Thursday, May 25, 2006

My first bath

I had my first bath in our new bath tonight.

And I used a Lush bath bomb. I dropped it in and went to fetch a towel. When I got back I thought that someone had dropped All Bran into the water. Closer inspection suggested that it might be seaweed. And I was transported back to my childhood.

Our local beach was Rotherslade, a small bay, within walking distance of our home. Sometimes, depending on the current or something (what do you mean 'the current or something'? you're an oceanographer; you should know or at least sound authoritative enough to make people believe that you know) depending on the weather, the prevailing wind and the state of the tide, the sea would be full of seaweed.

When that happened, we didn't stay in the sea for long; there was always the possibility that seaweed, like a giant squid, would wrap itself round your legs and pull you under the waves. In other words, urrggh, it felt horrid!

And that reminds me of the Ocean programme on television last night. I only caught some of it. I was anxiously cheering on the teenage Orca in its battle with a giant squid when younger son said, 'It's not real, you know, Mum.'
'What do you mean?'
'It's computer-generated.'

I'm not at all sure that I like this merging of truth and make-believe. Bring back Thunderbirds, that's what I say. You know where you are when you can see Lady Penelope's strings.

1 comment:

Liz Hinds said...

Younger son has informed me that it wasn't a teenage orca but a teenage sperm whale; the Orcas are the baddies of the whale world.