Tuesday 10 July 2018

Back to the sea


Yesterday's post got me thinking about childhood holidays, and childhood holidays always get me thinking of Rupert.

One of the things I like about Rupert is how his animal chums and parents mingle with us humans without anyone questioning how they can walk upright or wear human clothes. They go to cafes and mingle with us without any sidelong glances. That is a real skill.

I would like to be on a secluded beach in England now, staring into a rock-pool at low tide and getting lost in an underwater microcosm.

We spent quite a few wonderful days lying on a beautiful beach in Cuba once, and the nearest fellow tourist to us was a gigantic Russian man with a shaved head and no neck.

He was there every morning when we arrived and was still there as the sun went down when we left.

He spent his entire holiday on his hands and knees with his back to the sea, building crude sandcastles, knocking them down with sweeps of his massive arms, then rebuilding them - over and over again. I have not seen an adult so absorbed in their little own world before or since.

He must have had a wonderful holiday.

22 comments:

  1. I wanted to go to a secluded beach and stare into rock pools this morning too. Then I remembered the fly past so I am going to see that instead. Rock pool tomorrow perhaps. The Russian man sounds ok to me, in his own world. Best way to be.

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  2. I once spent two weeks on the small island of Formentera, building a very large 'Cairn' or 'Tumulus', overlooking the sea. I've often wondered if it's still there, and/or if it's now become an antique monument.

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  3. Sounds like he was doing the sandbox therapy, but who knows...

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  4. Looking back on my childhood I never followed Rupert or wind in the willows or other such stalwarts

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    1. I was late to Wind in the Willows but Rupert was always there.

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  5. I've seen children watch while daddy build the sandcastle.
    Greetings Maria x

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  6. I find that I can frequently walk upright and wear human clothes without any sidelong glances.

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  7. My sister and I spent hours building sandcastles .... always with a moat. We bought those little flags from the shop on the prom ...... an English flag, a Scottish flag, a Welsh flag and an Irish flag all came in the packet...... then the tide would come in and wash everything away ! Rupert bear was nowhere to be seen...... he was probably with Bill Badger abd Ping Pong, building their own sandcastles and staring into rock pools. XXXX

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  8. I would imagine the Russian was in heaven after those winters where he is from. Might have been his first visit to the beach. I love the ocean and beach and would live near one if I could afford it. Just something so primal.

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    1. I lived on the beach at Whitstable for a short time. I liked it.

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  9. The trouble with beaches when the weather is like this is that unless one knows of a secret one, the world and his wife tend to be there.

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    1. Indeed. We gave up trying to get on Studland beach once, having driven for an hour and a half to get there.

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  10. Every year when I was a child my parents would give me and my sibs a Rupert annual. Rupert and his chums and their adventures were a tad mystifying to kiwi kids in the 1950s but we devoured them without question.

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  11. Your post took me back to being a young lad of about 9. I enjoyed the Rupert books with their skillfully drawn pictures. I never read the long commentaries though, always the rhyming couplets which summed up, pithily, the story.

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    1. Everyone else read the rhyming couplets too I think. I get a Rupert annual every Christmas still, and I still don't read the main text.

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