Beach day

Monday:

We wanted to go and stay down the coast for a few days but we left it too late to book anything. Luckily we don't live far from the beach here. The weather forecast for the coming week was a mix of stinking hot and storms, but today looked perfect beach weather so we had plans to drive over to the nearest city beach (30 mins) first thing in the morning before it got too hot. Unfortunately I woke with a sore throat, like trying to swallow a golf ball, plus sneezing and runny nose. Bleugh.

After getting up a bit later than usual and having a light breakfast, passionfruit and yoghurt, I decided I wasn't going to let some puny cold in the head stop me from having a good time. I wasn't feeling up to walks along the promenade, or swimming, I didn't even put my swimming cossie on, but I went.

Armed with hats, T-shirts and sunscreen, we braved the Australian sun. For the first hour, while Tim and the kids splashed in the gentle surf, I sat on the sand. After a while I pulled a towel over my legs because I could feel them burning.

I was getting much too hot, so I retreated to the shade on the grass under some trees, and for the second hour read a book or watched the waves.

Turns out is was a very wise move to get into the shade, but not soon enough! Apparently the shorts that cover my knees while I'm standing up applying sunscreen DONT cover my knees when I'm sitting down. Ouch. This is when we first got home, before full colour had set in. I'm disappointed that yet again, despite care, I have got myself sunburnt. I just can't go into the sun at all. Jasmine too. She is a bit pink all over after two hours in the sea. As usual, the boys with their slightly darker skin are fine.

Tim's cousin Matt lives near the beach, he walked over and met us for lunch. He suggested a favourite café first but I looked at the menu and every item was carb-heavy so we walked along the mall a bit and ended up at a tiny Indian restaurant. We like Indian, and also I wasn't up to walking much further. Still sore throat and a headache. The food wasn't ideal for a dieter, I ended up with a big plate of meat with Vindaloo sauce on rice. Delicious, but no vegetables at all. I didn't eat the rice except the bits actually stuck to the beef. It was very strong of me because that saucy rice looked so yummy! And I didn't touch the naan bread.

Then on the short walk back to the car we stopped for ice cream and I was strong again! Nothing for me. The chocolate gelato looked so good and cool and chocolatey. And it's hard when everyone else is eating. One thing that helped me was knowing I'd just told Matt I was on a low-carb diet. Another was seeing an extremely large woman who came in to order. I am fighting for my health!

Came home, discovered the burned knees, slept for an hour in front of the TV. Tim made schnitzel for dinner so I made a modified crumb-free version (ie, steak) for myself, plus salad. I had more salad than this. Really yummy dinner.

I had to guesstimate lunch calories of course, but I think I did well today.

Here are my knees again, with the colour deepening over time:

Half an hour of unprotected sunlight was enough. They are quite painful. On the bright side, as Tim pointed out, they are distracting me from my sore throat!