Third way on the beach

alleepally

Read this last week in the Observer and thought it was a very good feature,

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,1268726,00.html

All about how the beach is a great social leveller. So when you're at the beach this weekend (hopefully the weather keeps up), take a look around at the new world order.

Food for thought.

chewy

says lots but i dunno i dont' agree with alot of what he is saying could be a large park too and the same goes?

i like the bit where he mentions looking over the horizon expecting something to come...


people didn't go to the beach before the 18th century so waaht did you do when it was 30 degrees?

it wasn't fashionable/marketable before then but i sure people still went...

the beach is where we do things we wouldn't elsewhere... is it not holidays are the place we do thing s we woulnd't elsewhere

i like his idea of it being about collective organisations i guess its a place thats not particularily owned by anybody(well the local council) where as he says people self organise but i dunno its doesnt' grab me as it should

can you tell im not a beach peron?

bonkey

chewy wrote:

people didn't go to the beach before the 18th century so waaht did you do when it was 30 degrees?

Well, for the vast majority of people, the answer would be "same as they did every other day - worked."

jc

people didn't go to the beach before the 18th century so waaht did you do when it was 30 degrees?

In the 18th century, there wasn't the transportation for people to move to the beach for a weekend or such, nor was it safe enough a distance to travel. I'm sure the people that lived on the coast would have availed of the opportunity, however, class boundaries existed in a more rigid existance that would have prevented the majority of people living in the mainlands of a country from visiting the beach for a short period of time.

Victor

The piece forgets the whole yin/yang element - land meets water and air meets fire.

simu

Deleted User wrote:

In the 18th century, there wasn't the transportation for people to move to the beach for a weekend or such, nor was it safe enough a distance to travel. I'm sure the people that lived on the coast would have availed of the opportunity, however, class boundaries existed in a more rigid existance that would have prevented the majority of people living in the mainlands of a country from visiting the beach for a short period of time.

My grandmother who is in her 80s lives just by the sea (west Kerry) but never went swiming or sunbathing at the beach in her life. It just wasn't something that generation would do and when tourists began to go there, the locals thought it was very strange to spend the day lying around instead of getting work done.

AFAIK, most of the men who worked as fishermen there couldn't swim either though you'd think it would be handy for them.

impr0v

Boringly long and unstructured.

The typical beach is the preserve of the young fit and beautiful. Anyone else on it is just asking to join the club, or is blind enough to think they still belong. Obviously doesn't apply if the beach is deserted/geographically isolated, or suffering from inclemant weather, then the lumpy and pale lower castes can reclaim it for short supervised periods. Baywatch ruined the world.

He/she probably says something along those lines, I got too bored to go on.

alleepally

impr0v wrote:

Boringly long and unstructured.

The typical beach is the preserve of the young fit and beautiful. Anyone else on it is just asking to join the club, or is blind enough to think they still belong. Obviously doesn't apply if the beach is deserted/geographically isolated, or suffering from inclemant weather, then the lumpy and pale lower castes can reclaim it for short supervised periods. Baywatch ruined the world.

He/she probably says something along those lines, I got too bored to go on.

Nah, a bit more to it than that old bean. Go on and read Ulysses if you want to know the meaning of boringly long and unstructured.

simu

impr0v wrote:

Boringly long and unstructured.

The typical beach is the preserve of the young fit and beautiful. Anyone else on it is just asking to join the club, or is blind enough to think they still belong. Obviously doesn't apply if the beach is deserted/geographically isolated, or suffering from inclemant weather, then the lumpy and pale lower castes can reclaim it for short supervised periods. Baywatch ruined the world.

He/she probably says something along those lines, I got too bored to go on.

Yeah, it was very much in the style of a school essay.

alleepally

simu wrote:

Yeah, it was very much in the style of a school essay.

So much for "Britain's intelligent conversation" magazine eh?

impr0v

alleepally wrote:

Nah, a bit more to it than that old bean. Go on and read Ulysses if you want to know the meaning of boringly long and unstructured.

Thanks for the advice, old chum, but I have already tried, and given up in disgust. If there was ever a book which fitted Mark Twain's famous quote about classics (something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read) then this is it. However, as with everyone else who dislikes the book, or values their time too highly to wade through it, I must bow to all the better men than me who rate it so highly (and David Norris who uses it to mask his insanity), and conclude that I just don't have the necessary ability to comprehend it.

pretty-in-pink

im scared of the sea so the beach does not hold much appeal....il go and all, but give me a mountain anyday. or a pool party(paddling pool that is)

Von

simu wrote:

AFAIK, most of the men who worked as fishermen there couldn't swim either though you'd think it would be handy for them.

Aran Island fishermen never learnt to swim either, their attitude was 'if the sea wants you she'll take you'. Or so I read somewhere. The mad c*nts.