I wanted a sundrenched stroll. I got a drenched Sunday stroll. It was quite a day and Oscar almost drowned.

Oscar and I were walking on the beach with my friend and her lab,Ruby before lunch and the beach was really busy. Ruby the lab had stolen a couple of footballs from groups of kids playing there and was a bit skittish ( Oscar was being really good, truly!) anyway, Angela suggested that we walk around the old outdoor swimming pool as it was deserted at that end and we took the dogs along.

The pool runs alongside the beach and the sea at the other side of the pool is deep when the tide is medium to high but the barrier is waist height with railings after that so it seems safe and I wasn’t worried about Oscar, who hates water anyway.

After a couple of minutes of walking along and watching the dogs race around the inner well where the pool had been, I couldn’t see him and thought he must have hightailed it back onto the beach. I called him and a man from high up on the top prom called back, ‘Your dog’s gone into the water!’

I just couldn’t believe it and ran to look over the high wall where he was pointing to see a drop of at least 10 foot and deep choppy sea water ( there are rip tide signs around this bit of the beach) I verged on hysterics because I couldn’t see Oscar. The man called out,

‘He’s scrabbling to try to get back up the wall!’ But Oscar was so far below I couldn’t see him.

We all sprinted back to the beach and I waded in to waist height then it fell away to rocks and deeper. The lovely man had run down to us and came into the sea too. He had the foresight to remove his jacket( I was just in there coat and all) and he told me to stay there and he’d swim around to find him. I was frantic in case he’d drowned and frantic in case he barky faced the swimmer away or bit him in fear when he got to him.

After a lifetime, the man swam back with Oscar under his arm and I gave them both the biggest hug! Our hero just shook off the water and picked up his coat and went back to his friends soaking wet!

We walked the 1/2 mile back to our car with me shivering with cold and shock but so glad for that man being so brave (foolhardy?!) Oscar has been the most subdued I’ve seen him but that just means he’s lain about and slept – his appetite is as usual so he mustn’t have swallowed sea water.

I now know what it is to have flashbacks. What if he hadn’t seen it? I’d never have dreamt he was over the side and would have gone along the beach looking. Would I have been able to swim the 50 metres around to the far side of the pool? Never! I can’t work out how he got over a waist high wall but he must’ve taken a running jump and then never expected the drop or the sea!

I’m looking at him now and loving him so much, that dog! I could have been grieving.

Here is a pic of the old outdoor pool from archives when the tide is low. He went over at the far corner and the tide was high.