After a patchy period, I think we can safely say the hot weather is here to stay and it is officially summer 2014!
I love the sea. Not the beach, as I don't care for sunbathing and have become more paranoid about skin damage as I have got older, but the sea I adore and can happily spend hours and hours of bliss in the briny waters.
Unfortunately, there comes a price for the pleasure of enjoying our coasts, and that is the requirement to strip off into something much smaller and more revealing than I would wear at any other time. Personally, I don't wear leggings, short skirts, hot pants, tight tops, or skinny jeans, all on account of my wobbly bits and imperfections. I hate communal changing rooms in clothes shops and the gym. If a gust of wind threatens to blow my (long) skirt up I will be filled with terror. Yet, you will find me on the beach in my swimwear like none of these issues matter. It's not that I suddenly become more confident, but simply because 'it's the beach'!
And what about hair? So many women run like the wind if it threatens to rain for fear their hair will get wet and frizzy… but not at the beach!
How does the beach manage to strip away our normal inhibitions and have us parading around in smalls? It always amuses and confounds me as to why we have one rule – or set of emotions – for our everyday wear and another for the beach. It is as though there is an invisible line where we feel okay on one side, but not on the other. If someone tried to take a peek at our underwear at any other time or in another place, many (like myself) would probably not be happy, and would be embarrassed, mortified or humiliated. But not at the beach, we simply call underwear 'bikini' and it is magically okay!
Of course, there are also many who live for the chance to strip off and show their honed, toned bodies. You will find them mainly at the trendy spots of McKenzie, dancing in itsy bitsy swimwear and turning the colour of chocolate – most likely without adequate sun protection.
As for me, I like to spend my summers on the un-trendy beaches, anonymous and modestly presented, face covered by a huge hat, hoping I don't run into all the people I work with on the 'outside world'. I would never want them to see me in my underwear, but I guess none of that matters here… because it is THE BEACH!
First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 14/-6/14
