Lost in notation blog

Day 217 – Those who surf together, stay together

August 22, 2010 at 10:46 pm (Uncategorized)

The boy is a big fan of the surf.  So much so that though we spend the morning meandering around Padstow snacking on chocolate éclairs from Rick Stein’s place we return to the sea before our tummies have time to settle from the feast.  The first few times we went out together did not go well-being as the boy took on the task of trying to teach me to surf.  Fresh out of his first lesson he suggested I get on to my knees rather than pop straight up and revert to a foamie (a beginners board).  In the theme of the task at hand I told him to go swallow. Shortly after this salted exchange a wave wiped him out simultaneously wiping the smug and the smirk from his face.

Though he did annoy me slightly by being able to stand up on his first lesson, I didn’t manage till my second time, I am delighted he loves it so dearly.  I bought my first wet suit yesterday and I had to wrestle his card off him to stop him buying one himself and blowing the rest of our meagre budget.  My wet suit is wonderful, fits perfectly and was a brilliant bargain.  Being as I surf in t’North it is a middle suit so can be worn with a thermal in winter as well as summer.  As I have surfed in December and March this is a good thing as last time I surfed in Scarborough I got so cold I couldn’t speak a blessing for my friends but worrying nevertheless.

A wetsuit is one of those things that is such a very personal choice and though I have been surfing for six years it has taken me three to find the right one for me.  The only issue is that I am still on the slight side in spite of numerous cream teas and chips so I had to go with the eight which on the plus side is one up from the six I’d dropped to a couple of weeks ago.  It would seem unless I can find another £100 or so I will be having to stay this size for eternity or at least as long as I carry on loving it.

Unfortunately while slipping in the suit for the first time I made the mistake of mentioning in front of the boy: “Hurrah! I will never have to swim in something other people have weed in.”  Having convinced the boy yesterday that the suit he hired which looked like it was from the ’90s (more people to pee in) that this was a myth he looked none too pleased at my deception.

In spite of our initial tiffs on the tide today we had so much fun.  We caught waves at the same time, crashed into one another, tried diving under the waves, played sand wars on the beach and basked in the shallow like surfer sharks.  He cannot get enough of it and is loving me as I introduced him to this thing that he loves.  While taking a rest before returning to be bashed and battered by the sea we got talking to a man heading back up the beach.  He gave the boy some advice and while we were shooting the breeze he mentioned that he adored to surf and that it had kept him young.  The boy asked him the naughty question and he replied that he was 75.

We both smiled as we headed back into the sea and as we caught our last waves of the holiday I got the feeling that whatever happens between me and the boy this is something we’ll love together for the rest of whatever time we have together.

• Today’s dress is from HP and was worn as we walked round Padstow and St Mawgan.  I have included the picture of the boy and I as sadly this is the only one we have of the two of us taken by a kind stranger passing by who said he understood the trouble of photography when it’s just the two of you.  The cakes were delicious and came from Stein’s Patisserie as well as a banoffee pie which we shared in bed after a post surf nap on our last night.