Medusa

Another full on day - a spot of pootling in the morning then I headed off to the beach. The tide was out at my usual spot so I tried another little beach. The wind was whistling in but I was transfixed by this whopper. The same as the beast I blipped the other day but much bigger - look at the length of those tentacles! He was being tossed and turned in the surf, forever in danger of getting beached - what a strange existence. Look how clear the water is though. Needless to say I did not venture in the water at this point but went back to yesterday's beach which was blissful - out of the wind and only a mother and two sons right at the other end. I swam and it was cold but gorgeous once in, then I indulged myself, propped myself against a rock and read - in the daytime! I am reading the biography of Charles Dickens by Claire Tomalin. It is incredibly well written and so meticulously researched; and fascinating as the areas she describes are the same that some of my ancestors inhabited. I don't normally do biographies but I have just read Girl in the Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold which is a fictional account of Dickens' marriage from the point of view of his wife. He came across as a very difficult person, extreme mood swings, utterly selfish, manipulative and controlling, irresistable to women and a genius -I wanted to see if that was a true description. His wife was a typical product of well bred 19C womanhood- no experience, no clue that she could do anything for herself and she just let herself be manipulated. A rather sad story for he eventually ousted her and she lost contact with her 10 children until after his death. So far both books compliment each other brilliantly.