High Tide	03:30 (2.10m)
Low Tide	08:58 (1.00m)
High Tide	15:33 (2.40m)
Low Tide	21:49 (0.70m)

Sea temperature: 14.3
Sea conditions: shallow but with lovely big waves
Weather: Surprising sun - it came out just in time for our swim
Joined by: The Poet, The Artist and her visitors, The Light Entertainment and Mertz
Topics of conversation:
It must be summer - The Pirate had on his dressing gown and Mertz swam.
Introductions all round for the visitors, a lovely young couple who have adopted The Artist. They can't decide if she's a mother figure or a grandmother figure because of the age difference so we decided she is their fairy godmother, and there's a queue. I asked to be put on the list. There followed a love-in which Mertz put a stop to as he was desperate to get in for his first swim of the year, following his surgery. He swore, a lot.

I think they like it here

As we went in we were suddenly joined by one of The Artist's visitors who ran into the water squealing with delight, we asked why her boyfriend wasn't joining her she shouted "I'm Norwegian! He's Argentinian!" that was sufficient to explain. It transpired that I had a lot in common with them she works in TV, treks in the Arctic and was Steiner educated and I lived in Argentina as a child. It's lovely how this village brings like minded people together. We told them all about 'The Boss', i.e. DK who is in Norway at the moment on a family reunion holiday, I've since heard from Legs, who is having a lovely time and clearly enjoying the food, here's part of her electronic postcard:

Off to Hytte today, yesterday Oslo and Munch 150 yr anniversary show then coffee and cinnamon bun, more relatives, then hot dog with crispy onions, then Resistance museum at fortress, then new opera house, google it, gorgeous, then home for dinner at 5:30, then more relatives. Today more food and relatives. Eating anything set in front of me. 

Mertz and The Poet discussed a walk the Poet is on today to see wild flower meadows, he sent a link through and I hope to hear all about it tomorrow: http://www.coppinsfarm.co.uk/prices.html
Yesterday's maths exam - the last leg was yesterday, and whilst I'm glad it's over I shall miss the challenge. It was OK, but as usual I screwed up as I'd forgotten that these days the higher maths papers give you some formulae at the beginning of the instruction booklet. As The Poet pointed out I committed the sin I've been trying to encourage my students to avoid - RTQ - read the question. Still there's a chance that I got the solution after using 4 other methods to find the area of a scalene triangle, turning it into 2 right angled ones and finding all the sides took up the entire page with calculations and scribbles and arrows. In fact I think my no 1. student had found it rather amusing as I'm always telling her she makes life hard for herself.

The roses are in bloom on the dunes, always a sign of summer, although having spent the whole day gardening today I was rather cross to have finally done the summer swap over - putting all the cacti and tender plants outside and bringing the chillies and tomatoes from the greenhouse into the house - only to be caught, digging at the bottom of the garden, in a hail storm with all the doors and windows open. It then rained for an hour and a half, which was good for the garden and it rained in that which I had planted, but not so good for Mertz and the dogs, who were on a long walk...

High Tide	01:37 (2.30m)
Low Tide	07:03 (0.80m)
High Tide	13:34 (2.50m)
Low Tide	19:47 (0.60m)

Sea temperature: back up to 13.6
Sea conditions: choppy
Weather: windy, getting stronger as we swam
Joined by: The Poet, The Light Entertainment
Topics of conversation:
Mainly The unexploded bomb: Eastern Daily Times and whether there are any more. The tides have brought 2 in during the last fortnight and the smell of the sea is really strong - seaweed and shellfish, like a harbour - so there is something strange going on in the depths.
Yesterday we'd discussed the wonderful Simon Barnes piece on Suffolk so here is a link to that too: Twenty Minutes - Suffolk Sounds

Low Tide	05:31 (0.80m)
High Tide	11:55 (2.50m)
Low Tide	18:02 (0.60m)

Sea temperature: not taken
Sea conditions: Rough, scary, I didn't go in
Weather: cold, windy, raining, dreich - good January weather as someone shouted to me on the way to the beach
Joined by: just DK, The Poet and me this morning.
The Light Entertainment had sent a text excusing herself, she has Miss Lush and the children staying, they'd been to the Rocky Horror Show the night before, and bacon sandwiches were being demanded. She said she felt bad not to be sharing the dreich with us, and she gave me a heads up that the boss was on his way.
The Poet was clearly bursting to tell us something interesting, he was hopping from foot to foot, and he didn't disappoint: A mutual friend is part of an art show SNIP/SNAP at Aldeburgh and their private view was last night, The Poet had been and was enjoying the work, chatting about the manifesto, standing by a large installation made from interlocking wooden pyramids. He was directed to hard copies of the manifesto, turned quickly and as he did so he somehow (even he is not quite sure how) touched the structure behind him and the whole thing fell apart, tumbling to the floor in pieces. Fortunately the artist, who was there at the time, saw this as a development of the work rather than destruction, so I guess he is now a collaborative artist...
From their manifesto: "Alarming us of things to come, these youngsters don’t just put their foot in the door. They kick it down!"

