Friday, 8 April 2011

Friday 8th April 2011, West Bay, 10.30am

A near miss in the Waitrose chiller aisle...


Another glorious day. The warm sun makes the cold water a little less initially tempting but after a bit of prancing we are in.  The water is slowly clearing and after 3 swims in a row we are gradually getting better at staying in without developing disco wings, crippling claws, multicoloured skin etc.


The young fulmars were soaring over the cliffs in front of an impossibly blue sky before swooping down low over the water and giving us a very deliberate fly-by. Were they just intrigued by people in the water or were they giving us a warning not to come too close to their breeding cliffs? Whatever the reason we were blessed with numerous beautiful close up encounters - they were flying just a few feet from us and MG looked like she was going to be a direct target at one point.


Thanks to the warm sun we both stayed in a little longer than we probably should - it was just too beautiful to leave. Consequently there was much shivering on the beach as we changed and headed back to our cars. I was off to the supermarket to get some supplies for the evening and was not looking forward to the inevitable chilled section problem. 

Just when you think you have warmed up again and are feeling relatively 'normal', a few minutes by the open fridges of a supermarket chiller aisle can send you back to near hypothermic shakes and chatters. With 'it could go either way in 10 minutes' ringing in my ears I entered our local Waitrose and after about 3 minutes by the fridges gathering fruit and cheese had to dash to the bakery section in a desperate attempt to find some warmth. Scoffing some bread and a date and strawberry bar helped bring me back to reality and keep me going until I could reach the sanctuary of the car heater.

A slightly shorter swim tomorrow perhaps - or maybe the moral is just keep away from supermarkets?


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