The return of The Pirate

High Tide	00:30 (2.60m)
Low Tide	06:23 (0.70m)
High Tide	12:33 (2.90m)
Low Tide	19:01 (0.30m)

Sea Temperature: pockets of cold and warm drifting about so impossible to tell
Sea conditions: calm with a good swell
Weather: still, brooding, Himalayan style clouds on the horizon
Joined by: not a soul

Topics of conversation:
Welcome back to The Pirate, who is delighted to be home, despite having had a wonderful holiday in Oxfordshire, attending the Folk Festival near Thame. Although he returned yesterday evening he couldn't wait to swim till this morning and had a quick dunk at very low tide last night. Normal service has now resumed.
DK battled his way home last night too, through the trail of devastation on the East Coast of the US, left by Hurricane Irene. We didn't expect him this morning, a rest is certainly needed after a journey which included roads blocked by fallen trees, driving cross country, through fields and floods and having to squeeze through a gap in a stone wall to get out of Middletown. No phone, power, internet etc. but, surprisingly, the flights were not delayed and they made it safe and sound home to a sleepy village slowly being deserted by second homers and holiday makers. Clearly The Pirate has been suspended in a wonderful world of folk songs and campfires, as he hadn't even heard about Hurricane Irene...  
One of the other bonuses of the festival was a presentation by Pat Ryan, who writes about the origins of the stories of Shakespeare, he is currently a research fellow at George Ewart Evans Cetre for Storytelling and he told the original tales from Scandinavia and Italy that were the inspiration for Hamlet and King Lear. They were supported by performances from Bruce Alexander and others. We talked about the power of storytelling and The Pirate's potential as such as well as the aural tradition of myths and legends. Storytelling is one of the things I miss most now that I no longer teach full time and the excuse to wallow in reading myths, legends and fairy tales many times in order to be able to tell them to a class, rather than read them aloud.
Folktales were on my mind as I finished A Summer of Drowning before my swim this morning, it's been an interesting juxtaposition over the last couple of weeks, reading about boys drowning in Norway whilst swimming with boys of norwegian ancestry, but in a good way!
We agreed that the water was cooler, however not as much as Mertz claimed on Monday. He's vowed that he's had his last swim and has packed away his trunks but we refuse to accept that summer is over, despite all the signs to the contrary. DK, The Pirate and I will not stop here. September is a good month and we have plenty of sunny mornings to come, even if the water is cooling...

Catch up

I've been particularly lax on posting this week as we have been inundated with guests and swimmers, notably the Vikings. All 3 generations were in residence and they made quite a splash first thing in the morning with their whooping (younger generation) and Akvavit drinking first thing in the morning (older generation).

What with that and The Pirate taking off on holiday I have not been recording regular temperature, but in the last few days we've had 19, 18.9 and 18.6, not bad and generally good sea conditions.

This morning was the roughest it's been for a while and there were just a few of us. Had Erik the Viking not been there I don't think I'd have gone in. Emma was particularly brave, going in in a bikini... 

The tide is very high at the moment too and we'll be at the highest point tomorrow, but a dear friend with a heart condition arrives today so I hope the waves have died down.

Heard from DK last night, he's due back in a week so as of next Thursday I should have resumed normal service with DK and The Pirate.

High Tide	01:28 (2.40m)
Low Tide	07:03 (0.80m)
High Tide	13:22 (2.70m)
Low Tide	19:42 (0.60m)

Sea temperature: not taken
Sea conditions: very calm
Weather: fluffy clouds, sun breaking through like a Turner
Joined by: The Buddhist and two horses (with riders)
Topics of conversation:
The lack of Vikings this morning - there was an apologetic text about lack of sleep etc.
The beauty of the sea and its medicinal properties. The Buddhist isn't a regular swimmer and was asking if it really feels warmer if you swim regularly but I'm not sure that he was reassured when I told him it did, and that it makes you feel well, whatever the weather - The Pirate may have to convince him. 
Family photos - The Buddhist and I knew each other when we were kids, living in South America, and coincidentally met again recently as he is one of The Pirates oldest friends. We mused on whether there may be photos of us in each other's collections, when we were children, and this lead to a wider discussion of family photos and members who may no longer be identifiable by the current generation as their connections have been lost in time. Coincidentally I had been late this morning as I'd bumped into Freddy the Fish, who can talk the hind leg off a donkey and we'd got involved in a discussion about photos of the old boys of the village and his photo collection, some of which have been reproduced in a book. He has noticed that his father, who milked cows, always carried the pail and stool in the crook of his arm, rather than at arms length. None of the others he's seen in photos did this and we wondered why this might be. He knows my Mother well so I told him about photos of her on the beach, by the beach huts, with a huge white bow in her hair, I wonder if that will come back to bite me on the arse... http://www.flickr.com/photos/16831982@N00/300049024/
Water walking - one of my morning habits. Both DK and The Pirate have commented on my water based aerobics i.e. running or walking with the water at about waist level, suggesting it looks a bit peculiar, but now that he's tried it The Pirate concurs that it feels as if it's doing some good. It's not always possible and depends on the sea bed and the current but this morning, I later discovered, there was a water walking conversion. Not only did The Pirate have a go but a group of the LOTV's, who now swim further down the beach as one has moved to her holiday home on the harbour, all tried and enjoyed it. Perhaps we could have a sponsored water walk.
A level results - The Buddhist is going home today as they are due tomorrow.

