Thursday, October 12, 2006
I touched the North Sea!
I
finally did it! After complaining to all who would listen, I finally got the
chance to go the beach. My good friend Ross took me (he said he only did it so
that I would shut up about never having been to the beach yet!) and I had a
great day. For almost the first time in a week the weather was absolutely
gorgeous and I had to take advantage of it (as every other time that I wanted
to go the beach it was pissing down rain!) So, after our classes had ended for
the day, we headed towards the beach…or rather, Ross started walking, and
having absolutely no idea where we had to go, I followed. The beach is actually
quite close to the university campus, but we took our time as we were in no
hurry (because for once, he didn’t have to rush to the train to get to work
back in Stonehaven). We passed the Aberdeen stadium (where they play
football…soccer for those uninformed Americans) and a golf course. I’m told
that there are actually quite a few golf courses in Aberdeen, which I suppose
makes sense seeing as how the Scottish invented the sport! We eventually
arrived at the shoreline and I just had to stand there in awe. See, the thing
is, in Minnesota all we get to see are lakes (which aren’t usually that nice
looking), so actually seeing a proper Sea was great!
The noise of the waves crashing onshore was so much louder than I would have
expected. The wind had been picking up over the last few hours, so the surf was
becoming rougher and rougher by the minute. At the same time, high tide was
coming in. We walked down the stairs to the sand and walked along the water
line. Everyone had been trying to tell me that the North Sea was freezing and
that anybody who went in would have instant hypothermia, but I cast such
judgments aside and decided to be adventurous. I took off my sandals, rolled up
my pant legs a little bit and walked into the water. Okay, I’m not going to
lie, it was a bit cold, but nothing worse than Lake Superior,
and any hearty native Minnesotan can take that with no problems. Unfortunately,
I didn’t quite think through the height of the tide…a huge surge came in and
soaked my pants to just above the point where I had rolled them up. Oops. Ah
well, I just proceeded to roll my pants further up my legs (to about the knee)
and tempt fate by walking out a bit further into the water. Oops again. A huge
wave crashed into me, almost knocking me down. I managed to remain standing,
but by then my pant legs were absolutely soaking up to the knee. I decided that
I had tempted fate once too many times and walked back to Ross (who, after
getting his shoes wet during the first tidal surge had smartly decided to
retreat to the dry sand).
We
continued walking along the beach for a while and then took the stairs up to
the walkway beside the sea. I unrolled my pants and burst into a fit of giggles
as I surveyed the damage. I looked so completely ridiculous, and now I am a
relieved that I forgot to bring my camera with me that day, as I don’t know if
I would want a photographic record of how atrocious I looked that day. Back to
the events…we walked along, and then passed a huge section of the beach that
was fenced off. I asked Ross what was going on in that stretch and he informed
me that they were replacing sand. How odd is that? Apparently, the sand was
becoming so badly eroded that they were forced to truck in massive amounts of
sand to replace it. So much for natural processes. I
think everyone knows how I feel about man trying to overpower nature, and the
consequences that are possible because of it. Does the bowl-shaped city of New
Orleans ring any bells?
Well,
we soon passed the remodeled beach and came upon another open section. By this
time, the tide was rapidly rising, and had almost reached the wall beside the
walkway, but I figured that we could walk that particular stretch before being
swamped. I really hate it when I’m wrong. We were walking along (me on the sand
and Ross on a little ledge that was next to the seawall…see, Ross is smart,
Michelle is not!) when all of a sudden the tide decided to pick that particular
moment to fully come in. How nice. Here’s how high the surge was…Ross was on a
ledge about a foot or two higher than the surface of the beach and when the
tide came in, the bottom six inches of his pants (at least) still got soaked.
Alright, fair enough. Now, what happened to Michelle you might be asking
yourself? Well, as I wasn’t on a comfy ledge, I got the full brunt of the
water. I was completely submerged up to me knees! We quickly ran toward the
stairs to get the heck out of there before the next set of waves reached us.
When we had climbed back up to the walkway, Ross sat down in the grass and took
off his boots (I didn’t have too, as I was wearing sandals that day) and
proceed to pour water out of them. When he was done wringing out his socks
there was a big puddle left over. I felt so bad, as it was me who had wanted to
go to the beach, and here he was soaking wet. Well, we decided to call it a day
after that and we both trudged slowly toward the city center. I swear, my pants
weighed an extra ten pounds or so and I think they had lengthened by at least
an inch, because they were trailing a bit more on the ground! So, we slowly
squeaked and sloshed our way back toward my flat, and I could just feel the
stares of all the other people who were walking about. How embarrassing. Oh
well, it would have been worse if I had gone to the beach alone!
So
anyways, the moral of this story is to stay away from the beach when wearing
pants, I think. Or maybe it’s to not be stupid and walk really far out when the
tide is coming in. Well, whatever the moral is, I had a fantastic day and I can
now check yet another item off my list of things that I’ve never seen or done
in Scotland. Now I just have to hop on a train and actually take a mini holiday
somewhere. There are so many more places that I want to go, that all I can say
it thank goodness that I’ll be here for another three years at least!
Oops, I
almost forgot (and it’s so absurdly late that I’m almost ashamed!)…my sister
has been complaining to me that she is never included in any of my posts. So,
my intention was to post a little something on September 27th, when
she had her birthday (for her sake I will leave out her new age, because she’s
so old that I don’t know if I have the finger strength to type in such a big
number! Hee hee.) Anyway, seeing as how I
forgot to even do that (hey, I have been surprisingly busy…I am attending
university as you might recall! Furthermore, unlike first year students, they
actually expect second year students to do work…aah!),
I’m going to try to get back into her good graces by including a picture of her
(and going counterclockwise…or cyclonically for those of you in the
meteorological field…is her boyfriend Erik and her “kids” Shea
and Ena…not sure if I’ve spelt those right…I’m sure
I’ll get an email correcting me) taken this summer just before I flew back home
to Scotland. So there Shauna, I hope you are happy now! :-P
