Return of Memoryfest - Day 10/31

[bironic]

This one's in the same vein as yesterday's. Maybe some of you will have swimming pool-related memories or stories about meeting relatives, since the unconscious shriek didn't resonate much.

And I will be replying tomorrow. The head cold, it muddies the brain, and I had to play catch-up at work today after taking most of yesterday off.


10. High School

My grandfather's cousin R. and R.'s teenaged son M. came to visit from Sydney, Australia when I was about 14. My sister and my friend and I were out back in the swimming pool when they arrived. M. introduced himself by stripping down to his bathing suit and cannonballing in with us. We all started playing around. Soon he upended the float I was lying on. I remember letting out a cry when he did it, even though I'm a pretty quiet person and even though I saw him coming, and marveling at it as I hit the water.

WTF

Comments

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

Water. Mmm...

I always loved to swim as a child. I felt much better in the water than I did on land. (I am dorky enough to sort of relate to Victor Krum because of that - I felt as awkward on land as he's portrayed.)
One summer, when I was 10, we spent two weeks in Greece and I swam a lot! I was pretty good at free-diving at that point, so I was more below the surface than over and diving for all sorts of things at the bottom of the very clear Mediterranean.
Once, I brough a shell back up and got a terrible shock when the mollusc inside the shell sort of suddenly turned itself out. I dropped it and was afraid to go under again for a short while. Even though the poor thing could never hurt me and had probably just been trying to get underwater again so it wouldn't die. At least it didn't. I would've had a guilt-trip about that :-)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Unexpected mollusk appearance in one's hand! An underrepresented item on the list of things that can scare kids. I've never been surprised by one like that before, and can only imagine how startling and unsettling it must have been. It was probably nothing like picking one up at an aquarium, when you know the animal is in there, nor like playing with an empty shell on the beach.

That is a lovely image, a younger you diving in clear Mediterranean seas. (Even though I don't know what younger-you looks like -- in my mind you're just smaller and still have blue and black hair. :) )

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

One day, when I get a scanner, I'll do a "me through the times" picture post. As so many Danes I was born blond and went darker. So I was quite blond back then :-)

You are right, though, it's not exactly a very common scary thing!