Bored of bobbing around in the ocean [it did take a long time to get bored of bobbing], I felt like enjoying a lesson of futility in a childishly awesome way. The first wall was a test of waters, hands digging up what I would now consider no more than a bump in the sand. After one wave it was swept apart.
Try again.
Larger now, further up the beach so the sea simply didn't swallow it before it was born. A larger wall, with sand heaped onto the tops in a smoothed modestly inclined prism, at its highest height no more than a 30cm. Three successive waves destroyed it.
Try again.
Enlisted the help of my sister. One wall was swept away, then another; before settling for the raised slopes of one particular area on my sight. The sea wall grew, first as a mound, then as a proper wall. Sandals were conscripted as spades and trowels, for a moment I battled the waves constructing another sea wall further out to protect the construction above. Ditches were dug to help slower the decline of that sea wall, but they were quickly filled by the sea and were really only ever dug in desperation when a particularly large wave was spotted. A third wall, further past the second was built as well.
It was a pretty symbol in the sand, half a meter high surrounded by encircling walls, challenging Poseidon to send what he had.
Come at me Poseidon, I fucking dare you. I have sand.
Third wall down, one wave.
The second wall was down, two waves battered it and the third just rolled over.
The mound stood completely defiant, until the water completely drew back. Good move Poseidon, this mound is too tough for you.
Poseidon wasn't retreating, he was getting run-up.
Five of the largest waves crashed onto the mound and smothered it into the ground.
Try, try again.
At this point I'm the only one not all tired out. Choice of Beach difficulty: On the surf collision zone, Dante must die mode. To understand just how tough the waves were at that point in the beach, while helping at one point my sister was dragged out under her feet by the waves, pulling her into the ocean shore.
I was a little tired, so I decided the simplest thing I could do to keep the fledgling wall standing was to dig deeper and get the sand excavated to form the foundations.
By the time I was building another wall to encircle the ditch the mound had become a mountain and some newcomers had arrived. The newcomers were a big Turkish guy and his 5-6 year old daughter, and I find it as a matter of pride that my Mountain intrigued the mind of a child. They began building their own sea wall on the high ground [ez mode]. The ditch was a horizontal thing, with the fine grains of sand packed so hard from the battering of the ocean that myself punching it could not shake its walls. The pair of arrivals construct a fine sea wall with astonishing speed, but every now and then a mighty wave would come and tear through it. These great waves would bear down on my sea Fort, doing little as the ditch [which had now grown to be a fortified pit] was filled with sea water and all the sediment it provided. The sea unwittingly delivered all my building materials to my door.
The duo built two walls before doing something ingenious, the big Turk buried the girl alive and pulled her out, forming an arrow Fort aimed at the sea. They reinforced it with an additional wall at the seaward face.
By this time the Fortress complex on my end had become something formidable. The ditch was 70cm deep and the mountain 60cm high, with the whole complex including the 3 additional sea walls covering 8-9 square meters. The ditch was no longer a ditch, it was a construct of mathematical precision and human imperfection. At the very bottom the silty remains of the original sand remained, the walls of the sunken construct combined with the walls of the high mountain. On the top left corner a perfectly smooth plateau stood, pillars ringed the precipice of the pit where angular walls ran across. The mountain ridge was adorned with smooth compacted sand, rough flings of sand, even arches and outcrops that loomed over the depths below - all made out of sand!
Ahead two more walls stood, but they were swept away as quickly as they were built with waves increasing in strength and myself stopping construction efforts. The other two tried holding the arrow Fort together, but one breach in the wall soon led to entire walls being carried away. The construct held fast. The ocean bounced on it, once, twice.
Engineering in progress: Success.
I had achieved a net gain of sand, every tide added more sediment to the construct.
Now I'd done it. I had taken Poseidon's sand.
I gave my Fort to the other two [the big Turk affectionately referred to it as renting a castle], and when I returned hours later the Mountain ridge still stood. Even better is I had left my own long lasting mark on the beach. The sunken villas had been filled with the light sands of the wave crests and as a result a bright circle, a sun in the ground had appeared on the silty streaked sands.
No, what defeated the Mountain was not Poseidon. It was a new arrival of children with spades, who cannibalized it for castles that couldn't stand the ocean in just 20 minutes.
Well played all. RIP Sunkenridges. Best fun I've had in a while.
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Topic: [MILK] There were 12 eggs here what did you do with them? (Happy thread?!) (Read 16280810 times)