Beach Trip

I'm here. I'll be out in 2 minutes.

My blue backpack has my towel, the old man's black jumper and my green water bottle. I lock the glass door that leads to the beach, close my bedroom window and head out to the street. I see a woman in sunglasses in her car, a pale Opel hatchback, is that her? She sees me, she is smiling at me, yes it's her. I throw my bag in the back seat and climb in, there is a slight scent of vanilla. "How are you doing?" "good thanks".

It takes us around 25 minutes to get to the beach. The drive seems to pass like a flash compared to when I drive it myself. We've parked and I'm following her down steps to a small bay flanked by stretches of rock. Distant curves and triangles of the Karpass mountains can be seen cutting up into the blue sky. There is a bare chested man sprawled out on a beach chair in a bright red cap, we settle on the other side. I discover her name is pronounced with an 'eh' not 'ee', that it came originally from her grandmother, she discovers my mum is from Wales, I discover that in parts of the island people are paler due to French settlers, she discovers I find the rocks here interesting. We are swimming, I have dived and am breaststroking underwater out of the bay, she has been transformed into a head bobbing in the distance. In the distance. I swim back, the distance is becoming less. "I'm going back in, I'm getting cold" I say as I pass. My Zorbas cheese pie is waiting for me. I notice I'm very used to my own company, she returns and notices the conversation the red capped man and a woman who has joined him is having, I note out loud I haven't noticed this. Her green eyes are bright, her top is the colour of a pastel forest, I take a sip from my fern green water bottle. The unbroken sunlight is starting to dip behind the rocks. It's time to head back.

In the car she tells her story of visiting Bali temples, I flatten the air with a story of appreciating the beauty of a brick wall, I tell her I'm inspired by a novel at the moment, she tells me some modern art can touch her and some doesn't. We say goodbye, her eyes shine, I feel mine are doing the same. "That was lovely, see you soon". The distance is becoming less, close enough to touch perhaps.

Language Focus:

A definition has been given for each of the phrases, however, if you click on the phrase/word, you will be linked to online dictionaries which also give example sentences.

Glossary

passing by/going by in a flash = when time goes very quickly, or an event happens suddenly flanked by = surrounded on the side by, or surrounded on both sides by sprawled out = spread out untidily, or in an overly relaxed way

breaststroke = a style of swimming (other style include front-crawl and backstroke) bobbing = moving up and down, usually in water caused by waves to note out loud = to comment or say something with speech (and not just in your mind)

flatten the air = to make the atmosphere less alive or more boring (see definition no.7 in the link)

Exercise 1

Write your own piece of writing about an experience you've had. Try to give some detail and feeling about the place/location as well as how you felt, and how the other people there might have felt. You could also try to use some of the new words.

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