A Chittering Bite

7/08/08

Before we left America, Bobby lost a bet to my little brother over where we were going to have dinner. The loser had to jump in the North Sea in Scotland. So this past Tuesday, on our last day in Scotland Bobby fulfilled his end of the bet. The North Sea may sound like a nice bit of water but since it is basically melted glaciers, the water temperature is very, very cold. So my family all tramped down to the beach (I called my cousins to come watch) with Bobby and a couple of cameras to watch the spectacle. It was about 9:00 at night, completely overcast, and a bit windy. Bobby dutifully stripped down to his shorts, took a few deep breaths and dove headfirst into the freezing water. He came up after his first dip and was already beginning to turn a bit blue. He attempted to swim back in but the water was so cold that his muscles froze up and he wade, chattering back to shore. After a few moments on the beach, we somehow convinced him to go in a second time! Overall, I was very impressed and we ran him back to the house for a hot shower and what my cousin Emma called a "chittering bite" (food you eat when you are cold have chittering teeth). I really couldn't have imagined a better end to the Scottish leg of our trip.