Take a look at this picture:

That's England. Cornwall to be exact. Can you imagine the fear people must have felt to see that shadow in the water. Granted, it's "only" a Basking Shark, but do you think the people seeing that shadow and that fin in the water paused to study it's breed?

See, I have this thing about sharks. While they absolutely fascinate me, they are the only other animal I am terrified of. Snakes scare the absolute pants off me, but sharks are a different kind of scared. Many years ago, when Dan was Wee-Dan-The-Six-Year-Old, I was made to watch Jaws. Everyone knows the film, even if they've not seen it. Large evil Great White Shark on a killing rampage, the worlds scariest rubber fish. However, from a childs point of view...

Now, I can't remember the film AT ALL - well, that's a lie, I remember one part but think my minds eye makes it more vivid than it was, but none the less, the film is lost on me, but the fear remains, and sticks with me to this day. As a child, I was terrified of any body of water larger than a bathtub. I was scared in the bath, near ponds, near the sea... Boats and Piers scared the absolute pants off me. I couldn't go swimming with the school till I was 10 years old.

And you might think that's in the past... Well, sort of. When Jo was preggers with Jaysen, we went to Italy and the South of France. While having a swim in the Med - literally in water up to my waist - my mind screamed Shark! at me. I was out of there like a shot, and had to take Jo back in there with me. Even last year in Norfolk when we were out in the warm shallows, I had to get out because I was CERTAIN there was a shark out there.

My fear of snakes is different, but it's hard for me to explain why it's different. Snakes make me sweat and tremble, but I know if I am in a forest, it's a good bet there is one nearby. Pictures of snakes, the sound a snake makes, the smell of reptiles - all of this makes me cringe and even now, just typing about them, my palms are getting sweaty. Not so with Sharks. They fascinate me, and I would love to go down in a dive cage one day - even though that worries me somewhat. I've got books on them, watch documentaries on them and have studied them for Science Projects.

But being in the water fills me with such abject terror sometimes, I don't know what to do.

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2 Responses to “Shark!”

Minge said...

What about water snakes?

Dan said...

hehe snakes are snakes. And slow worms fall into the Snake category too.