White pebbles and sea breezes

Life`s a beach, and I`m never happier than when I am on one.

It`s been twelve long weeks since my toes touched the sand, so it was such bliss to head to this small beach edged with yellow Montana blanca flowers ( wallowing in the sun) today, armed with two borrowed ramshackle sun beds ( we usually go to beaches that provide them), icy cans of Fanta lemon and a bar of slightly melted chocolate. Just like being a teenager again, no posh picnics! I love fizzy lemon drinks here, but would never dream of drinking them in the UK.

There were just two other small groups of people on the beach that was all; slathering on suncream , under colourful parasols. It was very breezy too, so it was like sitting in a hairdryer on full blast, and the sea was cool and clear, with a gentle splash as the waves rolled onto the shore. Intoxicating and soporific. I just love swimming in the sea, it was so deliciously, invigoratingly refreshing ; glittering in the burning heat of the sun.

I have the perfect book to read at the moment too. A Theatre for Dreamers, by Polly Samson. It is set on the charming Greek island of Hydra in 1960 ( the year I was born), and although there is undoubtedly much truth in it, it is a fanciful, fantasy of a novel featuring the likes of (my all time man-crush) Leonard Cohen ,and the cast of hedonistic novelists, writers, artists and other Lotus Eaters ,who were on the island at this beguiling time. Polly writes beautifully, and her evocative prose is heady escapism and perfect for the beach. You will get lost in it.

We had to drag ourselves away when it was time for us to leave the beach and its treasures,  bringing with us a handful of white pebbles, and a whole load of gritty , volcanic sand which is now littering our white marble floors.