The Boys of Summer

Flapped Don Henley in his flight away from the Eagles, perching high in its' eyrie amidst the charts of 1985. A number 2 from 1985 no less.

The video for which featured various stages in Henley’s life, with a strong focus on youth.

and displaying athletic aquatic prowess, all in stylish black and white.

Of course he wasn’t referring to my local resort, the oddly named Manly, which delights in the distinctly separated Big Manly and Little Manly beaches,

where last week, during the stiflingly humid NZ summer, I found myself being coerced into the waves.  Gasps of horror ensue. I am as fond of the sea as is a camel, the ship of the desert.

Although hailing from a nation of maritime adventurers, I doubt whether Britain would have been deemed as “Great” if Drake, Nelson and Bligh had been enthused by my particular loathing of the sea, being more like Cap'n Birdseye:

Not from an inability to swim, I am a perfectly proficient swimmer, thank you. (Just imagine a backpedaling otter).

No, 'tis the cold water, seaweed  and the saltiness which I dislike. So having being brought up on annual sojourns to such temperate hotspots as Cromer, Grange over Sands and the Isle of Wight, my dislike of  the briny swells that surround our coasts has been long entrenched.

I have managed to avoid Neptune’s empire so far, bar a brief spell in the warm seas in Fiji, (where I burnt my foot on hot sand and developed an infected appendage, thanks to my diabetes)

And so it remained, until this week.

While bush fires sweep Australia and NZ’s South Island, the heat down under this summer has driven me down to the sea, to dip my toe in the warm expanse of the Tasman Sea.  And what a pleasant experience it has been. Big Manly beach is blessed with warm sandy safe waters, with not too many visitors to witness my doggy paddle and back flops. Like a gracious narwhal I spear through the small waves, only to emerge spluttering with a mouthful of salty water and in dire need of some eye rubbing. But what fun, and only a three minute walk from the comfort of a shower back home!

Excellent, and I only put on 200g over the Christmas period, aided perhaps by my new found buoyancy?  The buoys of summer indeed.