After we had been living in Cyprus for a couple of years, a friend in the UK commented that we must have a wonderful life, going to the beach every day. I replied that we didn't visit the beach very often despite living only about a mile away from the sea. I explained that living here is very different from being a tourist, and that we'd acclimatised to the extent that, unless we had guests staying, we only really considered it 'beach weather' from June to September.
Now we've been here nearly eighteen years, we don't go to the beach other than during July and August. Indeed, I'm not sure that we really go 'to the beach', as such; we like to cool down in the water, perhaps to swim a little. But we have no wish to sunbathe, or build sandcastles. We only go when it's shady, not before about 5.00pm.
Last year, I didn't go to the beach at all. Not once. That's mainly because I was in the UK from the end of June until mid-August, but if I'd wanted to, I could have gone. I did walk, a few times, along the sea front, and we drove past the beach a few times. But I didn't get my feet wet in the sea; I didn't take my shoes off and walk along the beach. We didn't spend any evenings there at all.
But this year, after much discussion, we and our closest Cyprus friends decided that we'd get together at the beach yesterday evening, to swim and then have a picnic. So I cleaned out our cool box (not used for nearly two years), chopped salad vegetables, and cooked some halloumi; Richard delved into our storage closet (which is technically a shower, but that's another story...) for our beach chairs and mats.
Then, after changing into swimsuits, we drove to our favourite spot, perhaps three kilometres away. I expect it's quite crowded during the main part of the day, this being high season, but there weren't many other people around at 5.30pm; most of those had gone by 6.30.
Tim and I went into the water along with most of our friends. It wasn't quite as warm as I remembered from previous years, and there were some quite chilly spots as we waded out, but it wasn't unpleasant. We managed to swim a little. Neither of us is very good at swimming, and we won't put our heads in the water, but it's good exercise, and fun in a strange sort of way, although it was windy and the waves were bigger than we liked.
Then we had our picnic, and chatted with our friends, and decided that it was relaxing and enjoyable being by the sea, even if it was rather sandier than any of the adults liked.
We might even go again next week.
Now we've been here nearly eighteen years, we don't go to the beach other than during July and August. Indeed, I'm not sure that we really go 'to the beach', as such; we like to cool down in the water, perhaps to swim a little. But we have no wish to sunbathe, or build sandcastles. We only go when it's shady, not before about 5.00pm.
Last year, I didn't go to the beach at all. Not once. That's mainly because I was in the UK from the end of June until mid-August, but if I'd wanted to, I could have gone. I did walk, a few times, along the sea front, and we drove past the beach a few times. But I didn't get my feet wet in the sea; I didn't take my shoes off and walk along the beach. We didn't spend any evenings there at all.
But this year, after much discussion, we and our closest Cyprus friends decided that we'd get together at the beach yesterday evening, to swim and then have a picnic. So I cleaned out our cool box (not used for nearly two years), chopped salad vegetables, and cooked some halloumi; Richard delved into our storage closet (which is technically a shower, but that's another story...) for our beach chairs and mats.
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Then, after changing into swimsuits, we drove to our favourite spot, perhaps three kilometres away. I expect it's quite crowded during the main part of the day, this being high season, but there weren't many other people around at 5.30pm; most of those had gone by 6.30.
Tim and I went into the water along with most of our friends. It wasn't quite as warm as I remembered from previous years, and there were some quite chilly spots as we waded out, but it wasn't unpleasant. We managed to swim a little. Neither of us is very good at swimming, and we won't put our heads in the water, but it's good exercise, and fun in a strange sort of way, although it was windy and the waves were bigger than we liked.
Then we had our picnic, and chatted with our friends, and decided that it was relaxing and enjoyable being by the sea, even if it was rather sandier than any of the adults liked.
We might even go again next week.
