Monday 26 October 2015

Of Time and Place

 
So it's the first day of half term, and St Ives is being hammered by rain. There's no chance that we will be venturing outdoors today, and so I have decreed it to be a lazy day all round. Olly and I are still in our pyjamas. He is upstairs waging war, Star Wars style. I have had several cups of tea, and a lovely trawl through my favourite blogs. I have the ingredients ready in the kitchen for banana bread, and I'm thinking of making some bread rolls to go with the vegetable soup. It's all about slow lane living today.

 




By contrast, yesterday was spent soaking up the half term atmosphere on Porthmeor beach. It was full of families enjoying the glorious sunshine, and taking advantage of the amazing surf that came crashing in from the Atlantic. Looking out towards the vast ocean, you could see the huge swells making their way towards the shore. It was an exceptional high tide, and the white sand of the beach was reclaimed with every wave that hit the shoreline.

The swells were mesmerising, and everyone on the beach faced the oncoming tide to marvel at the force and beauty of sea. Only the brave paddled out on their boards to meet the waves. The life guards had put up their red flags, and were encouraging children out of the surf. These kinds of swells can be dangerous, and it's easy to be dragged out and under by the waves as they crash and recede. Olly chased the surf trickles and foamy residue that the waves left behind. A vision in purple (he dresses himself nowadays. I say no more than that), he squealed excitedly as every now and again a wave caught all of us out and came at us from the side. Or just appeared as if from nowhere. Many beach blankets and pasties met a soggy fate, as the line of spectators worked their way further up the beach to avoid being soaked.






I'm currently reading 'Rising Ground' by Philip Marsden In it he explores the ancient sites of Cornwall, in order to understand the connection our ancestors had with the landscape in which they lived, worked and worshipped. I was reminded of a particular passage in which he talks about an immediacy of experience, and how that resonates back through time into our own pre-history. The idea that perhaps people have stood here looking out and marvelling at the power and beauty of the sea, just as we were now.

I wonder sometimes about that, as I cast my gaze back into a time that has been lost to us. An unrecorded time, that presents itself in tantalising manner with it's stone circles, barrows and the like. The cairns and quoits that are scattered throughout my part of Cornwall offer a glimpse into the people that lived here so many thousands of years ago. They left little trace of themselves, and yet they are a presence here all the same. Their legends and myths have journeyed through the ages into local folklore and fairy tale, and we are left grasping onto some sort of understanding about their lives. I find it fascinating.

Would those people have stared at the sea as we were doing now? Would they have felt the same awe and wonder? Would they have looked at it in a different way. Not simply to marvel, but to understand how to work with it for their survival? Would they have worshipped its' power, and feared its' ability to take what it wanted should it have a mind to? I'm sure they did and felt all of these things. But I also think their connection to place was more immediate for them, because they had a different kind of understanding and reverence for it than many of us do now. They lived in harmony, rather than at odds with nature. Their knowledge was passed down father to son, and their understanding was intuitive and a real part of who they were.



And would their children have played in the surf too? I suppose that childhood was something different then. In a time when you would not likely live to a great age, would a child have time to laugh and race away from the foamy edges of the surf. Would they play at the water's edge while their parents worked? I'd like to think that way back in time there were little boys like Olly, that hopped and jumped and laughed, and gave huge whooping cries of joy for the sheer pleasure they were feeling at that exact moment in time. I choose to believe that it was so. It satisfies the romantic in me.

There are plans for half term fun, even though the weather isn't on our side. But today I am adopting the policy of my ancestors; working with rather than against the conditions outside my front door.

Happy Monday friends.

Leanne xx


Linking up with A Year In Books

14 comments:

  1. Hope your pyjama day is going well :) I'm at work but spending lunchtime looking at parkin recipes! I wonder if children have always found wonder is nature whenever they lived? Hope you have a wonderful week! xx

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  2. It's a gloriously curiously warm sunny day here! Windows n doors open n washing ont line!

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  3. Deep thinking, standing at the edge of the ocean can do that to you. Cornwall is such a special place, I feel that way each time we've visited it.

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  4. Hi Leanne. I bet our ancestors were even more awed because their world experience was limited to what they could see and feel, plus stories of course. Just imagine! A pj day sounds tempting. I wonder if I anyone would notice if I was wearing mine to work. The photo of you and Olli is breathtakingly beautiful. Christina xx

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    1. Thank Christina. I included it, because I thought it was nice too. X

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  5. gorgeous memories to savour on a wild grey day. pj day here too, though I shall have to get dressed to drive to school later to collect the boy from his school trip.......... although it will be dark by 7.30, maybe I'll get away with it.....

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    1. Oh I always pick up Alfie from cadets in my pjs. Do it!

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  6. What a fabulous day you had yesterday. I remember being on your beach one wild January day and the waves were so strong. We stayed and watched the sun go down and somewhere I've got a photo or two of the beautiful sunset. I always have such a strong pull to the ancient past when we stay at Lower Portmeor, west of Zennor, because the landscape has barely changed. It is one of my favourite places ever since our first holiday down there in 1995.

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  7. I love these photos of Olly. He really does look free and so happy. I think about the past all the time, always wishing I could have experienced a time before the one I live in. I often feel I don't fit here. I wonder about how children lived too, and I like to think they had as much fun and free time as children today do, but I know that isn't true just from listening to the stories of older people in my family - people who had to leave school at 13 or 14 to work, people who joined the Navy at 16 (lying about their age), people who got married at an age when I was still in high school. I know it was just the way things were done but it's hard to imagine today's kids and teens being able to manage things like this way, which is probably a good thing. I always enjoy your photos and writing about the sea; I have spent so little time near the ocean but it's something I hope to rectify someday. Take care and have a good week, Leanne.

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  8. I hope that you had a great day in the slow lane! Wet days are perfect for doing that aren't they. Wonderful photos of Olly and of you too! Nice to see you! The book you are reading sounds very interesting and as though you are finding it very thought provoking. xx

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  9. It's quite amazing to look at a view that you know hasn't changed in hundreds of years, such as the sea, and try and imagine the people who went before. Like you, I hope there was a little fun to be had by small boys before the serious business of life got in the way. The photo of you and Olly is gorgeous. Definitely one to treasure. CJ xx

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  10. Agree with CJ, you've got one to frame there! Love these waves and wished we had spent it like you did instead of trying to find a lost set of car keys....Today we've dodged showers and am now amazed at the beautiful full moon outside - another example of wondering and gazing like our ancestors. Have a lovely half term x

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  11. What fantastic images from Porthmeor beach on Sunday, what a shame the weather hasn't stayed the same for the rest of half term. In time past they can't have enjoyed so much leisure time but they were much more in tune with nature than the majority of us are today. Sarah x

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  12. Beautiful photos, and words too. I was on the beach on Monday and the surf was quite big for us - we hardly get any, so sheltered are we by the Isle of Wight - so those Cornish waves must've been huge! I think people have always stared out to see. There is something about being able to see the horizon uninterrupted. It's bewitching. xx

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