Send In The Clowns

Cruising along in the cool interior of the air-conditioned car, en route to Margaret River, my poor skin is getting a respite. I was very foolish yesterday and committed that most heinous of Australian crimes – I did not re-apply my sun cream. I dutifully slathered it on at the beginning of the day, before sitting out at a pavement café in Fremantle, sipping a frothy cappuccino and basking in the feel of the warm sun on my face. It is a good 10°C cooler than Karratha down here in Perth, making it the perfect temperature in which to sit out and enjoy the sun rather than simply tolerate it.


Fast forward two hours and I am sitting on a beach, waiting for the others to finish their tour of Fremantle Prison. Having done it before with The Parents, I opted to lose myself in a second-hand bookshop and mooch around the weekend markets. When I was shopped out, I wandered down to the seafront, where we were due to meet for lunch, and sat on a pretty beach, whiling away the time by people-watching and daydreaming. By this point it was 1pm, the hottest part of the day and my earlier sun cream application was now hours behind me. But, with the cool sea breeze blowing across my bare skin, I didn’t feel the full force of the sun’s rays and happily forgot about my lack of SPF protection.

Happily, that is, until I met up with the others and The Husband pointed out that my shoulders and back were looking rather pink. They certainly felt a little warm but by this point they weren’t hurting. It wasn’t until the boat trip back up the Swan River, with the sun on my back, that they started to sting a bit. I draped my cardigan over my shoulders, sipped my wine and tried to ignore the stinging. Back at the hotel, I removed my big black sunglasses and looked in horror at my shiny red nose. Great, I look like a clown. Turning around with trepidation, I saw to my dismay that my back was also rather red, topped off with lovely white strap marks. I felt so silly. I am always the one to bark at The Husband to re-apply his sun cream at the beach. Perhaps that’s it – when you’re not out in the sun specifically to catch a few rays, it’s so easy to forget to keep protected. Let this be a lesson to all, including me, that it only takes a few minutes to burn if you haven’t slathered on your sun cream. I shall not forget again. In the meantime, the air-con is doing its work nicely.