Lifes a Beach!

I couldn't sleep last night.

That's a lie,
I did sleep last night, for about an hour and a half, then without rhyme or reason at 2 o'clock in the morning I was wide awake again, my eyelids propped open with some sinister psychological sellotape. no hope of getting to sleep without a lot of wasted time staring at the ceiling.
I was struck by an odd mood, one which comes around seldom and always at the most unexpected of times.I couldn't sit still I had to move, my mind was filled with a constant whirlwind of thought about the past and the present but mostly the future.

I've been staying in Goa, India for the last month, down south where the weathers hot and getting hotter every day, It's time for me to move... soon. another couple of weeks and I'll head up to the mountains where I can walk around outside at midday without ending up as a puddle on the side of the road.

Last night the air in my little room seemed hotter than normal and the ancient fan that struggled away did little to change it. I had to do something, I was bouncing of the walls in my room so I came up with one of my many half baked and often disastrous ideas which I can confidently say "seemed like a good idea at the time". I decided to get on my bike, drive to the beach and go for a run. It really did seem like a good idea and when I arrived a was rewarded with the fresh cool sea breeze making it all seem worthwhile. Wasting no time I set of down the beach at a slow jog, taking my time, enjoying the air and beginning the long process of sending myself to sleep through sheer exhaustion.

After about 15 minutes I came to the abrupt and shocking realization of just how stupid I was being. My rude awakening came in the guise of 4 vicious dogs rushing towards me at an alarming speed barking and growling maliciously. Now I don't claim to be particularly brave or tough but I grew up in India and other countries where dogs who would as soon take a bite out of your leg as fetch a ball for you are a way of life and they do not normally scare me. However I defy anyone to go up against four angry dogs on a deserted beach with your back to the sea and keep a steady pulse, I did not. I did however keep a steady head. Now the trick with these dogs is that they are always more so than anything else, cowards. This factor becomes significantly harder to exploit when they are in a group but it is still their biggest weakness.

And so my side of the confrontation involved me shouting and yelling at them as loud as I could in order to keep them as bay while offering up a couple of mild but effective kicks to the nose whenever one ventured too close, my exit strategy involved me tentatively back stepping away from them down the beach and away from the territory they were guarding, every now and again I would pick up or pretend to pick up a handfull of wet sand and threaten to throw it at them to keep them from following me.
Needless to say once I was a safe distance away I hastily headed back to my bike, preferring to be restless in my room than get anymore training as a dog dualist.

However my mood had not passed and after sitting through a couple of truly mediocre films with an almost unbearable amount of adverts I was back down on the beach again having a relatively undisturbed jog as the sun rose. I have to say this second jog was the highlight of my ...day? The strange twilight hour I rarely get to see except after the occasional all night party had a strangely pleasing quality. The dogs still owned the beach and they traveled around in packs, however they were much more amiable and went so far as to share their domain with the many heard of cows that also roamed the beach as well as a few early rising locals who were fishing on the incoming tide, or taking down the beach shacks that were closing for the season.

Needless to say I'm shattered and could well do with my sleep. Except there is a party i promised id go to starting in a few hours so I guess sleep can wait :P

              "Common sense is not so common."
                                      -Voltaire.