We then had a short surreal conversation that went something like this:
Poet: "My Mother's coming to stay tomorrow."
Me: "My Mother's coming for our quarterly lunch today."
DK: "My Mother's dead."

This naturally lead on to the poem that my Mother had sent me yesterday:

Your Dad Did What?

Where they have been, if they have been away,
or what they've done at home, if they have not -
you make them write about the holiday.
One writes My Dad did. What? Your Dad did what?

That's not a sentence. Never mind the bell.
We stay behind until the work is done.
You count their words (you who can count and spell);
all the assignments are complete bar one

and though this boy seems bright, that one is his.
He says he's finished, doesn't want to add
anything, hands it in just as it is.
No change. My Dad did. What? What did his Dad?

You find the 'E' you gave him as you sort
through reams of what this girl did, what that lad did,
and read the line again, just one 'e' short:
This holiday was horrible. My Dad did. 

Sophie Hannah

Links to Ester Williams tributes here as promised:
BBC Archive
Huffinton Post
L.A. Times

Low Tide	04:19 (0.70m)
High Tide	10:50 (2.40m)
Low Tide	16:46 (0.70m)
High Tide	23:05 (2.30m)

Sea Temperature: 13.5 - hurrah
Sea conditions: Very, very powerful drag, waves.
Weather: sunny, windy, chilly
Joined by: Sara and The Poet had to swim earlier as The Poet has given up on pee collecting and they are taking Jess to the vet. The Artist and The L.E. 
Topics of conversation:
The water was wild and as we watched Sara and The Poet were dragged south so we should have been prepared, but it was inconsistent. Strangely as we got in it seemed to be swimmable but as The Pirate and I drifted we were very suddenly in a trough with such a strong current that it made us check ourselves. At this point The Artist joined us and realised that it wasn't really the best conditions for someone who is as light as a feather to swim in. The Pirate was concerned enough to need a hand and so we played a new game: I held tight to his strongest arm and he floated, kicking hard against the current whilst I tried to walk in the same direction, pulling him as hard as I could, a great game and work out for the biceps and thighs! We made little progress though and decided to call it a day when we didn't even get parallel with our clothes on the beach. The L.E. did look a little concerned that we were battling it and waded over with difficulty, offering to "hold on to The Pirate's other bits", cue alarmed face from The Pirate. Meanwhile DK got in about 200 metres north of us and got out 300 meters south 3 minutes later, he goes with the flow.
Norwich School of Art degree show - I'd sneaked in yesterday as the moderators were going round and had a quick preview. The work was not all up but it was interesting to have a chance to read the supporting material, which is removed for the public days. There was one really striking piece, which I had a chance to discuss with the artist, who seemed genuinely surprised that anyone was interested in her work. We discussed the last year's work (which had been much more engaging overall IMHO) and I'd seen at least 3 pieces I'd have given house room, had I a house large enough to take them. The Pirate agreed that it's always a problem when you go to shows and want to take things home with you - he's run out of wall. The LE had read about some Lowry Nudes, that are coming up for auction, none of us knew he'd done nudes so it was interesting to see this image online. Strange proportions but it's that archetypal pose again.

Lowry nude

Beth's GCSE studies

The Pirate, The LE and I walked back together and talked cars all the way home, this is of note because normally when cars are mentioned The Pirate looks away and says "oh, dear, Man Talk" but as we were discussing old British cars he was suddenly engaged (The Pirate's Wife is right, he's from another age). The LE and I compared uncomfortable, bone shaking, wooden chassis car we have known as well as Triumphs. She'd had one called Ark, as in 'ark the 'erald angels sign and I'd fixed one with a hair pin whilst dressed in a ball gown.
We made tentative plans to have bacon butties in the hut tomorrow if it's fine, hopefully the dinosaur, that had been created in the space in front of the hut by small people, will have wandered off with the wind by then.

Low Tide	02:47 (0.70m)
High Tide	09:33 (2.30m)
Low Tide	15:14 (0.90m)
High Tide	21:25 (2.30m)

Sea temperature: 12.8
Sea conditions: waves, swell, drag, brown but fun
Weather: Cold
Joined by: The Artist, The Poet, The Light Entertainment, The Entertainer and Abs
Topics of conversation:
Abs is back! It was lovely to see Abs again this morning for her "first proper swim of the year". The water was considerably warmer than her first tentative dip at the end of April and the conditions were lively too. The Entertainer didn't swim, she took her dogs further down the beach for a walk and when she returned she said "That was obviously a very cold swim - I could hear you all squealing from miles away!" Abs took responsibility but frankly I think we were all guilty. There was a lovely atmosphere in our chaos this morning. I'd been talking to DK's son about the benefits of rising early regardless of your mood how the routine of swimming at the start of the day has changed my life, even saved my sanity on occasion. He's not a morning person. As a result he finds it fascinating that his father is, and that he can be can be so positive at the start of the day. This is one of the reasons the morning swims are so important, DK has no truck with ill temper in the mornings and always lifts the spirits as he did this morning even though he was very tired - having been woken by 'dogs various' rather than 'the black dog' that sits on the end of the bed in the night. It seems that Mabel and the visitors were all free range during the night, and hadn't settled but wandered from room to room making sure everyone was awake.
The Poet was still on the trail of dog urine and he turned up with his latest contraption, a pee collecting device - a broom handle with a pan on the end  for 'taking the piss'. On the way back Abs took hold of it and in silhouette she became a lollipop lady. 

