It's a beautiful life!

Life's a Beach

As the mercury finally soared up to 30C yesterday, Virginie and I went to Ashbridges Beach. There were many people there – in-line skating or biking on the boardwalk, sailing, playing volleyball or just relaxing on the sand. I felt that tingle of anticipation as I placed my blanket on the hot sand.

I always loved going to the seaside. I did it often enough as a child and quite often during my first year at university. Sometimes there were family gatherings with an abundance of food and fun or friends and an excess of alcohol and revelry or a combination of both. Going to the beach was like a ritual that I performed piously and enjoyed tremendously. It would leave me feeling physically and emotionally cleansed and after every visit I was ready to take on the world again. I still get excited at the prospect of swimming around aimlessly and soaking up the sunshine all day.

This time was not like that. I was not impressed. I had been there before. It was on the shore of Lake Ontario. There were no waves, no coconut/palm trees, no food or family. The water was too cold to swim. Virginie was in her bikini trying to get a tan and I was sheltered from the sun but got more of a tan than she did. I didn’t like it so I just gave up and tried to read my law text (which she had carried, so I was obligated to read).

Almost too quickly, the mix of blue water, cool breeze and the scorching sunshine won me over. It was beautiful! I was amazed at how easy it was to escape from the bustle of downtown. It was hard to believe that we were just near the barricaded red carpet site for the new inductees to the Canada Walk of Fame less than 10 minutes away. (It was cool that Alanis finally got her star. Rohan and I used to listen to all her music). I actually had sand between my toes and it was comforting to realise that the feeling was not restricted to my yearly visit to T’dad. I just had to give it a chance.

As I enjoy the complexities of this metropolis, it’s nice to find something within it that reminds me of the simple pleasures in life.

posted by S.M. @ 1:09 pm