Categories: uncategorized
Date: 28 July 2008 22:02:03
The sunburn is dying down now, although it's still a bit sore. Affected areas = back of my neck, left elbow and right ankle. How those parts managed to get burned when the rest of me didn't is a bit of a mystery, but never mind.
The sunburn was a result of going to Barry Island yesterday. In case you don't know, Barry Island is a seaside resort on the south coast of Wales. Apparently it used to actually be an island, although it isn't any more; I'd like to think that it took its name from some bloke called Barry swimming out to plant a flag on it and declare ownership.
Anyway, some folks from church had organised a day trip, so we spent the day on the beach (hot), going into the sea (cold), digging holes in the sand (tiring), playing boule (relaxing), walking up the cliff to admire the view (gorgeous), eating chips (tasty), going on a couple of rides at the Pleasure Park funfair (ricketty) and getting changed in the nearest toilets (grim). [Bizarrely, the toilets all had signs saying they weren't to be used as changing rooms, but no explanation why. So we took no notice.] It was a lovely day out, if a bit long and tiring.
And as predicted, I had a terrible night's sleep; not so much from the sunburn as the stifling humidity overnight. Looks like more of the same tonight; the weather was dry (if slightly hotter than I'd like it) for most of the day before torrential storms hit in the early evening. I popped to the takeaway round the corner between showers, and on the way there, the bottom end of our road resembled a lake and in order to get across, I had to take a running jump to clear the puddle taking up a third of the width of the road. By the time I came back it had all drained away, but a little bit later it started again. I think it's going to be on and off all night, much like my sleep.
This, my friends, is the joy of British summer time - you never know what to expect, and usually whatever they forecast is wrong too. I hate the phrase "expect the unexpected" because it defeats its own purpose and is thus utterly pointless, but I guess in the case of our weather, it's all you can do.
*and so is Michael Fish.