Category: Bobbing

#1078 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Serendipity2 Comments
©Debs Bobber

It’s been a while since there was a bobbing blog, or should I say  Bobbing Blogue.

© Debs +Juliet Bobber

This morning October pulled out a fabulous combination of sunshine, good sea temperature and excellent biscuits. 8 bobbers, 3 dogs and a non-bobbing bobber caught an early high tide and filled the bay with chatter and some swimming, before we all departed for almost a whole day of doing stuff elsewhere.  There was a bit of bounce to add to the experience, not as much as I created in the picture below but we never look this cheery when the sea is actually this rough. Grim determination is the facial expression on those days , this morning the smiles were genuinely generated. It really sets you up for the day.

©Debs+Juiet Bobber

#1029 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Serendipity1 Comment
Still Summer.

August 31st and it is still summer, only just, the summer tide is going out. But not before the bobbers managed a historic bob, with P.S Waverley the world’s last working Paddle Steamer coming into the background of their evening swim. A paddle steamer and three choices of cake. It really was an epic bob.

©Angela Bobber
Bobbers stretching all the way from the shore to the buoy.

Our Cornish bobbers got to see the Waverley twice, catching her again on their return across the Tamar.

Still summer, a phrase that uses the word ‘still’ two ways.

It is still summer but summer has also slipped into its still phase. The last summer storm, Lilian, happened a week ago. She was a screamer for a few hours, rattling chimney pots and screeching up our cobbled back lanes  before stirring the sea into a murky stew for a few days.

Since Lilian we have slipped into the still summer phase, no raging heat, gentle rains, crystal clear seas and some really lovely days. Not that I am looking at Summer 2024 with rose tinted glasses. She arrived shockingly late when June had already started and Spring hardly made an appearance. Tomorrow we hit the first day of Autumn/Fall, lets hope summer drags her heels a bit and leaves as late, if not later than she arrived.

#994 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn BobbingLeave a comment

Another swim spot called 9 bobbers to the water yesterday. After a few days of grim weather our usual dipping zone was packed with swimmers eager to put the rainy days behind them. Tranquility Bay was anything but tranquil.

This nearby swimming area can easily accommodate 9 or 10 swimmers and all our paraphernalia.  It is a picturesque spot with arches and seats cut into the rocks.

Trippy editing

It is a favourite place for people to enjoy just taking in the views and sometimes enjoying some weed.

Trippy photo editing for today.

We were lucky the whole area was available to us at just the moment we needed it. A few realistic images follow.

But why let reality get in the way of a good blog.

As you can see from the altered image below this area is just a few steps further west from Tranquility Bay.

Curiously the current was very strong yesterday and tried to sweep us all back to our usual bobbing area . Mother Earth wooshing us back to where we should be.

#975 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing1 Comment

The bobbers are late getting to our regular Wednesday evening swimming habit. Maybe only a few weeks late. Most years we tend to start in early June. The tide was set well for an 8pm dip. And with no forethought at all I had called the bob for the exact time the England football team were playing a televised semi-final match. A good result for England as they won and a very good result for the bobbers who got a whole glorious seascape to themselves. Moments like this are a real privilege, we could swim out a bit and catch the evening sun. Hugo and Lola could sniff the incoming tide and fish for seaweed without irritating anyone. They do not usually come to a bob. Bobbers who drove could use nearly empty roads . It was a win-win kind of evening. If there was a chink of gloom it is that the water has not really warmed up to normal July levels and there were less bobbers than normal,but everything else was perfect.

#963 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing1 Comment
©Gill Bobber

Funny things happen at our bobbing sessions. Yesterday we took part in some smelling research. Luckily for me and my ailing/failing sense of smell it was an early morning swim when my sense of taste and smell are at their patchy best. I wasn’t able to identify any of the smells but they did still evoke memories of place and time which is exactly what the research was about.

©Debs Bobber

What they actually were is a complete mystery.

My very early swims in Greece last week, 5:30 am, gave us the absolute best of Basil, Oregano, Geranium and Rose from the gardens of our temporary home. There wasn’t really a sea smell but the Flisvos ( sound of lapping waves) added to the early morning pleasures. If I were ever to run a sanctuary for burnt out humans it would be by the sea on a Greek Island and early morning swimming and walking through herb gardens would be essential therapy.

Happy Saturday.

#953 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, BooksLeave a comment

Dawn on the longest day of the year. Summer Solstice. The bobbers are doing their thing in Firestone Bay.

