A day by an English seaside

After a hectic and demanding few days, we spent a day by the seaside.  An English seaside on an English summer's day.  I appreciate that all those cynics out there are tutting at the oxymoron "English summer" and "English seaside".  I myself was one of the many who did not really believe that summer ever truly embraced England and my belief still waivers at times, even after experiencing four English summers so far. 

       

As for the English seaside...let me just say that they do not resemble the white sand beaches of the Seychelles or Tahiti or even St. Kilda beach in Melbourne, Australia.  To date, I have been to a pebbly beach, a very, very pebbly beach, a sandy beach where the sandy shade was closer to brown and I've been to a beach where an unattractive amusement/fair ground was looming a short distance from the shore.  However, today, I was pleasantly surprised by a beach that was a pleasant combination of sand and pebbles and no showground in sight.

I was excited collecting all the beach glass scattered amongst the rock pools and sand.  My little (nearly three-year-old) boy was delighted to be jumping, splashing, dancing, from puddle to pool then back again.  He played on the beach as only children can, with innocent abandon and no self consciousness whatsoever, as evidenced when he decided to strip down to his underwear (leaving his soaked shorts stranded in a rock pool somewhere) in order to really experience the water.

Now, for my hubby.  He was enthralled from a more academic standpoint.  I and my wee boys basked in the seaside in the customary way, splashing, hunting for shells and 'treasures', sunbathing and squishing toes in the sand.  My other half spent a considerable time studying the pattern of the waves, examining the movement of the waves and applying physics' theorems to explain what us ordinary folks identify as beautiful examples of nature at work.  He even photographed a particularly intriguing wave pattern for prosperity (shown above).  I only have one thought for this behaviour...you can take the man from the geeky environment (i.e., the physics and applied mathematics department) but you can never truly take the geek out of the man!