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Saturday, January 31, 2009
After sharing my party tricks with you a couple of days ago, now it is time to confess my secret irrational fear.
But first, have I mentioned that it is hot here? Given that it is 43.7C at 1pm, it is the first time since records began that there have been 3 days over 43 in Melbourne. I was sent the image above through a group that I am in, and I so appreciate the sentiment!
In the effort of trying to stay cool most people have been staying indoors if they can, and for that reason I am glad I am still on holidays. There have been mass train cancellations and I would have been one unhappy commuter if I had of been stranded at the train station in this heat I can tell you!
I decided to go to the beach this morning, just for a chance to get out of the house. I've talked before about the difference between the beaches here and in other places that I have lived, but what I didn't mention is the thing I like least about going to the beach - the seaweed.
I don't remember seaweed being an issue when it comes to the beaches in Perth, but there was definitely seaweed in the beaches in Adelaide. The thing with it was though that it was either dry on the beach (even then I don't like walking on it) or sufficiently deep enough in the water that you could swim over it without having to touch it, but here the seaweed starts when you are still at less than knee depth. Even the parts that look like they are sand are actually seaweed with sand covering it so it is slimy and springy when you step on it.
I have two theories as to why I have an irrational fear of walking through seaweed. Basically I think it is because I don't like walking through water where you can't see the bottom. The first experience which might have contributed to this was when I was about 6 or 7 and we went on a camp where we went swimming in a dam. We all came out of that dam with numerous leeches on our legs - ugh!
The second time is from when I was probably 12 or 13. We went on a caravanning holiday to one of the beautiful beaches in South Australia. You could get up to about shoulder height before you got to the seaweed. We were swimming around when my ex stepfather (horrible, horrible, horrible man) started chasing us with a crab that he had found in the seaweed.
In my head, I know that it will most likely be perfectly safe to walk through the seaweed, whatever it looks like, but it is just something that I hate doing! So we went to the beach and the only reason why anything more than my ankles got wet was because we were splashing around! It was pleasant though, until we stopped and started walking back to the car.
