Perhaps the lives of ‘the rockers’ on the 8th day; the supposed “sabbath day” of this joint school can be likened to a survivor of one of these movies except for the part where there was a freak with a bow and arrow. Of course if there was such a thing, I wouldn’t be telling this story with smiles.
“It seems our data isn’t enough, we need a representative data on these rocky shores, we need a last survey, and we are going sampling tomorrow” we said the day before.
At about a quarter to 9 after breakfast, we had already set off, lost in a forest on our way to sample a rocky beach. The conversation we had kept us going, and the feeling you get knowing you are going to the beach on a sunny day irrespective of the beach type caught us in the moment without without realizing we were on the wrong path. If I knew the roots I stumbled on some few meters back and the chirping of birds was a sign, perhaps we wouldn’t be walking on the wrong side of this island.
Suddenly, the rains began to come down. I took comfort in the say that “being soaked alone is cold, but being soaked with friends is an adventure”. It reminded me of some years back when I had to walk 9 miles through a forest under the mercy of a heavy downpour to a village because there wasn’t any form of public transport. Luckily, this didn’t last, but unfortunately we ended up on the wrong side of the beach. The sampling site is on the other side of the beach beyond the cliffs. We couldn’t go through the beach but through the same direction through which we came and then to the right.
We finally arrived on the rocky beach, the bare rock surfaces to be sampled are wet, covered with algae and lichens and as slippery as an eel. “Can you hand over the pencil and the sheet to me”? I asked a colleague as I tried to cross to the other end of the rock in order to place the quadrat on the rock. The pencil fell from my pocket into the seawater. I need to retrieve the pencil as soon as possible before the waves carry it away. I need to go back from whence I came, I looked around, perhaps I could go down from here, it pretty short although a little steep. I trusted the wood I had in hand as a form of support on this slippery surface. At the back of my mind I knew it was the wrong turn. Before I could rescind my decision, my body was already rolling like a ball into the sea. My shoes are soaked, my pants are wet and oh!, I just ripped my pants.
“It seems our data isn’t enough, we need a representative data on these rocky shores, we need a last survey, and we are going sampling tomorrow” we said the day before.
At about a quarter to 9 after breakfast, we had already set off, lost in a forest on our way to sample a rocky beach. The conversation we had kept us going, and the feeling you get knowing you are going to the beach on a sunny day irrespective of the beach type caught us in the moment without without realizing we were on the wrong path. If I knew the roots I stumbled on some few meters back and the chirping of birds was a sign, perhaps we wouldn’t be walking on the wrong side of this island.
Suddenly, the rains began to come down. I took comfort in the say that “being soaked alone is cold, but being soaked with friends is an adventure”. It reminded me of some years back when I had to walk 9 miles through a forest under the mercy of a heavy downpour to a village because there wasn’t any form of public transport. Luckily, this didn’t last, but unfortunately we ended up on the wrong side of the beach. The sampling site is on the other side of the beach beyond the cliffs. We couldn’t go through the beach but through the same direction through which we came and then to the right.
We finally arrived on the rocky beach, the bare rock surfaces to be sampled are wet, covered with algae and lichens and as slippery as an eel. “Can you hand over the pencil and the sheet to me”? I asked a colleague as I tried to cross to the other end of the rock in order to place the quadrat on the rock. The pencil fell from my pocket into the seawater. I need to retrieve the pencil as soon as possible before the waves carry it away. I need to go back from whence I came, I looked around, perhaps I could go down from here, it pretty short although a little steep. I trusted the wood I had in hand as a form of support on this slippery surface. At the back of my mind I knew it was the wrong turn. Before I could rescind my decision, my body was already rolling like a ball into the sea. My shoes are soaked, my pants are wet and oh!, I just ripped my pants.
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