Dolphin Address 18
June 11th 2008
I feel sluggish and tired, though very fine. This afternoon I swam in very murky water, therefore I mainly went far out and way around the right hand corner. There the water was still reasonably clear and it was great fun to play in the waves. There you can see all the weeds streaming together from side to side and with dazzling speed, because sometimes it looks like the weeds are almost standing still and the seabed shoots to and fro. Thus you can speed up with a wave and streamline yourself when it washes back. And this in the third dimension, from 5 metres down. Wow, is this like flying.
This requires a delicate touch, you need to kick-off on the right moment. Moreover, I had put on my dorsal fin for an easy release from the surface (for details go to ‘Watervleugel---De Rugvin (Dutch only).
Once upon a time, when I was a kid, I came home and told that I had just run very fast, like 100 km. Upon which my father said this was impossible, for the World record on the 100 metres was roughly 10 seconds, so 600 metres in a minute times 60 minutes makes 36,000, i.e. 36km p/h. And that’s why I never became no runner.
But this afternoon our majesty had not yet shown, and so much time had passed that it was the last stop before chilling into the night. I stepped into my dorsal fin and became my own dolphin. For some time now I have worked on powerswimming. Underwater I throw my legs in gear and hurl them up and down, pushing off against the waterwing.
And you know, this afternoon I must have swum a hundred kilometres an hour!
So no Dusty, but she would only have been swimming in my way, like yesterday. When I swam full speed towards the beach she cut my course several times, which made me lose my feelspeed. But she’s so sweet and so still. Many a time when I glanced behind me and then and there she floated, motionless and for how long?
And again, murky this water! An abundance of tiny transparent and iridescent jellyfish and related micro organisms. Dense flakes in three dimensions, a bit like a painting by Jackson Pollock.
This morning I went down and up to Kilkee to fill my diving bottle. Upon my way down, exactly on a bridge where the road narrows, I met a large van and clash, my rear view mirror in shatters. Normally I just drive on. You cannot win this. That’s what the Irish do, but this guy stopped, so I stopped too, and he drove top speed backwards until he was next to me. And the winky on his rearview mirror was broken and that was my fault and that would cost him 50 euros and if I’d care to settle this account. I explained to him that one of the few advantages of continental cars is that I can drive razor-sharp along the hard shoulder and had I gone a centimetre more to the left, the side of my bus would have been ripped off.
Then he started whining about my mirror, that I had bought for nothing off a scrap dealer and had it taped on the mirror’s mortal remains and because it had cost me nothing I was a joy rider. I kept my point of view and then he intermittently released the brakes and disappeared jerkily out of my window.
Now that my bottle has been filled it may be a while until use. As soon as the sun shines, and the visibility is somewhat better and Dusty is there, I go diving with the camera.
Right now no Dusty. It rains softly and it is not cold. Somebody once said, ‘You have to put in the hours.’
I’m waiting, writing and translating. This I can keep up for a looong while.
Jan Ploeg, White Strand, June 11th 2008
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