My wife was reading a book about a Victorian clergyman named Balthazar who in his thirty-sixth year suddenly developed a passion for fishing<\/p>\n
She was sitting on our balcony overlooking the beach with the slight green book on her lap<\/p>\n
It is rather cloudy at present will it lift? <\/i><\/p>\n
Yes the cloud burns back quite quickly on this coast\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n
From where I was standing I could see that the beach was already filling up<\/p>\n
The beach on the seafront at Balthazar differed from others in the area as it three concrete blocks of outbuildings in the middle of the beach not far from the main jetty<\/p>\n
No-one had thought to demolish them and they were now favoured by the locals and tourists alike when the sun became too hot<\/p>\n
The beach in Balthazar was split into two sections<\/p>\n
The textile part of the beach was to the left of the hotel whilst the clothes optional area of the beach was situated around the three concrete blocks<\/p>\n
In truth the barriers had mixed and there was no real borders anymore and nobody apart from the town council really cared<\/p>\n
My wife and I decided to position ourselves a few yards from the shore and its heavy waves although we knew that we would be forced to move in the early afternoon<\/p>\n
Although the day had settled the waves were still quite violent as they always were<\/p>\n
It was the peculiar geography of the resort that accounted for the force of the waves<\/p>\n
People just grew used to them and treated them with respect<\/p>\n
In some of the outbuilding small bars had sprung up and had became quite popular<\/p>\n
After about an hour and a half my wife suggested that we take refreshment as the air was quite dry and was getting hotter and hotter as the day matured<\/p>\n
We found a bench quite easily and ordered two grape juices<\/p>\n
I looked at Unit 28 which was nearly opposite where we were sitting<\/p>\n
An American couple from Schenectady New York who we had previously met on the coach were sheltering from the sun<\/p>\n
Both were very pale and they appeared totally unsuited for beach<\/p>\n
I took a photograph of them this morning outside of the hotel <\/i><\/p>\n
It was cooler then <\/i><\/p>\n
Have they visited Balthazar before?<\/i><\/p>\n
They come every year <\/i><\/p>\n
Unit 28 actually belongs to them <\/i><\/p>\n
I did not think that people actually owned the units <\/i><\/p>\n
It was handed down to them from his late father <\/i><\/p>\n
What are their names?<\/i><\/p>\n
Alan and Sylvie Tester <\/i><\/p>\n
Do you know something about that unit? <\/i><\/p>\n
You are going to tell me <\/i><\/p>\n
In 1928 a twenty-three year old woman named Alice Adams gave birth to a hydatidform mole there <\/i><\/p>\n
This was very unusual in itself as this condition normally affects woman over forty five<\/i><\/p>\n
It was a most distressing event<\/em><\/p>\n What is your point? <\/i><\/p>\n There is not any point <\/i><\/p>\n I was just saying that where Alan and Sylvie Tester are sitting now was the location for that peculiar birth <\/i><\/p>\n Soon afterwards we returned to our towels and beach bags and soon had to move as the tide was quite progressive<\/p>\n My wife was partially struck by an errant wave as she recovered her book and I took the opportunity of recording the moment on film<\/p>\n She was not amused<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Return from Africa \u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Jim and Julie had booked a vacation in Africa but a month before they were due to leave they both lost their jobs in a matter of twenty-four hours<\/p>\n They were due to pay the final instalment a day later but defaulted and subsequently lost their deposit<\/p>\n Both tried to find immediate employment but without success and they were both forced to retire to their small apartment that overlooked the railway station<\/p>\n On the day that they were supposed to have travelled to Africa they made a momentous decision<\/p>\n That they would travel to Africa without leaving their apartment<\/p>\n As they lay under a thin sheet that evening they could both be found reading copes of the National Geographic <\/i>which had been stolen from a library a week previously<\/p>\n Jim was reading about the Great<\/em> Rift Valley<\/i> whilst Julie was studying the causes and outcome of the Zulu Wars<\/i><\/p>\n As far as their many friends knew the lucky couple were now in deepest Africa<\/p>\n Both Jim and Julie did not want the truth to filter out so they abandoned themselves to their apartment<\/p>\n I think a movie was once made about people in our situation<\/i><\/p>\n I think there was <\/i><\/p>\n About a couple so proud that they could not tell their closest friends that for once life had turned shitty and fucked them hard <\/i><\/p>\n I think it was called Le Retour d\u2019Afrique <\/i><\/p>\n They had sold everything before starting a new life in Algeria but are then warned off of travelling to the country and rather than lose face they holed themselves up in their apartment <\/i><\/p>\n Like we are doing <\/i><\/p>\n But our decision was financial <\/i><\/p>\n We could not afford our vacation <\/i><\/p>\n I think that this is God teaching us a lesson <\/i><\/p>\n But we are decent people <\/i><\/p>\n Decent but greedy <\/i><\/p>\n As I said before we booked Africa there was more chance of finding Mungo Park\u2019s body than for us to stop our travelling<\/i><\/p>\n It was in our blood<\/em><\/p>\n But we are not travelling now <\/i><\/p>\n Maybe not for a while <\/i><\/p>\n I think that this has taught us a lesson <\/i><\/p>\n Do you think we will be able to stand this apartment for the next two weeks? <\/i><\/p>\n We have enough food <\/i><\/p>\n But no television <\/i><\/p>\n For two weeks from today we do not exist <\/i><\/p>\n No one will be suspicious of our lights as they will consider them <\/i>to be<\/em> security lights <\/i><\/p>\n We can live as normal just Jim and Julie <\/em><\/p>\n But do you really think that our friends are that interested in us <\/i><\/p>\n They have their own lives <\/i><\/p>\n As far as they are concerned Jim and Julie are in Africa <\/i><\/p>\n But just be careful when you are near the windows as our neighbours will think we have intruders <\/i><\/p>\n Julie stood up and walked towards the small bookcase near the window<\/p>\n As I was saying <\/i><\/p>\n Do not worry I am only going to be a second <\/i><\/p>\n Julie pulled a slight green book from the top shelf<\/p>\n What is that book? <\/i><\/p>\n It is called The Resort Balthazar <\/i><\/p>\n Is it good?<\/i><\/p>\n I find it interesting it is book about a Victorian Clergyman named Balthazar who in his thirty-sixth year suddenly developed a passion for fishing<\/i><\/p>\n Julie slipped beneath the sheets and kissed Jim<\/p>\n Are you not going to read it now? <\/i><\/p>\n In a few minutes when we can use the lights <\/i><\/p>\n Jim looked at the large digital clock<\/p>\n 18.44<\/i><\/p>\n Well our first day in Africa went well Yes very well and we have another thirteen to go<\/i><\/p>\n What lucky people were are <\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My wife was reading a book about a Victorian clergyman named Balthazar who in his thirty-sixth year suddenly developed a passion for fishing She was sitting on our balcony overlooking the beach with the slight green book on her lap It is rather cloudy at present will it lift? Yes the cloud burns back quite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/i><\/p>\n