Seaside holidays

Just remembered a funny story.......we were at Teignmouth and my Mum saw a boat trip leaving and we begged her to let us go for a ride around the bay. I was 8 and my sister was 4. She handed me the money and we ran down and got on the boat and sailed off. The boat was not going around the bay though it was a ferry going across to Sheldon. We had to wait there for about 2 hours before another ferry brought us back. My sister kept crying and we spent the change on ice creams. My Mum was worried sick as she found out it was a ferry not a trip around the bay and was not sure we would know to stay close and get the next ferry back but we did.

Newnanny

Hilarious!

Newnanny, well done! I'd have been going frantic if I'd been your Mum and realised what you'd done!

My favourite thing on a beach was digging pools and canals to join them up. On the right kind of beach you could make quite a sizeable network before the tide washed it all away, or conversely, before the tide retreated so much that it all dried up. Of course, with a falling tide, you just carried on building further and further down the beach. I've still enjoyed doing that with the DGC, but the spades you get nowadays are not the strong metal ones which actually worked, but feeble plastic efforts. I don't remember ever chopping off a toe with the metal ones... (sigh)

My ruched swimsuit was pink, for some reason. My other clothes weren't pink, so maybe it was a hand-me-down. It did last for a long time though.

I'd forgotten how long lived those cozzies were. Mine was a dingy shade of green and was probably new - or freshly-acquired second hand - for that holiday when I was seven. I'm sure it lasted until I had to have a sleek black one as part of my secondary school sports kit.

Tedber, that was 'our' song. It was top of the charts for several weeks in the summer of 1970 when we first met. DH-to-be had just got his first car and we did 'have a drink, have a drive'. No breathalysers then! Still brings back feelings of heady romance when I hear it!

get your bucket and spades ready