Swimming day 157

Back to work at last, although isn't it funny how one is desperate to get back to work after a few days at home with the kids and now that the day is here all I want to do is be at home with the kids again. Funny old thing life.

I was at the Arch at 7.30am, barely able to find the door due to the fog and misty rain, but there it was as solid and forboding as ever. The air temperature had risen to a whopping 8 degrees, but the sea itself felt colder to me today; although the thermomenter showed it had had a slight increase. There was very little movement in the sea, either from the tide or the swimmers, and apart from a few waves at shore it was fairly still. Also, and at last, the tide was in, so a nice quick entry instead of a painful walk out. Only Little Bob, Mike and Evo joined me at 7.30am, so after about 2 minutes they were all back at the Arch and I was mid sea on my own. I swam once again to the end of the Pier sign and then headed back in. Part way back I heard a fairly loud growl and gurgle sound; my heart skipped about four beats and I found myself swimming to shore at speed! By the time I reached the shore and stood shivering on the pebbles my heart was racing like a formula one car! Of course in reality I heard nothing and of course in this temperature the only fish around would be the size of a half eaten cocktail sausage; it was clearly my mind playing tricks! Sometimes when you are out in the ocean on your own and you're tired from too much festive feeding your mind plays nasty tricks and takes you to the land of make believe; and not a particulary nice land it is. You end up imagining all sorts of scary things are hovering under you in the darkness of the sea and before you know it you are hearing non existant sounds and believing that you are swimming over huge sea monsters and about to be dragged into some black hole . Then all of a sudden your hands hit the pebbles & sand and you realise in fact you are all alone and the sea is nothing but a large cold bath; your heart however takes a while to settle back down and as you are sitting at work typing this out you start to feel a tad foolish - believe me I do!
I guess at least I got to start the day with an adrenaline boost!