Sea Fever by John Masefield - How I'm feeling

Sawtell - Oil by Mike Gumbley.

"I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."

I have always loved the water, the ocean my first love, as a child we always holidayed by the sea in various forms, and when I was 13 my parents moved us from Sydney to a small seaside town on the far north coast of NSW where we lived within metres of the beach and there I whiled away my teenage years.  I often long for the sea, far though we live from it nowadays.

My teenage years are long gone and now I look ahead to a few more years as I struggle with those of my own child.  Wish me luck as I will surely need it.