Going for a swim

For a minor diversion this morning I cycled to Lido Beach about 4 miles from Longboat Key. There is much more activity there. Nonetheless I hastened to conclude my exercise and get onto the beach on Longboat Key.  Today marks the end of five months here; and our looming departure in about three weeks.

My latest distraction is a digital edition of Country Life magazine.  I was introduced to the publication at least 30 years ago by a former client of mine.  He and his wife had harboured a collection of years of the magazine.  He gave me some of them. For a while afterwards I subscribed to the magazine but it was an expensive undertaking and not one which I found particularly novel after several years. Lately I have yearned to re-subscribe but the matter of having the magazine re-directed weekly to the United States in the winter is more than inconvenient.  Yesterday I purchased one week's edition of the digital version.  It is not as legible as I would prefer.  One is obliged to use the iPad (that is, an iOS device); the MacBook Pro portable computer does not work.  The iPad is viewed by me on its side which has the effect of diminishing the size of the text because two pages appear at once (unlike the single page view of an upright screen).  It is certainly something I can work around but as yet I am not convinced the cost of the annual subscription is worth the effort (though I admit my reading of the articles last night was fulfilling). I have figured out how to bypass the publisher's piracy control by taking a screenshot of what I want (including in particular the photographs - such as the one above - which I can enlarge before capturing). It's all still a work-in-progress.

Meanwhile I satisfied my appetite for invention by walking along the shore of the beach to the white mansion on Regent Court, then swimming back to my chaise longue in concert with the prevailing winds and tide movement. The sea practically carried me along.  The water is so salty that buoyancy is sous entendu.

There appears to be the same sandbar adjacent the shore there as there is at our condominium.  I swam about 50 yards off-shore where the water was deep enough for swimming but not so deep as to retain the cooler streams of water which materialize further seaward.