annanotbob2's Diaryland Diary

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scary sea

The biggest thing that happened to me today was on the beach. The swimming group I joined have a facebook page and anyone planning a swim posts on the page, the idea being that you don't swim on your own. They have loads of members so there are swims every day. Someone had suggested going at 11 which got a load of responses, someone else at 1pm,  also popular. I thought I'd go at 11 , but dithered about, as I do, and by the time I got there it was midday. No one was swimming but a few people in wet suits were at the top of the beach chatting so I asked them if they were in our group. They said no but that they'd keep an eye on me, all quite light-hearted and jolly. I'd taken my chair, so sat down near the edge of the water for a while, enjoying the peacefulness, the waves rolling in and out, the sound of the shingle being dragged by the water. The sky was blue, it was warm for October, it was all lovely.
So in I went. It was quite choppy. I got knocked over by a wave before I was quite ready and it was cold but still cold in a good way. I can't describe it any better than that - it's like knowing it's cold but not really feeling it and definitely not minding it at all. I bobbed up and down for about five minutes, putting my foot down quite often to make sure I wasn't out of my depth, then thought I'd get out. A massive wave came along so I floated up and down on that then thought I'd be able to scoot out of the water before the next big one came long - they usually come in groups, and they were, but that wasn't the biggest, this group were all that size until one even bigger came along. I kept getting knocked down and dragged back into the sea. Not in a really scary, life-threatening way, because the water was shallow and the slope of the beach was gentle, but it went on and on and I was getting tired and kept getting a face and mouth full of fucking sea water and I didn't like it. I looked up and the people up the beach were watching me, looking concerned but not moving so I waved and tried to shout help, but not much voice. Two of them immediately ran down and grabbed me, proper underarm/forearm lifts, like they knew what they were doing and heaved me up. I couldn't stand at first but they kept saying, "It's OK, we've got you," until I could stand then guided me to my chair. The bloke went off but the woman stayed for a while, as I got into my towelling robe and gradually got my breath back. 
Bloody hell. I completely misjudged it. I've learned my lesson though. As I sat there, getting myself back together, people from the group arrived for the one o'clock session and loads of them decided not to go in when they saw how the sea was. They were great though and I'm not really put off - I know the sea is bigger and stronger than me, but I did misjudge the waves. I won't do that again.

12:14 a.m. - 10.10.22

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

previous - next