Today was the day when my legs decided to emerge from winter hibernation, whiter than Donny Osmond’s teeth (look it up again kids). It’s not so warm that they will stay out long term at the moment, for one reason the locals, still in their goose down jackets, would have me locked up. But today, on the campsite, it’s warm enough to give them an airing.
The items in question
I have mixed emotions about shorts. As a child I had to wear them 12 months of the year, until I went to senior school. Shorts in January is not a good memory. On the other hand I have happy recollections of the long, in my memories always hot, summers, when my legs slowly turned a golden colour over a four or five month period.
Having spent my life in offices and in suits, since the age of 11 or so my legs have never progressed beyond beige! This year will be different. In a week or two my legs will come out into the sun and not go back until September at the earliest. Whether a nice golden colour is obtainable at my age, only time will tell. It won’t be long before it will not be possible to distinguish between whether my legs are brown or just a conglomeration of liver spots!
As you can probably tell, from the above meandering prose, today was not a day of doing, but of relaxing. We have decided to stay on this lovely low key campsite for three nights and so we have left exploration of Gallipoli until tomorrow. Today there was not a cloud in the sky. Fortuitous positioning of Basil meant that his imposing bulk served as the perfect wind break and so, with the temperature at 19ºC or so, we had our own perfect sun trap. Even Basil’s sun canopy made it’s first appearance since last summer and Mabel and Melek skulked into the shade under Basil’s cool bulk.
Being a day of relaxation neither of us did much. We had a wander to the local supermarket to stock up on essentials and I updated the blog to incorporate Bex’s great cartoon into the header.
At one point I got out my macro lens and went hunting for lizards and wild flowers. When I was running around in short trousers in the 1960s flowers and and small creatures would also have featured in my summertime activities. If my mother is looking down on me she’d be mighty proud to see I’ve progressed from burning insects with a magnifying glass and kicking the heads off daisies to the more genteel pursuit of photography! For you nature enthusiasts I have included some of my shots at the end of this post and it’s an activity I will continue as we travel.
We finished our day with a stroll along the seafront as the sun dipped below the horizon and the dogs performed their end of the day evacuations – how romantic.
