Pools II (2004)
We start this second look at our family in pools with Alban diving.
Actually, there's water all over this website: at the
Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, our small town on the
Pacific Ocean, or Thorpe Park, an English fun
fair, on the River Thames in Marlow, near Thorpe
Park, in St Malo on the Brittany coast north of
Brocéliande,
on the beach in St Malo, in Florida, at other
swimming pools . . . the list goes on.
The focus of this first shot on the left
isn't perfect, but Alban took a one-week diving class through the Red Cross in June of
2004, and of course took to it like a duck to water. Then, as is par for the course, he
did not want to do any more. It's hard work being parents!
The last picture on this page is the end of this dive.
Then we have Charlie in this cute series on the
right taken at l'Etang du Beauché, near La Grée,
our favorite summer holiday destination, in August 2004.
He asked for this series of photos to be taken.
Dropping below Alban comes with a comparable drop-off in elegance. First, a
few words of explanation, to set the stage as it were.
Maman registered the four younger
children for morning swimming or diving classes during the early summer
of 2004, and then took them for more swimming most afternoons in June,
when the weather stayed wonderfully warm for
Santa Cruz (which, being on the Northern California coast tends to
be cool in more ways than one).
Papa was not working much that summer, and periodically accompanied
the four of them to their classes, trying to join in in his own modest over-50s way.
Emphasis on modest!
He is the extremely white-skinned individual on the left, grimacing as he flies through the air, determined to jump at least once from the
springboard while the children were doing their endless jumping routines.
During all
those afternoons in the month of June he plucked up the courage to make a total of two jumps from
the springboard. These two jumps salvaged his pride, although if the
photo is anything to go by, they probably should not have! The unbearably
white skin is an irreparable sign of his Englishness.
Below on the right is a shorter series taken of
Alex during the same long and wet vacation in
Brittany in August 2004.
This swimming pool with its fun slide was on the bank of the Lac
aux Ducs near Ploermel, a Breton town in Brocéliande
and near La Grée.
Check out his expression in the second photo! Alex can't keep
out of the water, but is very focused on keeping the water out of him!
Maman did not register Daphné
for the above swimming classes, because at almost 17 she was arranging
her own summer itinerary. By one of those flukes that enrich the
mother-daughter relationship, she had
arranged a swimming class for herself, which overlapped in part the
classes of the younger children. Here she is learning backstroke after
the younger children had finished their class.
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