Eleanor May goes to the seaside…
June 6, 2010
I must go down to the sea again,
To the lonely sea and the sky.
I left my knickers and socks there.
I wonder if they’re dry?
We made our first family trip to the seaside this week. Hemsby Hole to be exact. We took Ellie-May to stay in a static caravan on a little campsite near to the beach. The weather did us proud. Gorgeous sunshine for 2 days straight. The skies were blue, the sands were golden and a stiff breeze meant it didn’t get too warm. On the first afternoon we took Ellie to the beach. We packed up the buggy with all of the things a novice parent thinks they might need for the beach. Nappies, sun cream, towels, quilt, sunhat. Spare nappies, sun cream, towels, quilt and sunhat. Sunglasses. Cardigan. Cardigan. Changing mat. It was like preparing for an invasion. (But what happens if there’s a heatwave? If we don’t take the extra cardigan and the temperature drops very suddenly we’ll be sorry.) Getting the overloaded buggy over the dunes was a mission in itself.
But the beach was sandy and wide and it was easy to find an empty spot, so we got settled down on the quilt (keeping the other in reserve in case we needed to fashion some sort of sail for an emergency get-away raft.). Tom and I enjoyed the beautiful views. Ellie played with her toes. Tom dug a sand cradle and we lined it with a towel. Ellie played with her toes. I picked up some pretty stones. Ellie played with her toes and had a short nap. We counted the off-shore wind turbines. Ellie played with her toes.
On the second day we went to Sea Palling. Tom and I admired the offshore reefs designed to protect the Norfolk Broads from coastal erosion. Ellie played with… well,you get the idea. She had a lovely time but seemed not the slightest bit aware of being in a new environment. She was just happy that, after trying all week, she could finally grab her toes. And long may it last, because it won’t be much time before I’m teaching her to spot long shore drift, wave refraction and orthogonals. A day at the beach with a Geography teacher is much more fun when all you can do is play with your toes!
PS – big HELLO to all of my Dad’s friends out there who are following the blog, even though I’ve never met you. It’s nice to hear that Ellie May is internationally famous! Jx.
