Slept soundly but awoke woozy and feeling ill from the anaesthetics and the antibiotics. It was a grey morning and the rain beat against the windows. I lay in bed listening to see if the surf was up but it was very quiet. I had my first appointment in Mosman with a client at 10 AM so decided I would get up late and didn’t walk down to Manly until about 8am. The ocean was very very still, with no wind and very few people about. the The usual throng of joggers and walkers and fitness classes on the grass,  seemed to have been driven inside by the rain. Manly was eerily deserted. The 630 and 7 o’clock groups of the Bold and Beautiful were long gone and there was nobody in the water, probably due to the light rain and some concern about all the shark attacks we have been having lately. I changed at the club and a little tentatively entered the water, my stomach heaving from the antibiotics. I was desperate for some exercise. The morning was grey and misty and overcast and I had the ocean completely to myself. I followed the rocks around past point, past the halfway café and out to Shelly. The rain let up and I was able to see all the way down to Queenscliff. There were no surfers and no other swimmers – just me and the fish and a sleeping ocean and a lowering sky. The water was clear and the Groper and small Dusky Whaler sharks and stingrays on the return journey evidenced he motion below. Full of life. I arrived back at Manly with my spirits revived. I was now ready to face the day. Thank God for the ocean – healer of tired souls, balm for broken bodies, a room to mediate, a biosphere for exercise. He must’ve felt really inspired when he created it. I’m so glad the fish let us share it.