Strand

The latest word I happened upon by shutting my eyes and opening the dictionary and pointing was “strand.”  There are a few different meanings of strand, but the one I pointed to was “the shore of a sea, lake, or large river.”
I reckon that would have been a doozy, but something makes sense to me now about where I used to live.  It actually never did not make sense as I had never thought about it, but in Townsville there is a place called the “Strand.”  It is a long stretch of seashore.
There was a swimming pool there.  It was where I learnt to swim.  Lawry Lawrence taught me.  He bought me an ice-cream when I swam my first width.  I used to spend a bit of time at that pool.  I do remember trying to swim a width with my eyes closed.  I did not realize I had turned and was swimming up the pool.  I opened my eyes and as if my floundering was not bad enough, people were throwing others off shoulders and one landed right next to me.  I had to be rescued.
It has changed a lot there since I lived there.  The whole area is way prettier than it was. I do have good memories of it.
It is the seashore of North Ward which was the suburb I grew up in.  We did not live far from the Strand.  I had a dog that used to, when dogs roamed free, go off each afternoon for a swim there.
A cyclone needed to be going down the coast for the waves to be any good.  But we availed ourselves of that when the opportunity arose.  Besides the strong winds normally meant the box jellyfish were not about.  One girl I met from out west had never seen the sea and went for a swim and got stung by one.  What are the chances?  I grew up there and it never happened.  Cyclone Tracy destroyed the home next door to us in North Ward.  The inhabitants were with us and then got put up in the Queens Hotel on the strand.  It was a real ritzy joint.
Fishing there was hit and miss.  One time there was a Trevally run and we all got a good feed.  I saw a friend of mine catch a really nice Salmon there.  I also saw, but would prefer to forget dad catching a sea snake at night.  It was dealt with but my distance from dad grew as it dangled on the line.
I like the stand.  There is a water park for the kids there now.  I can imagine it being used as it is really hot in summer.  Although I grew up there, after my last visit I declared I would not go back in summer.  Though people acclimatise.
There are main roads, but I have been going down a lane - memory lane.