The Ocean is Deep

I've never been a big fan of visiting the ocean. Looking at it is interesting for a while but it quickly gets monotonous. And sometimes the sunlight bouncing off it is blindingly painful.

Then there's the fear of drowning. I don't know whether this is an attitude I picked up from my parents or whether it's a result of my first swimming lesson being scary but I'll explain about the latter.

I was about six when I went to swimming lessons at a community pool with my older siblings. The lifeguard noticed I did not like putting my face in the water and decided to convince me to do it by holding my head under water! I thought he would drown me! Never really got over it, although I doggedly returned to lessons because my brother and sister were getting ahead of me in learning to swim. It took me two summers but I finally managed to swim the length of the pool and passed the test. After that, I stopped going to the pool. I didn't like swimming. Still don't.