I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A.

  Thank you for all your messages in my last post. Victoria is now out of its 5 day lock-down. Thank goodness the government acted swiftly before it got too out of hand. Although a sudden lock-down shocks people, I think it ultimately protects people. My students did 3 days of learning at home (Monday to Wednesday) and were happy to return on Thursday, as were many teachers. It's very hard sitting still and being on a computer all day. I got an eye headache on Monday and  had a flashback to last year's lock-down where looking at a screen all day really hurt my eyes. I must be getting old! Haha.

Back to January, when I was still on holidays living a happy beach life. Mum wanted have a day out the beach after being inspired by a lady on Instagram who post swimming videos and the benefits of cold, salty water for your body.

So off we went, bringing some plums and nectarines from our fruit trees, some beach towels and books, of course. We lathered up with sunscreen as I didn't want to burn my skin (as I have one too many times!) It made us look so shiny!

 

For a while, we happily sat on the sand, gazed at the clear blue water and people watched. We noticed some people had brought their own beach umbrellas and chairs and remarked at what a good idea it was to be comfortable and in the shade on a hot day at the beach. We agreed we should buy some in the future.

Eventually, we tiptoed into the freezing cold water before our bodies acclimatised to the water. I happily paddled around on my boogie board and although there were quite a few people at the beach, we were able to easily socially distance.

Source

After about an hour, I got out of the water and sat shivering on the sand, cocooning myself with a beach towel. I must  have been a funny sight. We ate some fruit and read our books. I was in the middle of my first Titanic related book, and have since fallen into a rabbit hole of books on this subject. It is so fascinating to me. This minute by minute account had so many interesting tidbits about the real people who stayed in the first, second and third class of the sinking ship. As a reader, it was an unusual position to be in because you know how the story will end, but you have to empathise with the people who didn't to understand why they reacted in the various ways they did. It is also significant that the ship took 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink, hence many unusual and tragic events unfolded that the survivors were able to later retell.

Mum and I went home for lunch but resolved that we'd soon return  for another trip to the beach as we had such a lovely time. 

How's things in your part of the world?

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Title: California Dreamin' - version by José Feliciano.

(Song not at all related to this post, but I really like this version and it's been stuck in my head since re-watching Once Upon a Time in Hollywood recently).