Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Saturday 9 November 2013

The Sands of Time


They look like the victims of an attack; bodies laid out on the sandy beach under the searing heat of the midday sun at Seathorne on the Lincolnshire coast in 1962. In fact it was a group of family and friends making the most of a sunny weekend and snapped by one of the party at the moment when they were all obviously overcome with exhaustion. In the shade of the red and white striped towel sits my little dog, Kim, the only one who has remained wide awake, and with his attention caught by something in the distance.


A little later and most of the adults have stirred, although one or two are still napping. My mother is tending to the dog, who was still only a puppy. This time it was me whose attention was on something far more interesting further down the beach, whilst the little family friend with whom I’d been building sand pies is rubbing her eyes with tiredness.


Later still and there’s no chance of anyone’s attention wandering as all eyes are on the lady struggling out of her swimsuit with as much dignity as she can on a crowded beach - except her husband, who stares at his toes and pretends he’s not there. The older lady tries valiantly to cover any embarrassment that may result if a body part is accidentally exposed. The chap with the grin and the camera is feeling pleased with himself because he’s just taken a picture of her efforts for posterity. Even a ten-year old me, sitting in the centre of the picture, holding onto my beach ball, finds the situation amusing, as do the strangers on the steps. Of course I know all the people in the picture as well as the cameraman, my Dad, but he and four others in the group have now gone to play on the great sandy beach in the sky, including the contortionist, her husband, her assistant and the cheeky photographer. My little friend and I are grandmothers and my Mum and the lady in yellow are great-grandmothers. It seems like only yesterday, but the sands of time have already trickled through to the half-century mark. I wonder what people will find to smile about when the hourglass reaches the hundred mark.

For more amusing beach stories take a day trip to sunny Sepia Saturday, where our prompt picture this week was a beach photographer and his assistants.

15 comments:

  1. Was she going to be nude, there on the beach, after she finished struggling out of the suit?

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  2. A perfection of story and photos. When I first lived in London, the British enthusiasm for the sun was baffling to me until I had passed my first winter there. After many weeks enduring its cold and bleak climate I began to appreciate how the geography and meager hours of sunshine produced this joy. And a desire to move to sunnier climes, too. :-)

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  3. Ha HA HA HA -- victims of an attack -- REALLY! But come on - was she really taking off that bathing suit??? Am I seeing her bare bum? I know nude beaches are quite common in Europe and the Caribbean, but are they common in the prim and buttoned up land of Downton Abbey?????

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  4. Ha ha ha indeed! A great commentary on this trio of family beach photos. People usually wriggle about under a towel if they are getting changed on the beach, but clearly your lady didn't feel a need to bother with any kind of shield other than the people around her, and never mind the photographer preserving her state of undress in photographic form for all to see!

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  5. Well, it wasn't an "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-dot Bikini" but it was a really cute suit all the same. The bikini would have been easier to get out of, however. :) Great pix & story to go with. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. You've just provided me with the best laugh of the day -- she really IS trying to get out of her suit, isn't she? Everybody's enjoying it, it seems!

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  7. Not your typical beach photos!

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  8. Very entertaining.

    Yes every years seems to go by quicker than the prior year.

    No sunscreen in sight but no lobsters either!

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  9. Very funny! What a haphazard way of lying and 'sleeping' it does look like an attack doesn't it.

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  10. Love the way you've told this photo story - the 'attack aftermath' pic did make me laugh, plus the comment about the struggling lady's husband studying his toes….he really is staring at them So intently!

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  11. You have recounted a perfectly delightful outing at the beach. Thanks for the laugh!

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  12. An entertaining story of a day at the beach - and yes, here in Britain we have to seize any sunny day we get and make the most of it!. I can't remember many like this, though. .

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  13. Most enjoyable story telling...and the photos are priceless. I agree, the feeling of the hourglass passing is thought provoking, until the next opportunity to go do something comes along.

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  14. Tjems have definitely changed. Look at the handbags and the suitcase in the photos - now it's designers beach bags and itsy bitsy bikinis.

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  15. 1962, the year The Beatles started recording, it's strange realizing it's more than half a century ago. I like the last photo the most, with the people in the background watching the spectacle.

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