Under the sea

Today was a Saturday.

I fully intended to get up with the sun and greet it, drink some lemon juice, snort some energising herbs and pull some muscles pretending I am a yogini.

At 7 I thumped my rude alarm clock in absolute disgust.

At 8.30 I rolled over surprised to notice it was bright in my room. That inconsiderate sun, thinks the whole damn world revolves around it.

At 9.30 I woke with a start. “Whythefuckamistillinbed?” I yawned.

At 10am I disentangled myself from my sheets and leapt ungracefully from bed. I should go snorkelling, I decided.

And I did. A phone call, some frantic searching for my bathers and cursing that I could not find my flippers later, and we were cruising along the coast in all its vast blue splendour. And it was particularly vast and blue this morning, not least because my eyes were still blurred with sleep.

My nose was still blocked from my recent bout of summer swine/bird/monkey flu, my voice sounded like someone elses entirely, but under the sea, in the water, I found that little piece of heaven we search for in the everyday.

*Everybody sigh*

Yes under the water, with the seaweed and the sand and the total lack of breathable oxygen, is a wonderful place to be. Time moves differently, or perhaps I simply stop noticing it because before my very eyes, a whole-nother world, so beautifully far removed from the world of history research... Whilst here, as a passing tourist in the underwater world, life is as simple as breathing, in and out. As simple as watching the fish watch me and drifting along seaweed cliffs...

Waking up underwater was all I needed. The rest of the day the memory of the morning carried me through. I did absolutely nothing I intended to do with my Saturday, and I had a tremendously wonderful day.

Amen to that ;-)

"Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it's better
Down where it's wetter
Take it from me
Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we devotin'
Full time to floatin'
Under the sea"
From the Little Mermaid (she should know)