I'm not sure how many of you are aware, but today is World Oceans Day! Yay for oceans! To commemorate, I wore a sea-blue top and a sand-coloured cardigan to work - hurrah for themed costume days (even if I am the only participant) - and pretended to be Gi from Captain Planet all day (she was the young Asian marine biologist with the power of water, just in case you weren't sure...)
As a child I loved the seaside (who doesn't?!) and spent the entire summer term of school counting down the days until the holidays when I would get the chance for a lovely adventure to somewhere on the south coast. Wherever you are in the UK you are never very far away from the sea - the Wildlife Trust puts it at less than 70 miles! It's pretty awesome to think you can reach the beach in just a couple of hours from anywhere on our little island! Makes me think I should visit the seaside more often!
Blackpool photo by Telegram Images
There are so many things to look forward to when visiting the British seaside:
- rolling up your trouser legs and paddling in the frothy seafoam
- having a genuine excuse to wear jelly shoes (even at my age)
- scouring the mushy wet sand for pretty shells
- attempting to build the best sandcastles ever (which always include a moat)
- searching for crabs, sea anemones and starfish in slippery, algae-covered rock pools
- covering yourself in seaweed and pretending to be an octopus*
And of course, as well as shells, one can often find bits of sea glass in the marine debris. The pieces of glass found on our beaches are often softened, rounded and frosted after their worldly journey in the midst of rolling waves, and have an inexplicable enchanting, sentimental air about them.
Many beachcombers collect sea glass to make into jewellery items, just like the necklaces below made from sea glass hand-picked from the west coast of Scotland by Laura of SophiaSparkles:
click on the image to be taken to Laura's store
Other than those mentioned above, I can't think of a better reason for going to the beach than to go beachcombing for sea glass. You never know what delights you might find - it comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours: greens, blues, frosted clear, browns and sometimes, if you're very lucky, reds and oranges (though these are rare - only 1 in 10,000 pieces it is estimated** ). Authentic sea glass is becoming rarer these days, as people are generally more environmentally conscious, which is good for the oceans (woo!) but also means that charmingly romantic pieces like the ones above will be even more sought-after when sea glass supplies start to diminish!
* OK, that's just me then...
** yes, I really did research that!
What are your favourite things about the seaside? Do you collect sea glass too?
0 hellos:
Post a Comment