©Helen Bobber

For solidarity we did it in Greece.

Early morning dipping in Greece gave us the pleasure of walking through a herb garden full of Basil and Oregano and a cup of tea when the swim was done.

In other holiday news book three served up another rape.

Three in a row and I managed to give myself nightmares.

” You don’t want to read that kind of stuff , you will give yourself nightmares”  are words that more than one relative has said to me in my prolific reading life. It has never happened until now. 3 random books from the bookpiles or bookclub. So all bets are off for the last book. The Piano Teacher by Janice YK Lee. A story of post-war Hong Kong.

Where did the nightmares come from? I can only assume that women writers don’t dwell on the savagery of the event but write about the lifelong impact in a way that got under my skin.

What better way to banish a bad night’s sleep than by a cool dip at dawn.

#948 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Serendipity1 Comment
Bedroom fish.

The bedroom fish have their moments when sharp shafts of sunlight give them life. This morning sharp shafts of sunlight and a very strong wind gave them an ocean to swim in. See video below.

https://videopress.com/v/wdxTGJKb?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

The bobbers were not so lucky with an Ocean to swim in.

Yesterday should have been a birthday ‘bob’ for one of the Oxford Bobbers who was 86 but bad weather forced us indoors for a dry bob.

Laat year her 85th bobbing birthday celebrations caused injury when one bobber, in a rather optimistic moment, attempted the splits on carpet. This year there were no injuries but bobbers gave fascinating demonstrations of slut dropping against a Victorian fireplace. So much the safer option

And  many Northern Soul moves with rugs moved and slidey floors .

Original footage of bobbers doing their thing was not recorded but these two videos represent the flavour of bobbing birthdays held on dry land.

Quite enough giddiness for a Saturday morning. Welcome to the weekend.

Bedsheets substituting for rough sea

#943 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Paintings, SerendipityLeave a comment

And just like that the summer blew in. Elderflower and raspberry Gin and Tonic is a short-lived perk of early summer. As was  an early early morning bob with bobbers.

And cupcakes.

The bobbing was, as usual overseen by B.V.M. ( the elderflowers were also plucked from her borders) Oh for the sake of comedy how I wish it was an Elderberry bush, but sadly it was definitely a tree.

The prolonged Autumn/Winter/Spring wet weather has not been kind to her. She could do with some of my masonry painting skills.

But that would involve trespass and all sorts of shenanigans, so instead I gave her a digital cup of coffee from a local independent coffee shop.

Which despite being excellent coffee failed to bring a smile to her face.

In other masonry painting news my June project of painting 20 feet or 6 metres of a heavily textured boundary wall is completed by the 10th of June.

Just towards the end of the project it became clear that the bright white of the project area made the garage, steps and another walled area look very shoddy. I am not promising myself to get that all done by the end of June but it is possible. My wrists and shoulders need a little recovery though. Working paint into stippled and ridged concrete   makes all sorts of muscles ache. Fortunately gin is a very effective muscle relaxant.

#920 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Beach Life, Bobbing, Serendipity1 Comment

Four Devon Bobbers and one Cornish Bobber went bobbing at Talland Bay in Cornwall this weekend. I will admit this image is full of digital trickery but memories are a bit like this. The imagination and reality merged in a slightly twinklier version of real life.

Here is the real life.

I just chopped it up a bit, played with scale and enhanced some colour. Which is exactly what most humans do with an anecdote.

There is something a little tingly about being confident cold water swimmers. It turns us into Nyad Ninja’s.

We know that holidaymakers look on at a group of over-fifties women, arriving on the beach, and wonder what we are about. Especially when we slip out of our normal lives and stride confidently into the sea. No timorous squeals when the cold hits. We hear the comments of ‘Mad, brave, bonkers’ and push on.

There is no feeling like it.

#898 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Serendipity4 Comments

Not exactly a sunset picture but silky waters and a large cloud. The water was very enticing, on our evening walk, but we knew that it was all a lie by nature. Two hours earlier we had had one of our chillier swims of the winter/spring season. 5 bobbers bobbed at 5 pm, and for some reason it was unexpectedly cold. We have low expectations, which were exceeded. The coldest month in the water in Plymouth is March but I suspect our lack of any sustained good weather has kept the sea temperature low and there was a very brisk wind as we swam and chatted.

Hot tea and chocolate biscuits sorted us out as we dressed and caught up with each other’s news.  I don’t expect any of us to have achieved much on our Friday evening after our swim, but not achieving much could be considered an excellent way to end the working week.