Sunday

This was a better day, a much better day. Woke up to find that the snow had stopped, the wind abated, and although still cold, the sun was shining so our spirits soared. As I ate breakfast (cereal, bran,banana, slice of apple, blueberries, strawberries, slice of toast, half a muffin) I began to think spring-like thoughts, involving waves and catching a couple. Not a bad day, after yesterday’s big blow there should be still some swell, the sun would keep me warm and going for a surf would enable me to justify eating the other half of the muffin.

I ate the other half of the muffin.

Put on my wetsuit (though ‘put’ doesn’t do justice to the effort involved in getting into a 7mm, top-entry, winter wetsuit. It’s like wrestling your way into a dead squid), posed for some cover shots for the magazine ‘Mad Bastards Monthly’, and drove down to the beach. Where there were waves…and nobody else. Perfect. Into the water. And there I stayed for the next hour and a half. Sanae and Cian came down to cheer me on and then went for a walk on the beach. Well, Sanae went for a walk. Cian alternated between being pulled along on his sleigh or standing stock still and demanding Mammy carry him back to the car.

I did enjoy the session, but from a surfing point of view it wasn’t all that good. I have been two months out of the water and it showed. Upper body straight was, I dunno, hiding in my lower body perhaps, so my paddling in to the wave as it broke was more of a feeble splashing, like the dying throes of a geriatric seal. Which meant that the number of waves actually caught and successfully ridden was in the single figures.

Still, I was outside, in the water, on my surfboard, the sun was shining and that was good enough for me.