Another Holiday Moment

We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon after a long drive from London. After we left the motorway the Friday traffic crawled lazily along the country roads for many miles. Abandoning my reading once the winding road began to make me queasy, I watched the scenery change out of the back-window and shifted around on the plastic seat, eager to get out of the car and stretch my cramped legs.

We pulled up outside a huge building, sparkling in the sun. The hotel was set up on a hill, white against bright blue skies, its many windows thrown wide open to catch the fresh sea breeze that blew straight in from the promenade. Stone steps at the front led down to a huge expanse of green lawn spattered with putting holes and marked with red flags, fluttering wildly in the wind. Bursts of red and yellow flowers lined the car park and their sweet fragrance combined with salty air felt almost tropical. Eager to get outside we checked our bags into our room and raced straight to the hotel’s leisure centre. The August sun was low now, starting to turn the sky a brilliant orange. The air was warm and the paved tiles were baked hot beneath my feet, so we dove straight into the rippling blue aqua of the outdoor pool. The water was heated, but still, the coldness was a shock and we all let out gasps and shrieks of delight. My mother lay on her back in the shallows, eyes closed and floating with her arms out as her muscles relaxed from the drive.

The pool was large and curved around underneath a little white bridge leading to a cluster of tables and chairs, empty now in the evening sun. Dad and I swam under the bridge and the water grew much colder and deeper and led up to a high diving board at the pool’s furthest edge. Hauling himself up the little metal ladder at the side of the pool, Dad made his way to the steps of the diving board, shedding droplets of water that darkened the paving slabs. My mother shouted him a warning to be careful which was ignored as he made his way purposefully to the very highest diving board. He stood at the top for several minutes and gazed down at the pool, before hurling himself off the board toward the sparkling water below. He fell heavily, hitting the water stomach first in a huge belly flop with a slap that crackled around the pool area. His head broke through the swirling water spluttering, hair plastered over his eyes and cursing. His paunchy stomach was covered in curly hair, but we could see the tomato red skin smarting underneath, and we all fell about laughing.

We stayed in the pool until clouds began to darken the sky and the first drops of rain hit the surface of the water, slicing ripples through the blue. The rain tickled my face, but my body was warm and protected by the water of the pool and I didn’t want to get out. I stayed until Mum’s voice became edged with impatience; I climbed out into the chilly evening air and was gratefully wrapped in the huge fluffy white hotel towel. The paved floor had quickly turned slippery with rivers of rainwater and Mum held my arm tight as we slid our way back to the hotel. At the door I paused and looked back and saw a herring gull stood on one of the white plastic tables, dry beneath the open parasol, picking at the cold chips on an abandoned plate.