If you are planning a trip to the beach this summer leave your pool toys at home. Photo / File
If you are planning a trip to the beach this summer leave your pool toys at home. Photo / File
Happy New Year everyone. I hope your year has started well.
For some, 2021 has started with tragedy, including the friends and families of the six people who drowned in the first six days of the year.
Their lives have changed forever and Christmas and New Year will never bethe same for them again.
People drown in our oceans, rivers, and pools every year, and every year lifeguards and water safety advocates appeal for swimmers to make good decisions around water.
Problem is we Kiwis love the water. Going to the beach or the river is something most of us have done all our lives. Water play is fun but it's not so much fun if you don't know how to swim, or you get out of your depth.
The ocean is an unforgiving force. It takes just a minute to get swept out to sea — that's why I was absolutely astounded to see a video online of a little girl in the middle of the ocean on an inflatable pool toy.
It was one of those huge unicorns with wings and the little girl was clinging to its neck.
According to the story, the 3-year-old girl was at a beach in Greece when she hopped on the toy. When it started to drift out to sea her father tried to reach her but the wind picked up those plastic wings and he was too late. A dinghy was also used to try and get to her but it got caught in a current.
Authorities contacted the captain of a ferry they knew to be in the vicinity. Lucky for the child, the captain spotted her and was able to manoeuvre his 331-foot-long ferry alongside her, without causing the toy to capsize, and rescue her.
Linda Hall, Assistant Editor, Hawke's Bay Today.
The thought of what would have happened to her had he not is just horrendous.
Pool toys are intended for pools for a reason. They are light and flimsy and picked up by the wind in an instant. It must be so frustrating for lifeguards when they see families arriving at the beach with them. Bring your boogie boards and surfboards but please leave the inflatable toys at home.
Now, to change the subject completely. First a huge shout-out to the Mission Estate Restaurant. A long time ago I wrote a column about how the Mission had honoured my seven-year-old voucher. Just before Christmas, I had a phone call from a reader who said she had an 18-year-old voucher and the Mission honoured it. Fantastic.
I also have a bizarre story for you. I work with someone (she's also a great friend these days) who has an unusual name passed down through her family. Over the years we have known each other we have discovered that we have walked the same paths but not bumped into each other.
Between Christmas and New Year I was with family and we were discussing family history and someone said my great grandfather's second wife's name and they also said that the middle name was a family name.
Yep, you guessed it — it was the same name as my colleague and, upon further investigation, that's where her name came from. We decided that sooner or later we are going to find out we are sisters. It certainly is a small world.
Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.
