This is Rhosneigr Beach, Anglesey, Gwynedd, on a glorious April day. Being the Friday before bank holiday it should have been impossibly crowded but it wasn't so....
....the surfers were able to practise their craft without having to worry too much about decapitating passing swimmers.
We stood on the beach to watch Rachael and Ben as they tried to gauge whether an oncoming wave was one which they could catch and surf all the way in to the beach.
Sometimes they chose the right one and managed to ride it in, and one could read the elation in their faces; and sometimes, however perfect the wave...,
....something went wrong.
A few years ago I might have felt envy; or I might have said, "I've done that - well, not on a big board but one of those body boards we had as kids"; or I might have believed that, despite my age, I could go out and give it a go - probably with calamitous results. I didn't feel any such thing. Rather, I felt huge pleasure in watching someone enjoy themselves, someone who was pitting their skills against nature and, sometimes, winning. More, this sense of pleasure was enhanced by knowing that one of the surfers we were watching was a child of ours, a part of us.
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