Low Tide	00:10 (0.80m)
High Tide	07:00 (2.20m)
Low Tide	12:33 (1.00m)
High Tide	19:05 (2.30m)

Sea temperature: 18.3
Sea conditions: still nice and calm
Weather: foggy
Joined by: The Usual Suspects minus the Light Entertainment and a late bonus Matthew (he's got the bug even though he has to drive for 30 mins to get here)
Topics of conversation: 
Moonlit swimming - The New Yorker and I had had a wonderful swim late last night, hoping for phosphorescence but getting mill pond calm and a really clear sky, which meant the moon lit up the shore well enough for us not to need a locating lantern. Last year Matthew and I had swum late, as the sky was turning black, and had become quite disorientated because we lost our sense of direction in the dark. As a result he bought me a rather clever little storm candle to leave on the sand whilst we swim, it hangs in the hut now for evening light. As he joined us this morning we were complaining (well all of us bar The Pirate who rather welcomed the break in the weather) about the foggy fret and having travelled from inland he told us it had been really thick fog there, so hopefully it will clear later. I really hope so as my BF and I are having a virtual 2 day holiday yesterday and today. Sadly she can't come due to a change in work commitments but we are trying to do the kind of things we would have done together whilst miles apart, sending each other photos and updates of the day. We've just had boiled eggs and soldiers with a much needed double espresso.

3 swim days - Matthew is Beth's Dad  and she and her BF had spent the evening here swimming and watching the sunset. They have never really been sea swimmers, teenage girls and and cold grey water don't always mix, but last night they went into the water squealing and on tiptoes for about 30 seconds, then looked at each other, looked at me and Beth said "Oh... my....God.... it's AMAZING! Now I know why you do this!" it was hard to get them out of the water. The New Yorker and I didn't want to get out later either, and have plans to swim this evening after the performance of 'Little Ado' to make the most of what Freddy the Fish says is a one week window of opportunity. He had explained to The Pirate that this clear calm water, which we often get at this time of year, will not last long - a shame for us but not for the fishermen, apparently they can't catch anything when it's like this. Sara and I tried to work out why it is that the North Sea is always brown or grey, even when the sky is blue, but couldn't.

Happiness is Just a Thing Called Jo - DK called as The Artist approached and then explained that it was a song, hadn't she heard it? She hadn't and requested a rendition from DK, he refused so we found it on Spotify and played it to her. Here are some links to different versions for The Artist: 
Ella Fitzgerald   
Judy Garland   
Ethel Ennis   
Peggy Lee 
Rosemary Clooney (a bit warbly but with credits for DK) 
(so it's written to a guy, but who cares, as The Artist said it's got all the right words in all the right places)

Low Tide	02:51 (0.60m)
High Tide	09:24 (2.40m)
Low Tide	15:18 (0.80m)
High Tide	21:33 (2.40m)

Sea temperature: 14.8
Sea conditions: calm
Weather: grey, wet, un-solstice-like
Joined by: Back down to DK and The Pirate and The Poet (due to inclement weather and social engagements)
Topics of conversation:
The Solstice - I'd been on the beach early to do my sun salutations and not a soul was around. This was probably because it was raining, grey and miserable, with no sign of the sun but the yogi and I had arranged to be there in spirit for each other as we completed the sequence on either side of the river. She had a busy morning as she then hotfooted it up to the local radio station Blythe Valley to do her slot. This involves guiding the audience through a yoga asana live, she has a perfect voice for radio and if I wasn't in the sea at that time it would be a great way to start the day. This morning she also played out Beth's CD and I just managed to get home in time to hear it. Hopefully she'll be live next time, but she's been poorly as a result of a nasty reaction to antibiotics, which put her in hospital so it was a real boost for her to be on the radio. This was the first track played out. Thanks Yogi.

Punchdrunk Theatre - Sara and The Poet had been to see the performance of The Borough, based on Peter Grimes, last night and he regaled us with part of the storyline, it sounds amazing - immersive theatre at its best.
Stand curious in a dream and hear those voices that will not be drowned…

Punchdrunk’s The Borough is a liminal beast. It lies somewhere between George Crabbe’s poem The Borough and Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes and is formed on the threshold of the imagined and the real, existing at the interstice of the fictional and the everyday world of Aldeburgh. Aldeburgh is the original inspiration and setting for Crabbe’s The Borough and Britten’s Peter Grimes and it is Aldeburgh that will serve to ignite the imaginative curiosity of each individual visitor to this experience.

(There may still be tickets for tonight, going to check now...)

Hands - The Pirate has been noticing the difference in temperatures between our hands as we come out of the water and has decided that mine are much warmer than his. I've always felt that my circulation was particularly bad and certain it was my fingers that suffered minor cold injuries on my first Arctic trip when is was -42 and the dogs needed feeding (hard to do with thick mittens on) but I have noticed that they have been better recently - maybe this is due to the swimming routine, who knows? The Pirate certainly had much colder hands this morning and, despite the warmer water, had white patches on his palms as we left the beach. It's something to keep an eye on.

Maths and music - DK and I are hoping to help his son through a maths exam shortly and we discussed the link between the two kinds of magic. It's my opinion that no person who is naturally musical can be 'bad at maths', it's just about seeing it from the right angle (and perhaps being taught from the right angle too). Working with The Inventor on his musical interval project certainly proved this point, having had no musical education I came to it from the other direction, and my interest in maths was what made it accessible. The Pirate claims he is struggling with his harp tuition and has now decided that this is down to his lack of interest in maths - I shouldn't have opened that can of worms...

The Vicar's Wife's beach hut needs work - it's sinking - and she has very kindly allowed us to use it for the last 18 months, so we all agreed to make a contribution to any work needed. Even though we now have our little one, there are so many swimmers now that we take up both on a cold, wet day.