Yesterday

High Tide	05:34 (2.20m)
Low Tide	11:19 (1.10m)
High Tide	18:14 (2.10m)
Low Tide	23:58 (1.10m)

Sea temperature: Not taken
Sea conditions: Slightly choppy
Weather: sunny with a gentle breeze
Joined by: 3 Vikings
Topics of conversation:

Vikings approach

Congratulating the Vikings for turning up - it's their first morning swim and there was much squealing from the younger 2 and I'm not sure that it will become a regular thing for them, judging by the shivers.
The Pirate's ship - there's a tall ship moored off the harbour and it looks just like a pirate ship so the obvious question was whether our very own Pirate was the captain. It's a stunning boat but this is a pretty murky shot as it was taken on my phone in a bit of a hurry.

Abseiling down the lighthouse on Sunday. I completed my latest challenge by getting down in one piece and raising £200 for the RNLI. It was far easier than I imagined and the only problem was that we had to wear shoes like the CSI team to stop our feet marking the white walls of the functioning monument. It was wonderful to see our village from the top too.
August light and how different it is. The Pirate and I have very different reactions to this change in the smell of the air and the colours in the sky as September is my favourite month, whereas he has a sense of impending doom as winter approaches. I chose September to get married as I love the evening light so much.
The four temperaments and whether the weather was something that could be connected to temperaments. We talked briefly about how my tutor helped our class to identify their own temperaments by imagining you are given an extra day, out of nowhere, in which you have the freedom to do exactly what you want and deciding what you'd do with it. The Pirate said he'd lie in the sun - I suspect that makes him phlegmatic. Wiki info here

High Tide	00:21 (2.40m)
Low Tide	06:03 (0.80m)
High Tide	12:12 (2.70m)
Low Tide	18:38 (0.50m)

Sea temperature: 18.7Sea conditions: smooth and silky
Weather: sunny with a gentle breeze
Joined by: Mertz and The Pirate's niece.
Topics of conversation:
Minimal chat today as we were in a hurry but the most important was the party. It had been The Pirate's mother's 90th birthday party on Saturday and we hadn't seen him since. We had been holding our breath for them as the weather had been really awful in the morning but the forecast had said it would clear in time and for once it was right - sound like a good time was had by all.

I had word from DK and Legs over the weekend - they are have huge fishing success and the weather looks amazing, clearly DK can't stay out of the water for long! They sent these photos to share.

Low Tide	03:08 (1.00m)
High Tide	09:23 (2.40m)
Low Tide	15:47 (0.70m)
High Tide	22:21 (2.40m)

Sea temperature: 19.4 in the evening
Sea conditions: rollers breaking on the ridge
Weather: windy with clouds breaking through
Joined by: No-one


Topics of conversation: 


To swim or not to swim.... we need to have a clear run to get out of the sea and unfortunately the combination of the tide coming in and the waves breaking just at the drop of the ridge meant that whilst we'd probably have been able to get in, getting out would have been quite a different matter though. After much deliberation we decided to play safe and didn't go in today - the first time this summer. There had been a real blow in the night, but hopefully it will all calm down and The Pirate and I might have an evening swim instead. Sorry DK, if you are reading this from afar, I know you would have called us wimps and gone in yourdelf, but without you we felt safer not doing so. I don't want to have to type "sadly reader, The Pirate is no more" as he suggested as we left the beach.


The black dog - not The Pirate's own canine companion but the low feeling that creeps in when you are not expecting it. There's a campaign to raise awareness of depression which uses the metaphor.
 SANE 
The Black Dog has been used as a metaphor for depression from antiquity to the present day. To bring the campaign to life we have designed visually striking Black Dog statues (soon to be unveiled).  The physical presence of a Black Dog will help people to define their experience of the ‘invisible’ condition, which characterises mental illness, as well as promoting more open discussion, understanding and acceptance. In order to deliver a positive message of support, the black dogs will have a ‘collar of hope’ and wear ‘coats’ designed by celebrities, artists and members of the public.

“The shadow of the Black Dog touches us all, but it is possible to master and live with your mental illness so that it no longer dominates your life.”Marjorie Wallace, founder and CEO of SANE

High Tide	03:48 (2.30m)
Low Tide	09:32 (0.90m)
High Tide	15:57 (2.60m)
Low Tide	22:23 (0.70m)

Sea temperature: 19.2
Sea conditions: Waves and quite a drag north
Weather: pouring with rain* 18.2
Joined by: No-one to start with due to the above*


Topics of conversation:
Started by text from The Pirate's Wife at 7am whilst having coffee in bed watching the rain pour down the window - "Are you swimming this morning? The Pirate is still up for it" "Absolutely - especially as it's his last swim till Wednesday" "You are all quite mad"
The Pirate having the wrong legs on. He was sore this morning, possibly from having worked on the allotment all day yesterday, but Doctor Sea soon put him right.
What we'll all be like in our dotage -The Pirate mused upon what he might be like at 82 if he was like this at 52 and when I asked if he meant mentally or physically I was threatened with a dunking. I asked if he sang to himself an a distracted way as Mertz does - it always makes me think his father has been reincarnated as I hear dumdedum dedeum coming from another room. Apparently when The Pirate was at a friend's house he thought he was alone and was clearly doing the same. The friend said it was like having Dougal from the Magic Roundabout in the house.
The church tower - our tattooed friend joined us whilst we were swimming, along with one of the junior LOTVs, and he was supposed to be opening the church tower, but the rain may well have put a stop to that.
Buddhism and the Victorians - their interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism and their likening of the Dali Lama to the Pope - typical Victorians...
The next few days I'll be swimming alone so there will be few topics of conversation.