SUN AND SAND

Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3392, 24 December 1931, Page 8

SUN AND SAND

HOLIDAYING AT THE SEASIDE.

WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO.

(Contributed.)

The Waikato has a dozen beautiful beaches witlun easy access of the greater part of her population, ana tnere is nothing more aengnuui than surfing and sun-bathing amid the happy crowd\ that throngs to the seaside every holiday. n you are going to bathe, then oe sure you get. tne iullest advantage from it. so many oi us spend tne la intervening monens in omces, snops, ana uroan homes, that we must encounter tne full force of the burning rays oi Appollo discreetly, particularly in these days of skeleton bathing suits. The connoisseur recognises three stages in the thorough appreciation of a visit to the surf: (1) preparation; (2) sea-bathing; and (3> sun-bathing, or browning. The bather should begin the season with a large bottle ox coconut oil, and should bear it proudly forth, acknowledging with due humility the rebuke ol his white, blueveined, and unaccustomed skin, and determining that its chastisement by the sun's burning stripes shall be as painless as possible. Oil the skin, put cold cream or lip salve on the lips, and prepare in advance a good shade shelter to get under when out of the water.

Nothing so much betrays the tyro and indicates the lack of forethought in the holiday crowd as the utter absence of beach umbrellas, etc., which are so much a feature of beaches where they do these things better. They are so obviously necessary to the full enjoyment of a seaside holiday that it is astonishing and pathetic to see how the bare glare of the sand beats on the slowly reddening shoulders and noses of Seldom-Swim-mers; to watch their conventional enthusiasm in surf and beach bathing and baking dwindle because both are overdone and over-prolonged; and to realise that the bright family that set out with happy anticipations in the morning will be returning in the evening draggled, burnt, and snappy. Remember, do not overdo sea or sand or sun; prepare the skin; when you are in the .water keep in it and under it all you can, and make your Surfing a real exercise. Come in on the breakers, or attempt it; dive through the " dumpers "; swim in the troughs; breast or shoulder the scud that comes foaming forward with its wouid-;be roar of triumph, and, in gendeal with the supercilious waves of the sea with that compensatory dash and disdain that you would use (if iyou. could) against the less palpable waves of Circumstance and Everyday. The psychological fillip that v'phe gets from dominating the elemental waste of waters is one of the 'most exhilarating features of surfing, but do not overdo it—do not wash your thrillflat! Then, for; the third part, come out the first time that it

occurs to you to do so. Do not stay in simply because Sam Salamander, who will be brown and sleek when you are raw and peeling, yells his derision. Get under your umbrella, or prepare for your sun-bath. As for this last, you must be guided by the state of your skin and the degree of brown you wish to acquire. The best plan is to lie on your face on the sand until you are dry and drowsy, but do not wait for the red flush of the burn —make haste slowly, and oil, oil, oil! It needs repeated doses of sun and lots of oil to get a proper tan, and don't forget that oil tanen internally helps the tanning process, too. . ~ ~ . One of the most interesting things to notice is the way in which all the peoples who do not burn have learned to add fats and oils to their diets. We live in a climate here in January, as has been pointed out by many of our writers, which is the same as that of the Argentine, and corresponds to that of South Africa, or, in the Northern Hemisphere, to the Mediterranean, California and Northern Mexico, Try and think of it according to common sense, and not to the conventions drawn from English magazines. Remember, too, that if. in spite of all this advice, you follow out (as you most certainly will) the old ridiculous practice of being burnt to lobster redness on the first day of your holiday, you have only handicapped yotyrself for the remainder, while the bronzing of your skin so much desired is shed with it. leaving you as melancholy pale as before!