999.

It's been a hot sunny day with a good drying wind.

You're probably wondering why the 999? A small drama happened this morning. I was out on the terrace washing the windows when I thought I heard somebody shouting for help. The bay was much as the picture above, nobody to be seen because of the strong offshore wind. I quickly grabbed my binoculars and went down to the cliff edge from where I could see a paddleboard. In the water next to it was a young girl, aged about 12, sobbing and calling for help. I called down to her and told to stay in the water keeping hold of her board as she was panicking and wearing herself out trying to get back onto the board. Luckily she wasn't caught in a rip tide and her board was steady in the water. I thought I heard a voice nearer shore but when I scanned the beach I couldn't see anyone going to alert the lifeguard on duty. Reasuring the girl that help was on its way I went back and rang the coastguard from the house phone. That was the first time I've ever had to call the emergency services on 999. By the time I got back to the cliff edge the girl had managed to get herself and her board to a little bit of beach under the cliff and two of her friends had turned up on another paddleboard. I told them to wait for the lifeguard who was paddling out on his surfboard but they decided to paddle themselves on one board back to shore. By this time the lifeboat was also out but their help wasn't needed.  I later heard from our neighbour who was on the beach at the time that the girl still looked quite shaken up when they returned to shore. She was given a proper check by a paramedic to make sure she was okay. It really wasn't the right conditions for anyone to be out on a paddleboard and the advice is to wear a lifejacket of some sort (few do) and to have a mobile phone in a waterproof case for emergencies. At least it ended well.

While all that was going on Peter had been out taking bags of tiles from the bathroom to the dump and then went on to do some shopping. Once I'd finished my housework I went down to the front garden and cleaned off more of the concrete blocks. 

The last event of the day was going, on my own, to try a community choir in the next village. I've just returned home after a hard two hours singing. I say hard because unlike the old choir which had 70 members there were only 11 of us singing so I couldn't hide within the crowd so to speak. Plus it was all new songs but it was made a little easier by having the words on display. The songs were a similar mix of african, ukranian and a first for me - korean songs and a couple of english ones. A welcoming group of people and I think I shall enjoy singing with them but I don't think it would suit Peter. He's hoping that the village sea shanty choir will start again after covid. That's more his type of singing.