Friday, September 26, 2008

prickles, snail, umbrella

Sea view with prickly pear.

Under the overhanging edge of the swimming pool, a sizeable snail, just above water level, creeps along the blue tiles. When I first see it, it is about two meters from the corner of the pool. When I look the next day, I see that it has negotiated the corner and is proceeding on its slow and perilous errand.

On the beach in the rain, two people with umbrellas jump two and fro over one of the channels made by the rivers of rainwater, which flood through the ducts under the promenade, on their way to the sea.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think this is the first time I've seen prickly pear - it looks like a cactus. Does it have edible fruit, too? That water looks inviting!

Anil P said...

How beautifully written. I could visualise the scenes.

Roderick Robinson said...

I was offered a peeled prickly pear by a restaurateur in Diafani a couple of weeks ago. It was like biting into a bag of nails. As I tried vainly to pick seeds out of my mouth I was told - joshingly - that the thing was meant to be eaten whole. I took this to be a joke and solved my problem by expectoration.

Unknown said...

I was always warned about picking the "pears" without gloves and despite their presence in the part of Spain we used to visit regularly, I have never been tempted to eat one. Sounds as though you bit off more than you could chew, Barrett.

Dave King said...

Extraordinary shapes. A great post.