span swooping around us.  Talking to Elizabeth later it sounded like she’d seen it too.  A few days ago I was swimming near halfway when suddenly a cormorant was bobbing next to me.  He then decided to show off by diving deep.  What a great life!

Sadly this wasn’t the best day for visibility below:

But I found the Little Stripey Things near the pool:

Here’s my foot:

We decided a halfway exit would be a good call today.  The tide was so high we could pretty much swim up the steps.  Elizabeth had had the same idea:

Back at the surf club it was time for the shift to change over, with Kerry, Kickboard Clare (minus kickboard?!) and Belinda heading in:

And I found Daphne!  Pictured here on the left with Sally and Jo.  As we all spread out our swimming times throughout the day there are some people I don’t get to see very often, so it was lovely to catch up, even if briefly!

Then I felt something warm and wet on my feet.  I thought perhaps one of the B&B dogs was taking liberties, so I was relieved to see Lainey donating some of her hot water to me:

Thanks Lainey!

The world has been turned on its head in the last few months.  It’s incredible how one event could have such an impact.  It’s something I never dreamed would come to pass in my lifetime, and I’ll look at the world differently because of it.  People say they didn’t see it coming but I wonder, on reflection, if the signs were there and we chose to ignore them.

I’m referring, of course, to Jo’s change of swimwear.  After just over four years of submersing the same swimsuit in the ocean, day in, day out, Jo recently went from this:

(*Photo taken pre-social distancing.)

To this:

It really does make you think.

Happy Sunday, everyone!