I’m getting further and further behind as time slips into the future. When this blog was first thought of, there were only two days of swims to recall. By the time the blog actually came to light, another week had been added. Now, the date is December 29 and I’m only just relating swims that occurred on the 18th, 11 days ago. Lol. As if they even matter. And, when lol starts a sentence, should it be capitalised? And, is ‘Lol’ a sentence in itself? Strictly speaking, it doesn’t contain a subject. Lol = ‘laugh out loud’. But, the implication is that I am the one laughing out loud. So, lol = ‘I am laughing out loud’ = a complete sentence.

One big time-waster in this process is photographs. They don’t sit where I want them to on the page and it takes ages for me to sort this out.

Another casualty of the backlog is the parallel commentary on our weird world. I’m so intent on relating each and every swim that this chit-chat is not coming up for air. And, the blank mind that presents me when I’m faced with a blank blog post is also a problem. Thoughts that seemed worthy of inclusion just evaporate. The tide is out.

So, what’s the answer? No pictures? Minimise beach talk? That would leave only the thoughts. My thoughts, made physical. This whole blog is a product of thoughts, with a few pictures to validate that an event actually happened, aside from writing the blog itself.

Anyway, high tide today is 20 minutes away so I’m going to get ready to have a swim. Although, by the time this post is published, that high tide would have been transformed into its accompanying low. Or the next high. Just like human psychology.

It’s raining. I’m all togged up with nowhere to go. Swimming in the rain is a bit comical because keeping the towel dry is difficult. But the rain is a bit too heavy right now and although the air temperature is quite warm it seems like a bit of a mission. It would be different if I could walk to the beach but I can’t. Next time I move house that will be a high priority. Looks like the rain has eased off. I will have just missed high tide, although I tend to think that the tide at Pt Chev beach is high about 10 minutes after the time stated in the mighty tome due to the distance the tide takes to travel up the harbour from Westhaven.

Today’s high tide mark

Grey day, grey beach

Well I made it just after high tide, which was stated to be at 5.07pm today, but it was probably about 5.20pm by the time the tide reached Pt Chevalier beach. I arrived just after that, and the photo on the left shows evidence of this because the water is just below the most recent high tide mark. The high tide today was a low high, so there are older high tide marks above today’s one.

I’ve broken one of my rules here as this beach visit actually occurred today, so is being recorded out of order. There are still numerous visits from December 18th that have not yet been included. Nevertheless, it is good to post this on the same day as the swim, I can still remember certain details. Showers of rain, a few other swimmers, murky water, westerly wind. It has been a busy little while and I’m very tired today.