This chap came up to the trailer last year. It was at the end of a long summers day, most people had left the beach, but the surf was good so there were still a few people coming and going. The sun was setting. I was sat under the gazebo next to the trailer, gently strumming my guitar, when this guy comes up. He's in his mid 40's and his features told me that he'd lived a life. He had this wonderfully calm demeanor. Anyway we started chatting and it turned out that he'd done some travelling, reading between the lines, to 'find himself'. An event had happened in his life of such gravitas that it led him on a journey to search his soul. He didn't tell me what had happened, only where he'd been. On his travels, he'd clearly found God and he was happy to share this newfound love. Each to their own, he seemed like a decent man with an interesting story. The guitar was his reason for stopping and so I offered it up to him.
He stood there for a while, finger picking the old acoustic. "Do you mind if I sing you a song?" he asked. I was just kicking back and in no hurry to go anywhere. "Yeah why not." I indulged him. And this is the moment that it all went a bit weird. Rather than settle into the directors chair next to me, he picked it up and put it directly in front of me. By the time he'd sat down our knees were just about touching. And then he began singing this song, like right at me. And not quietly, oh no, he was full of joy. Now granted he had a great voice and it was a lovely melodic number, a not just a tad too christian in content for my liking, but you can just imagine the scene. Here I was in the full view of everyone on the beach, being serenaded by this chap I didn't know from Adam with a soulful rendition of "He is the One" (or something like that).
Recognising that this must have looked a bit odd to the passer by, I started to get internal giggles. The type where you feel like you're about to combust. Every time he opened his eyes, I smiled, but inside I was dying! I was hurting. It was all very surreal. And then to make it worse, one of the instructors walked by having come back in from a surf. Heaven knows what they thought was going on. To them it must have seemed that in the two hours since I'd said "catch some waves for me", I'd become either gay or born again! I resisted the urge to complete the illusion by humming and closing my eyes! I was graced with a couple more songs before he toddled off in the direction of the Tubestation. I have no idea if he made it there, or indeed if he's still there! Do you think he was the Second Son?
I'm not sure what made me remember that story yesterday. Perhaps because we're just about to go onto the beach full-time. Every day something happens that makes you smile. It's important to remember them.
The girls were back! My six lovely ladies from Newquay, who prefer a day out each week with us rather than go to school! What did we do yesterday... oh yes, Fail to plan, plan to fail! That was the topic - not entirely sure I lead from the front on that particular subject! We looked at creating an advert, so Amelia and Tertia headed off with the camera to take some snaps. And then with Stacey, Shannon and Laura we looked at making a dvd - they started by making a story board and then took some footage. You know there's some creative talent between them. Of course any time we venture near a computer they're drawn to check their facebook pages, but actually that's okay. They work hard when I ask them to. They came up with some really good ideas and now we've got them using Photoshop, Indesign and Imovie on the Imacs, it won't be long before they're flying. It's fun working with them.
Here's a shot taken by Stacey of Shannon (left) and Laura. How good is that?!
The trouble with the run up to the start of the season is that I have to get my head down and do some work! And that means late nights with mini eggs and milk by my side - they're my comforters. The fitness regime is currently on hold, but it'll be back soon. I've got a game of squash organised for tonight while the boys swim. It's been a while since I ventured into the sweat box, I never was very good. My swing was alway much to big, came from playing lots of tennis, which I was okay at! In fact I played in a competition at Wimbledon when I was at school called the Thomas Cup. It wasn't quite The Wimbledon, that was next door, but I'm pretty sure over the years I might have exaggerated the story from time to time! Well it was a kind of Junior Wimbledon!
Billy has the cross country county champs tomorrow! He's up for it! This is his third run out. In his first one, he ran against the year above and came 4th. Then last year he won his own age group. It was a brilliant race - he sat on this kids shoulder until 200 metres to go and then turned on the Billy Burners. He's fit and well so he's got a chance again, just a little bit of pressure from expectation this time and of course with his curlies everyone recognises him now. He's a marked man! All the Grandparents have travelled down to watch. The anticipation kills me, it's horrible. It's only a matter of time before I don a pair of his running shorts and vest at an event and tell him to step aside, "I'll take care of this one son!" But then again, I've got to take care of those Hammies. "Good luck mate!".
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