between the flags

Besides the store, I'm fascinated with the idea of swimming between the red and yellow flags. I've never seen flags on the beach until Australia. The flags are warning signs, marks signaling a place of safety in the waters. I took these pictures while walking along the shore in Surfers Paradise. The sand storm abrasively brushed against my legs, the wind, dust and short-lived rain made the beach a perilous place to be at the time. But behind me, there was a woman sitting on the sand, watching the nature of all this. There's that phrase about being able to dance in the rain. But after that day, I knew there was another meaning, a whole other side of being in the rain. It's being able to stand through a sand storm and swim between raging seas. There were a few swimmers in the ocean and I wondered how anyone could swim under such conditions. The beach bum part of me is inspired by nature and these flags.