sunset swim

A busy weekend meant the likeliest time to tick the swim box was Saturday evening. Mary had been a 13 miler and I had somehow not done any running for several days. I was distracted by this-and-that (a small depression cloud circling) and some video editing and was burying myself indoors. I have posted the video elsewhere but will put it up here for the benefit of those who might have missed it on facebook. Clips from as far away as June 2013 and as near as last week. Random NICE THINGS, mostly running based. There were a few clips floating about I had never taken the time to realise into videos (it takes about 2~3hrs work for each finished minute of video, depending) and I wanted to put them together in a jumble with some apt track over the top. I was looking for shoegaze ambient glitch tunes (hence Klimek) when I came across this atypical track Mots d'Amour and it works (imo) quite well and Mary liked it.

best part of the day from Peter Buchanan on Vimeo.

So we jumped in the van and I'm recovering from the depression because a client got round to paying me and we can now afford a Tesco run after the swim. Only it's getting dark and we're driving 20 miles for a dip in the sea. This seems bordering on lunacy. Dark grey clouds loom but as we drive they lift and we can see a bit of blue sky. The forecast is for a bright spell immediately before sundown but the purple clouds on the horizon look like they will spoil the effect.

The heater was on in the van making it cold to step out into Gullane car park and colder still to undress. We have arrived at dogging hour not swimming hour and Mary gets sidelong looks from occupants of cars leaving. The sun disappears while we are wrestling into wet suits (this always warms you up) in the car park but the sky is clearing and becoming pearly opalescent above Fife.

There is a tent and BBQ and some kids, 3 or 4 teenagers enjoying a bit of freedom from parents and a romantic couple along the beach. And a dog walker returning to the car park. Other than that we have the place to ourselves and it is magical. Not enough light to take underwater shots but the camera is in the aquapak to keep it dry. Getting into the water is not hard but it is cold and I find I can't keep my face under for as long as usual. I swim back-crawl to keep it frost free. 

The sky is becoming more and more pretty and I see it every breath (I only do one side breathing) and I keep stopping to take photos. Standing in the waist-deep shallows my foot brushes something large that swishes. There is a lot of seaweed brought up the beach from the big swell of Tuesday and Wednesday. I can't see through misted goggles and dark water but it will be seaweed for sure. Really.

Mary is along the beach swimming like a thing possessed so I race to catch up seeing the sky every breath (sky, dark, sky, dark, sky...) and feeling the cold numb my face. However it is good to be swimming rather than just standing on the beach taking photos. It gives you a feeling afterwards of being replete. Like you have achieved something. But you also get that feeling like you get after a cold shower. (Although I am not a fan of the cold shower.) And it makes you hungry as a horse. We climb out 3 or 4 hundred yards along the beach and run back to get warm. The sky is finishing off the display and we jog back up to the car after taking a few more photos. 

Afterwards:
Every week after swimming we hang the wetsuits on the shower doors to wash and dry and I have a shower in there with them saying "there were always three of us in this relationship" while looking through my fringe like Diana. When Mike heard this he made this special art...

uncanny