1) One Christmas Day we went to Durban beach as a family.
It was mid-Summer, so very hot and the beach was be packed. I can't actually
remember what we ate. It would have been a picnic probably. Some people had
braiis on the beach but I don't think we did.
The day was hot and sunny as usual and we spent time
playing on the sand and swimming in the sea. The waves along that stretch of
coast were huge - imagine Cornish waves but much bigger. It is a real hot-spot
for surfers, unsurprisingly.
I was out swimming and none of my family were nearby. I
must've been about 13. Suddenly a wave grabbed hold of me and didn't let go. It
rolled me over and over until I could feel my lungs running out of air. I
wasn't scared though. I thought that if it was my time, then that was that. It
was a pretty cool way to go anyway.
Eventually the sea did spit me back onto land. I sat for
a minute on the shore, getting my breath back. Then I wandered back to where my
Mom was sitting under a parasol and asked for a drink. I never told my parents
about what happened- I was worried that they'd ban me from swimming in the sea.
After my drink I went back in. I love the beach.
2) It was my Gran's birthday I think. We had a swimming pool
in our back garden (that my Dad had done most of the work to make and kept
spotless - I remember he always seemed to be measuring PH levels.) All 10 of
the cousins (and their parents) on my Mom's side of the family were there. We
ranged in age from 2 - 15 years old.
I loved my cousins - we always had so much fun together.
It was a hot sunny day as always and we were running in and out of the pool.
There was a lot of making whirlpools and playing Marco Polo. It was noisy and
chaotic, but in a good way. All the dads had a swim too. I don't remember the
moms swimming very often - they always seemed to be busy preparing food or
chatting. I did think that when I grew up I would make sure I had as much fun
as the men and kids always seemed to have. And I'd go swimming in public, not
fret over if I was too curvy. I have kept that promise to myself, I'm pleased
to say.
Again, I'm not sure what we ate for lunch. Was it a
braai? I know we did have several. Dad had built a brick braii pit for us.
Hmm, the brief for this exercise was to write about a
memorable meal but the trouble is that I just don't find food that interesting
or memorable. It's always the people (and water, apparently) that make an
occasion special.
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