Shark Planes And Picnics

Dog was young and full of energy: he struggled with being cooped up at home with only two walks a day.  Being his temporary care givers we couldn't risk letting him off the lead so he missed his daily exercise running free on the school oval just below his house. 

I was feeling a little cooped up too, what with the whole broken toe business limiting how far I could walk.  I went for an experimental bike ride to Port Elliot and back and am very happy to report that broken toes don't hurt while biking.

Broken toes still hurt when walking into the bakery, or over to the picnic table beside the sparkling sea.  Oh well, sometimes you just have to suffer.

My new bicycle freedom didn't help Dog with his confinement issues, so we took him down to the beach for a picnic with an extra-long length of shock cord to give him an illusion of freedom.

Who am I kidding?  He didn't care about the beach: it was all about the ball.

While the rest of Australia baked in ferocious heat and humidity, the southern Fleureiu rejoiced in two consecutive days of summer and Dog got to go on two picnics in two days and was quite sure that all his Christmases had come at once.

The mouth of the Inman River on a warm sunny day.  With a southerly change forecast for the afternoon everyone was out and about enjoying the warmth.  See the crowds?

A single youngster splashed happily in the shallows, with Wright Island and the Bluff behind them.

I heard a siren as I pedaled back along the foreshore.  "My goodness," thought I.  "It sounds as if it's coming from out to sea.  The sound must echo off the Bluff."

Nope.  It was the shark warning plane, letting everyone know that a shark had been spotted lurking in the benign waters, waiting to nibble on an unwary swimmer.  

 All the swimmers immediately moved to the landward side of whomever they were most willing to sacrifice, and parents chased their children from the waters.  Everyone on the foreshore craned their necks to see if they could spot a shark, but no such luck.  The shark, presumably, continued on about its sharkey business with no idea of the commotion it had caused on the beach.

I pedaled home and opened all the windows to let the warm air in ahead of the cold change.  Dog, not satisfied with two walks and a picnic before noon, whined and whinged for more ball play. 

He thinks if he states long enough, it will move.

This earned him a sharp reprimand whereapon he took himself off to his owner's bed for a good sulk.

T'was a good morning overall.