Corinne's sense of Sand
I’ve learned so many things over the last few months so it was really hard for me to pick one for my first proper blog entry!
I’ve decided to go with the first thing that I noticed; sand.
If you decide to go swimming in the sea, you will notice an ever-increasing amount of sand in your life. You will get sand everywhere. I don't just mean in between your toes! In your pants, in your ears, in your hair, and if you drive to the beach, your car will be covered in it. Even if you put down a towel or stand on a car mat or don't get changed in your car. It will somehow magic it's way in there. The other day I went to the car wash, and when the guy opened the door to take the money he looked into the footwell and grinned at me "you should bring that in for us to clean the inside too" he said laughing. A bit of me was mortified, admittedly it did look like the Sahara in there, but I was taken aback that he'd mentioned it. Luckily the bolshy bit of me said "It's only a bit of sand" and I drove away pretty sharpish.
The sand will invade your home as well. I’d suggest getting a good hoover for the car and your carpets. Also a loofah, for the shower, as um, sand will get in all your crannies! Or you can just put up with it, which I tried to do for the first month. I've got two cats so I've resigned myself to the fact that all my clothes will be 50% cat hair, so another 10% sand wasn't a big deal really. However, I found that the sand was gathering in my bedsheets too. Blergh. Every time I got into bed it was like trying to slide between layers of sandpaper! So I've also taken to changing my bed linen more often as they were starting to be exfoliating! Also I've taken to having two showers a day, to make sure it's all gone. I think it's a shame, as I do like to smell the salty sea on me later on in the day after a morning swim. It acts as a reminder of the wonderful time I had.
On the plus side, the sand is very good at cleaning things, my sink has never been so shiny, and my skin is has fewer blemishes (this may be due to the salt water too) as it's acted as a natural exfoliator.
At the bottom of every post I'm going to add what I hope will be useful hints and tips for anyone wanting to swim outdoors. Below I have added a list of things I have learned about sand. If you have any other ideas, or would like to share your experiences about sand (and swimming), please feel free to comment below.
Hints & tips:
Shower often!
Take a big bottle of water with you and use it to wash the sand off your feet before you get dry (this also helps to warm you up!).
Wash your sheets often
Get a decent hoover
Don't take any flack from guys at the carwash