PUNISHING ON THE BOARD: bodyboarding at Mawgan Porth...

 Punishing On The Board…

A rapid wind affected my plod to a cowering tide

And I strained to cling onto my board,

The possession of which was being disputed

By loud gusts with their advances untoward…

A group of gulls plundered in the shallows, 

Alongside a pair of oystercatchers, whose piercing cries

Flew with them as they banked above me,

Eastwards to Beryl Point. And I watched them rise…

Then the ocean rushed at me, pulled at my legs

And shoved me back without due concern,

So that an arthritic knee and an ailing hip

Ached with every excruciating turn.

The board cursed my careless actions but remained steady

And onto a number of breaking, frothing waves soon latched,

Spewing me landward with speedy, rocking thrusts, so that my

Hurting limbs to the seashore were hurriedly despatched…   

Pete Ray

12th November 2022

BERYL POINT...

The morning bodyboarding session was an excellent leisure pursuit and I loved it but the aching from hip, knee and lower back afterwards, was extreme…

I wonder sometimes whether the Mawgan Porth oystercatchers are trying to tell me something…