annanotbob2's Diaryland Diary

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Mild Peril*

1. YD invited me and Shirley to join her and some friends for a walk on the downs today, followed by a picnic**. It was blisteringly hot when we left the car park, so we took things like water and sunhats and off we went across the hills and eventually down to a farm with a cafe, right in the valley. It was so hot I had to stick my head under the cold tap to cool off a bit. As we started back up the hill, on a different route, through some woodland, clouds came over and blocked the sun. "Yay! A bit of shade!" We were so happy.  


2. Then it started raining. And thundering. And Lightning-ing. Mega. Torrential, tropical rain, soaking us through to the underwear. We stood under trees for a while but the sky was dark, there was no sign of a break in the clouds and we were all totally wet, so on we went, trying to find the best route back up to our cars, parked at the top of the hill, on phones that had no signal and were wet anyway.


3. Suddenly we came to a road, and a bus shelter with a pair of cyclists waiting out the storm. They were local and advised heading down the road to a pub, which was opposite the direct route back up to the top of the Dyke, where we'd left the cars. When we got there, we could see the top of the hill, if we tilted our heads right back. YD's phone said it was a 20 minute walk. I thought I'd rather not. It was agreed that YD and her pal would go on alone and I'd wait in the pub with the husband, the children and the wet dog. This we did. The rain stopped. This is the photo YD took from almost the top: There's the pub, top right.  That hill was no place for me. I sat in the pub, in a linen dress that felt as if I'd taken it out of the washing machine without a spin and put it straight on. Cold. But quite exciting. YD and her pal were exhilarated at having saved the day.


4. Later I went to the beach. I thought the dog might like to come but as soon as she saw her lead come out she ran into her crate, curled up and shut her eyes tight, as if she'd been asleep for hours. So I left her, lazy dog.  I found quite a few bits of seaglass:   including a tiny piece of pale, rich blue, which I held between my finger and thumb so as not to lose it. When I finally opened my finger and thumb it had gone - how the fuck did that happen without me noticing?


5. I'd taken my swimmy and this is almost the photo of my first swim of the year:   but who was I kidding? I've never swum in the sea in May in my life - it was fucking freezing. I walked in almost to the top of my legs, realised my feet were throbbing with cold and got the fuck back out again, double quick. June. That's the month for sea-swimming. Late June.

Sleep tight, and thank you for reading.

*Mild peril is what one of the little girls says she doesn't like

** We never had the picnic

11:52 p.m. - 28.05.18

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