Nelly's Beach

Yesterday must rank as one of the most trying I've spent on a racecourse.  The heat was awful, and by the end of the day I felt physically sick.  The night before, I decided it would be fun to throw my swimmers in the car, and get changed at the track and after the last race, knowing it was going to be a stinker, and drive to Nelly's beach and have a swim.  I went ahead with this plan, despite feeling sick and sorry, because I knew it would make me feel better, even if it did mean I didn't get home until it was dark.

I am used to driving to Nelly's beach in the darkness, and everything looked different in the daylight.  Fatigue didn't help, and almost instantly I made a mess and went the wrong way, and had to turn around and go back.  But, as I always say, you're allowed one u-turn before you admit that you stuffed it up utterly.  It seemed to take far longer to get there last night than when I have been driving there in the early hours of the morning to be with Nelly.  And when I got close to Beach Road, the traffic suddenly got busy, and I thought 'humm, this could be problematic'.  The normally deserted parking spots on the side of the road were nearly all full, and I thought suddenly 'oh hell, I won't get a park, talk about a perfect end to the day'.  I drove into Nelly's carpark, and there were cars everywhere, but fortunately lots of people were leaving so I got a spot.  It's a tight little carpark, much tighter than I gave it credit for, because whenever I've been there in the past it has been deserted and you can park wherever you want alongside that familiar Moody horse truck.  In the process of waiting for someone to get out, an old, grouchy looking, couple bumped into another car.  I narrowed my eyes at them, and they both glared at me, because they knew I'd been watching them, but seeing as there wasn't any apparent damage to the other car, I didn't write down their number plate.  I also suspect I just wasn't feeling up to a fight.

I was going to go straight down to the water, and had started walking away from the car, but the light of the sun setting was beautiful, so I turned and went back to the car for the camera.  Light at this time of the day is instant, and gorgeous, rich in warmth and colour, but it is also fleeting.  Timing meant that I missed the really vivid glow, but what I shot was still pretty.

I liked the beach far more last month, when I was with Nelly, but I'm still glad I went there and had a swim, at the end of what had been an extremely long and tough day.  It was a painfully hot night and so even though I didn't stay in the water for very long, it was still a good thing to do.  I miss my Pony though....










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