Harry Potter VII and naked old people

Sometimes you just have one of those perfect summer days. They start with sleeping in, then slowly waking up with a lot of repositioning, cuddling, and half-asleep kisses. Then they continue with lunch on your sunlit balcony looking out at the trees in the neighbor’s backyard. Followed by a ride to the dunes, encampment on the soft warm sand, and two hours straight reading to finish off the last 200 pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I have to say, the first 300 pages or so were pretty dull. It started to pick up around the Gringott’s break-in, and by the final battle at Hogwarts the book was really in full swing and delivered a well-developed (if a bit talky) climax. A bit more effort could have been put into the denoument, but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of the Harry Potter world, so a little left to the imagination is fine.

So far, the day has been great. The sky was cloudless (one of only 23 of those that we’ll get this year), the temperature was just slightly warm and there was a constant soft breeze coming off the ocean to keep you cool. The only thing that wasn’t perfect was the fact that the beach that Lynn and I picked out just happened to be the 2km long “naakt recreation” (‘nude fun’) section. As was evidenced by the collection of sunburnt, naked old men playing a game of volleyball as we descended from the dune onto the sand.

What is it with naked beaches that only those over 60, and generally out of shape men, seem to attract?

It’s so UNsexy that after a while you just end up feeling a general sense of complete discomfort from being surrounded by a bunch of people you really wish would just put some freaking clothes on. But no. They love hanging out in the breeze, strutting their bellies and wrinkles up and down to the water and back, speaking loudly to themselves (we had to move from our first location as a result of THAT particular fruitcake).

Like I have always said and still maintain: the Dutch are weird.

They’re just weird people. They have a lot of good qualities, very tolerant, very compassionate and philanthropic, very concerned about the global environment and all… but just a little weird.

Still, it was a great day. And many thanks to Lynn for her part in that. 😉