first waves - and first blood
17 08 2004No waves in Hendaye, and too many people for such a small place. So I moved on to Biarritz. A guy gave me a lift from Hendaye to St. Jean de Luz and I thought: Damn, he looks gay as hell. Then I thought: Well, looks can be deceiving. But then he started talking about nudism and almost begged me to wait for him three hours, so he could give me a lift to Biarritz when he would finish work.
I took the bus instead, found a place to stay (not easy right now) and went to the beach, rented a surf-board and hit the water.
Well, not only the water, as it was high tide and the rocks pretty well disguised. So I got abrasions on the shin, the ankle, two toes and one finger. Not bad for the first day. As the beach-guard told me while disinfecting the wounds:
C’est bon pour s’habituer.
And he is right: I had forgotten, how powerful the ocean can be. So better to get accustomed to it through abrasions rather than with broken bones.
Did you know that abrasions start bleeding only when you leave the water? It looked pretty rough when I returned the board: My lower left leg was quite red.
But nothing serious, and tomorrow I will surf, when there is low tide.
Nice thought, abrasions in salt-water. Ouch!
I wonder: Did you know what “Abschürfung” in English is or do you had to look it up? Quite a funny word it is. It sounds like a thing that causes what it describes. But that is maybe only me and my funny imagination…
Oh yeah. One more thing: Does anyone keep count? Is there a referee? The score so far:
Ocean 1 : Outsider 0
Get better!
I had to look it up (though I knew it from former holidays).
And yes, once again the English language proves it’s power of onomatopoeia. (which I obviously did not look up. hem-hem.)
Although German is pretty good at that, too.
Just think of Schmatzen, Ruelpsen, Brechen, Platschen.
And of course: Schmotz (cannot remember the other variations)
Hey!
I didn’t knew Schmotz was German. Man, I live to learn. A few of the other things: Schlonz, Globsch, Pöppel, Nubbsi and not to forget: Schlotze.