A Knight’s Tale (89: Sam’s First Cut)

In September 1982 we shared a Gite with our friends Ann and Don in Brittany.

Jessica, Ann,Sam, beach 9.82

The group nearest the centre of this underpopulated beach at Bréhec include Jessica, Ann, and Sam.

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a string of gleeful children danced their way to the ocean;

Woman crossing beach 9.82

 a lone woman passing them traversed the beach.

Jessica, Ann, Sam 9.82 4

Hand in hand, Jessica and Ann led Sam into the water

Jessica, Ann, Sam 9.82 1

and swung him to meet the wavelets.

Ann and Sam 9.82 1

Ann continued the gymnastics

Jessica wading 9.82 2

while Jessica went for a paddle.

Sam and Louisa 9.82

Sam dried off, and told his sister all about it.

On another occasion I watched a woman enjoying a paddle.

Ann & Don 9.82

At our numerous barbecues Don was master of the coals.

Sam 9.82 001

It was at that time that Sam received his first cut.  I still remember my sadness at my beautiful boy having suffered his first blemish.  During Siesta time, when, of course, nothing was open, we came across a broken shop window.  ‘Don’t’, said I, as our three-year old made a dive for the broken glass.  Too late.  He grabbed it and brought some away in the palm of his hand.  Which I could not get him to open.  Even if I could I would need a pair of tweezers.  We found the duty chemist which was open.  She had some tweezers.  But how was I going to get Sam to expose his palm?  She smartly provided the solution.  Out came a bag of sweets.  Our lad could not resist one.  Poised, tweezers in hand, I knew I had, at best, one chance.  Sam’s fingers spread tentacles and snaked out for the sweet.  I swooped with the tweezers.  The implement secured and withdrew the shard of glass.  Sam ate his sweet and we bade the woman goodbye. 

Sam 1982 014

Ann bought an ice cream and provided a cuddle, and all was well.

One of the most memorable moments of this holiday was the return journey. Ann had decided she may have exceeded her tobacco allowance, so Jessica and I carried a quantity of our friend’s cigarettes in our car. We followed Ann and Don off the ferry. They waved as they drove off into the sunset. We were stopped and our yellow Renault was subjected to a full body search

76 comments

    1. Customs. We had no tobacco ourselves and the amount of Ann’s that we took was below the limit. Despite, or maybe because of, two small children on board they picked us out. Thanks a lot, John

  1. Sure hope you weren’t transporting too much tobacco. The beach pictures are wonderful. I especially like the line of kids dancing toward the ocean. What joy! Glad Sam could be bribed with sweets. Would work with me, even now. 😉

  2. The irony of helping a friend out whilst travelling … this is an interesting account of what must have been a happy holiday. Even then you had a keen eye for interesting people and actions to photograph.

  3. What precious photos of Sam! 🙂 Great photos of the others, too!
    The ocean brings out the child in so many of us! 🙂
    Glad the sweets helped Sam get his hand attended to. And an afterwards-ice-cream helps a person feel better. 😉
    Our children’s hurts (be they physical or emotional) are always so painful to us parents.
    Yikes on the car search! 😮 That would unnerve me.
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  4. Such a beautiful wide beach offering space for a line of gleeful dancing children. Wonderful photos, Derrick! Thank you for this delightful post with a twist at the end. The car search must’ve been scary, but within the broad perspective of all your posts, and in retrospect, it was part of the big adventure.

  5. Out of curiosity, did you keep a bit of Sam’s hair? I still have the ‘first curl’ that my mother saved. It’s tied with a pink ribbon and has lived all these years in a tiny envelope.

  6. From the title, I thought you meant Sam’s first haircut. That would have been heartbreaking, too, as he looks so adorable with it curling around his ears and falling in his eyes. And that ice-cream shot! It’s not only the dairy product that melts 🙂

  7. Certain moments glitter like imperishable stars in the skies of yesterday, rushing in wavelets of memories tinged with longing, pain or joy. Beautiful photographs, as ever.

  8. Another wonderful post, Derrick. The pain of a child’s first injury – it will stick with you forever. Sam, on the other hand, probably has no memory of it at all.

  9. What a beautiful boy! So sad that he cut himself so young although he probably forgot all about it a few hours later. Children are so attracted by what is dangerous. It is difficult to keep them safe all the time,

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