At the Water's Edge

It's summer and it's heating up fast. One of the things I really like to do on a hot summer's day is to take a trip to a sandy beach and, apart from swimming, I really like to sit and look at the water. Sometimes I just close my eyes and listen. I have a fascination with the sea, an obsession which is almost a love affair. Perhaps it comes from living on a very small island where the sea is never more than ten miles away. It's always there on the horizon - a band of intense blue delineating our boundaries. It gets claustrophobic, sometimes, living on such a small island. So, perhaps, that is why I dream so much when I'm at the water's edge.

For this water that surrounds me has the power to take me anywhere that I want. The waters of this sea washes onto the shores of so many different lands, so many different cultures. So I sit there and let my spirit roam over this ancient sea, feeling the blood of countless races rush through my veins and I start to feel it talk to me, telling me a story that started thousands of years ago when people first made a boat and started to explore. It's a bloody story for countless battles were waged on this sea. Thousands have died, their bleached bones scattered in the depths. It's a story of war and a story of peace. A story of empires rising and falling; of treasures lost and treasures found; of warships, cannons, swords and guns. Domination of this sea and of its surrounding shores has led to some of the greatest battles of all time being fought on its waters. Times have changed and peace now reigns over the once-troubled waters of the Mediterranean. The focus of power has shifted elsewhere and the people who live on its shores can only be glad that the warships and pirate ships are now replaced by ocean liners, luxury yachts and speed boats.

But the sea whispers to me that it is an uneasy peace. I sit there and continue to dream. For who can tell what the future holds? I hold my breath willing the sea to give up this mystery. But all I hear is the lapping noise of the waves and the sigh of the water as it breaks over the sharp rocks.