Not surprisingly, Jess was not keen on being chased around with a lollipop so kept her distance most of the morning.
Nettle rash bum - this is the term for the feeling you get when you've been in for too long and most of us had it this morning, The Pirate declared that it sounded like a german philosopher, not an early warning sign for hypothermia - Herr Dr Nettlerashbaum. 
The L.E. had had a lovely birthday and brought down a present from Miss Lush to show me, it's an unusual and rather beautiful book, which I was so excited about that I bought it the moment I got home. Sadly I was in such a rush that I 'one-clicked' it to my Kindle instead of buying the hard copy, which is a shame as it's such a beautiful book and there are times when you need the real thing in your hand. Never mind, I'll just have to look at the pictures in The L.E.'s copy. The watercolour paintings of water are particularly mesmerising for me.

The book is called Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton There is a wonderful passage at the start of the book, which she read out to The Poet and I:
Water is elemental, it's what we are made of, we can't live within or without. Trying to define what swimming means to me is like looking at a shell sitting in a few feet of clear, still water. There it is, in sharp focus, but once I reach for it, breaking the surface, the ripples refract the shell. It becomes five shells, twenty-five shells, some smaller, some larger, and I blindly feel for what I saw perfectly before trying to grasp it.
The Artist had made her a wonderful card, showing off the shocking pink soft shuffle shoes.

Found on the beach - I've been photographing things people have made with stones on the beach this week and this morning there was a very interesting arrangement, I couldn't work out what it was at all.

Some kind of game?

Drowning - an article passes on by a friend about recognising the signs of someone in trouble in the water and worth sharing - article here: Drowning

Low Tide	01:52 (0.70m)
High Tide	08:44 (2.30m)
Low Tide	14:17 (1.00m)
High Tide	20:25 (2.30m)

Sea temperature: 12.7
Sea conditions: Big swell, deep
Weather: sunny with a damned cool breeze
Joined by: Sara and The Poet, The Artist, The Light Entertainment, The Entertainer
Topics of conversation:
Lots this week, it's been a very social slot on the beach recently and I've been away too so this is a very brief blog catch up.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to The L.E. - she hadn't told us it was her birthday so we didn't have time to prepare, but should have guessed when we saw she has joined the ranks of fishing stool owning swimmers. It was a present for her birthday. We also should have had coffee and bacon sandwiches at the hut, and Champagne, The Poet said. Perhaps we can make that a regular ritual on a weekend following a birthday, regardless of the weather.
iTMOi - Sara and The Poet and I had all been to see this, on different nights, so there was lots of chat about Akram Khan and whether he was really retiring after the next tour of Desh. iTMOi has had accurate reviews, most found it challenging, confusing and painfully beautiful: 
...a far from perfect work, fractured and oddly paced, it is through Khan's shockingly imagined chaos that we're drawn into the creative maelstrom from which art is born. (Guardian)

...the show has a sense of the evangelical, of the possessed, as the dancers gather on stage. To the sound of a thrilling new score by a trio of composers (Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost), from that moment it feels as if we have entered the mind of Stravinsky, his thoughts, fears and insecurities scattering in all directions. (Metro)
iTMOi trailer 1
iTMOi trailer 2
Considering the riots with which The Rite of Spring was greeted with when it premiered 100 years ago it seems apposite that no-one can quite get their heads around it. After seeing it the Shaman and I had talked it through for a couple of hours before we went to bed and I'd had strange and venegful dreams all night, but this may have been as a result of sleeping in a room where some dormant Hopi spirits were wrapped up in tissue paper, sleeping peacefully.
The Black Dog Deli is doing rather well out of Mertz and I, even The Pirate's No. 1 son had commented that it was strange that He had bought a bag full of deliciousness in the morning and I'd done the same on my return from London the same day, we are going to have to cut back for the sake of our waistlines and our pockets, just not quite yet! I've even reactivated my Twitter account just so that I can follow them and see what's being delivered... Black Dog Deli Tweets
DK's son is our lodger at the moment as they have a house full of guests (including The Entertainment, known as such because she is an acclaimed London stage star) and he was keen to check up on his well being. I couldn't help him as he'd arrived after we'd gone to bed and wasn't up when I left for the beach. Mertz had done his level best to wake him with noises in the kitchen when he'd left at 6am and I'd done the same but apparently he slept like a log and had finally surfaced by 10.30.