Aaron

The sun feels like it's everywhere. It's heat makes it all the way in to the shade. If you can find shade. The light seems to come down and sideways and upwards all at the same time.

There's not much of a breeze. But what there is, is coming from the north and manages to be warmer than the sunlight almost. Definitely more moist.

It's only 10am bit it feels like the days work's been done already.

The idea of steaming milk and having a hot coffee seems almost tiring. But he enjoys the ritual, the cups and saucers. The way that the coffee feels relaxing and stimulating at the same time. Sit down, relax and wind up.

From up on the side of the hill there's a view all of the way up the coast. The slight ruffle starting to show on the water hints at a sea breeze already. It might provide a bit of relief from the heat but it doesn't really feel like it'll help too much.

After the coffee it seems like time to do something else, some kind of action given that it's still really morning. 

Wearing only his still damp board shorts he grabs a towel and finds his jandals. It's not a short walk down the hill, and coming back up will undo the cooling of the swim but it looks too tempting. And what else is there really to do, on a hot summers day like this it seems the only right thing to do. 

It's shady going down the path that bisects the snaking road that winds more slowly up the hill. The humidity is in full force now though. It feels tropical, and a few palms in one of the back gardens he walks past only enhance that perception. 

Out from the last set of steps and back to the road, it flattens out for the last few hundred meters to the beach. There are a lot more people here than there was when we drove down this morning for a surf. The little beach community is coming alive, just a bit. A few cars driven out from the city for a day trip, and a few local ladies power walking their way to the cafe so that they can power walk their way back in an hour. Hardly broken a sweat but feeling justified in their lycra and white running shoes. 

On the beach there are fewer people than he expected but still he's not as alone as he likes. Alone like he is in the winter.

But winter is the furthest thing from his mind now. Furthest from anyone’s mind. The black sand has already soaked up enough energy from the sun to cause him to break into a trot and crosses the soft stuff. 

A little way up he finds a spot for his towel and lies down in the sun. Board shorts feeling a lot dryer now, and a slight shimmer rising from the heated sand. 

The tide has come in from this morning and is looking even more inviting than it did from the house. The heat is making him sleepy and he thinks that he could just have a bit of a sleep here on the beach for a while. It's only the thought that he hasn't bothered with sunscreen that forces him to lumber up to standing. 

He brushes the sand off his elbows and the sides of his legs where they were sprawled over the edge of the towel. A stretch and he puts on a yawn. 

It's a lazy walk towards the water after the jandlas are kicked over in the general direction of where he was lying. 

The coolness of the water on his feet feels refreshing without sending a shiver. Usually not too keen for the swim for its own sake, he's hungry for the release on this baking morning and wades out to about thigh deep. Times the approach of a wave with his dive and kicks off, and strokes out towards the endlessness of the ocean.