26/03/2022 – Beach

We spent the day at the beach. The weather made Aberystwyth – a town situated on the west coast of Wales – seem Mediterranean. Whenever the weather climbs above ten degrees Celsius in Britain, the entire country is possessed by an urge to leave the house and flock to the beach. Not that I blame us. The country’s climate is wretched. In the spring and summer when warmth finally reappears, the nation undergoes a sort of rebirth. The warm weather infects me with an optimism that is impossible to attain in the winter. The weather had been terrible for months before picking up again. Every joke about British weather rings true. It is appalling. Even in the spring and summer. These brief flashes of warmth are so revered because they’re so uncommon. We are defined by rain and grey skies. I’m certain that if Britain had a tropical climate, we would all grow tired of it eventually. You can’t have too much of a good thing.

Despite the baking sun, the water was too cold to properly swim in. Its blueness enticed me. The salt-water swallowed my feet, closed its icy teeth over my toes. Not today, I thought. Rocks jagged at my feet as I limped back to my towel, laid across the sand as a blanket for me to sit on. I am not a strong swimmer. The ocean terrifies me. A paddle is fine – anything deeper than that, and I immediately begin to panic. I spent the rest of the rest of the afternoon sitting on my towel, chatting with my friends.

We came back a little later to watch the sunset. It was beautiful, as all sunsets are. We had a vegetarian barbecue and a bonfire. There’s something about sitting around a fire with your friends. It scratches some primordial itch. Our hunter-gatherer forerunners congregated around a fire to survive. They hunted elk and horse, skinning them and bringing them back to cook. We bought vegetarian sausages and burgers from Tesco to heat over a small pre-packaged barbecue. We live in a world of comfort. Everything is given to us except meaning. We don’t have much to struggle for. Perhaps the biggest battle one endures in modern society isn’t against outside predators or the search for basic human needs. The biggest battle is against a society that tries to drown out meaning. Spending hours scrolling through social media, getting blasted by information. Working a meaningless job, like Sisyphus in a waiter’s uniform. Looking forward to the weekend only so you can fill yourself with alcohol, in the desperate attempt to blast your brain with dopamine and serotonin.

Sitting on a beach with your friends as the sun sets brings you closer to winning the battle. It brings you closer to what the human condition really needs. It brings you closer to understanding the world. To understanding that you are transient, and your time on this earth is limited.