Summer, Surf and Staying Safe by Julie Sykes

Recently, I was indoors when I heard a plane go over. It was so noisy that I raced to a window to look. Was it a jet? Was it going to crash? But no. It was a small aircraft flying over the field behind my house.

In that same field two boys were playing a game of football. Above them, from that VERY noisy plane, nine people jumped out. They all wore colourful parachutes. They glided down, twisting and turning and making patterns together. They had red smoke trailing from their heels. It was AWESOME.

Did the boys look up to see what the noise was about? No. They were so engrossed in their footie that a herd of parachuting elephants could have been about to squash them flat. They would have been jam before they realised.

But I totally got those boys. I’m exactly the same when I’m writing or reading. The Red Arrows could land their whole fleet in my office and I wouldn’t notice. Really. (No. Not really. I’m such a HUGE fan of the Red Arrows that I would definitely notice them). A herd of rhino could bumble through unseen though.

And my point is…similar to Cas Lester’s in her super splashy post of a couple of days ago. The summer holidays are here. Many of you will be at the beach and playing in the sea. Have fun. But at the same time STAY AWARE. Water is dangerous. Water can take you by surprise. Rip tides. Huge waves and sneaky little ones that lure you out of your depth.

Luckily, if you do run in to trouble, help is at hand. The RNLI is a charity that SAVES LIVES AT SEA. The RNLI provides us here, in the UK and Northern Ireland, with a 24/7 lifeboat search and rescue service. And all for free. The RNLI also provides a seasonal lifeguard service to over 200 UK and Channel Isle beaches.

You can find out more about the incredible work they do here.

Have a super splashy summer everyone. And stay safe.