Wednesday 22 January 2014

BEACH FISHING AT DAWN


BEACH FISHING AT DAWN
REFRESHING THE MIND AND THE SOUL
John Ross ©
                

                The caravan is parked very close to the beach, and the sound of the waves as they pursue their relentless assault on the land ensured that I had a restful sleep. I am awake as the first faint light on the horizon starts its daily ritual of pushing back the darkness of the night.
                I dress quietly, as to not awaken my still sleeping wife. Breakfast can wait, as I am keen to get onto the beach. My fishing rod is already rigged and all I need to do is retrieve the bait from the refrigerator, pick up my creel and I am on my way.
                Outside the morning is already warm with the promise of a hot, sunny, summer’s day to come. The grass is soft and wet with dew beneath my bare feet as I climb the small tree covered bank on the edge of the beach. I pause at the top to take in the view. The curving sweep of the sand is just visible in the soft light and is outlined by the darkness of the tree clad hills on one side and the long lines of almost luminous white of the breaking waves on the other.
                It is low tide, and as I walk across the sand I marvel at the work of the small crabs that have once again cleared out their burrows, and rolled the small balls of sand out into a pattern around the entrance. The beach resembles a large yellow table laid with intricate lace doilies of every shape and size.
                I am quickly ready for my first cast and as I walk down to the water’s edge I glance behind me. There are no lights, no buildings visible, just lush vegetation reaching down to the edge of the sand: my footsteps, the only foreign marks on nature’s pristine canvas. For a few moments I am the first man, back in a time when the world was new and its beauty untouched.
                My line snakes out, far and true, out to the deep water beyond the breakers where the beautifully streamlined tailor and jewfish live and hunt.
                I stand just back from the water, but am totally connected to and immersed in it. The unceasing sound, the tangy salt smell, the ever changing shape of the waves, my finger on the line feeling the vibrations and pull and push of the swell. The anticipation, expectation of that first tug on the line that is just that little bit different from the normal feel of the water’s movement. Again my mind takes me back to a time when man had to fight nature and the elements to feed himself and survive.
                This is a time to be patient, alert, at one with the line, instinctive, ready to strike: too soon or hesitate and the opportunity is lost.
                A small arc of brilliant light appears on the horizon and a wide path of liquid gold leaps from it to end on the wet sand at my feet. Slowly the huge orb of the sun pushes itself up from its watery grave until its full fury is revealed. I will soon have to retreat to the cool shade of the caravan park.
                The beach starts to come alive. First a lone jogger runs towards me; head bowed, wired for sound, oblivious to the sounds and beauty of the morning. Next an older couple walk hand in hand down to the water’s edge, stand silently and gaze out towards the horizon; they see me watching and we exchange a smile; they are kindred spirits.
                I am thinking of packing up, as breakfast and a hot shower is calling, when I feel that tell tale pull on the line. I wait and count to three and then strike. The jewfish fights strongly, leaping and twisting, sometimes totally clear of the water, its body shiny, silver in the sunlight. It is a battle that lasts for many minutes and a small crowd gathers to watch. Finally the fish is clear of the water, struggling and flapping on the sand. One of the onlookers asks if I am going to have it for breakfast, and for a moment I relish the idea.
                It has been such a magical, renewing morning that has cleared my mind and refreshed my soul that it would be wrong for it to end like that. So with the fish safely returned to the ocean, even though the deep seated hunting instinct within me said that I had earned it, and it was mine, I trudge back up the beach.  I fight my way through the oncoming tide of determined beach goers with their umbrellas, buckets, spades, balls, surfboards, towels and music machines. They will leave footprints, build sandcastles, carve intertwined love hearts on the sand but the next high tide will wash it all away. Tomorrow, at dawn a new day, a new beginning.    
                It is cereal for breakfast and from my wife, ‘What! No fish, again?   

               

Friday 10 January 2014

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

SOLITARY  CONFINEMENT

                The door to the room must be kept closed at all times.
 Visitors are strictly limited. No more than two at any time. Their identity virtually hidden behind all enveloping plastic gowns, face masks, hair nets and gloves. Definitely no children. All must pass through a screening process.
Food is tightly controlled and specially prepared. Everything entering the room is checked. No fresh food. No organic material at all that has not been previously agreed to. Definitely no flowers.
Every four hours a fully gowned attendant enters the room and checks on the occupant.
There is no defined duration of one’s stay here. The length of time depends entirely on the say so of four men who control the area from remote offices. You will only leave when they deem you fit to again enter the outside world.
This is the reality of what I have ahead of me beginning tomorrow afternoon.
During my time in “solitary confinement” I will undergo full body radiation, chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. I really have no choice in the matter if I wish to be around in the near future.
I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in July of 2010 and since then have lived by a very simple philosophy.
There are really only three periods in our lives. Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today.
Yesterday. I cannot change what has happened in the past. I can only learn from it and apply that knowledge to Today.
Tomorrow. Well tomorrow is only a possibility and will be greatly influenced by what I do Today.
Today. This is all we really have. I will enjoy it and cherish it.
If we live in the past we miss out on all that Today has to offer. If we are overly concerned with Tomorrow the same applies.