DOLPHINS AND PORPOISES

I've just checked my eyes in the mirror. Both are still red and puffy. Blood bulges from the vessels inside the white bits, tiny cracked and crazed lines like a miniature map around the watery iris.

Hay fever again. Only this time, I think the pollen got trapped in the layer of sun cream I'd plastered onto my forehead, which had then spent the afternoon sweating into my eyes. The irritation was unbearable.

Thankfully though, not during the boat trip around Skomer. That had been terrific! I learned about guillemots, gannets, puffins and black-backed gulls. We even saw seals, lolling about on the rocks without a care in the world.

"What about dolphins?" asked someone on the boat.

"We don' talk about dolphins," warned the bearded captain, "Bad luck they are. Though if we see any today, it'll be a rare sight indeed."

We sailed through a crowd of razorbills and puffins, bobbing on the waves. A gannet flew gracefully by, and on the sunny rocks, a lone cormorant stretched his wings majestically.

"This might be the only planet, anywhere, with life on it," I turned and said to my Dad, "And there is so much of it!"

He smiled, knowingly.

"Dolphin!" cried a voice suddenly from the other side of the boat. Everyone stood up, wobbling the craft from port to starboard. There was a moment of excitement as the blue waves broke momentarily. Then the captain, chewing his pen as though it were a pipe, simply said, "Porpoise" and everyone sat down, too scared to admit that they didn't really know the difference.

Later, I found myself sneezing on the beach. Later still, I was asleep on the sofa, exhausted from trying to gouge my eyes out. Sleep helped. I'm always amazed at how hay fever seems to disappear whenever I'm asleep. Even in the mornings it takes a few moments to return. Then, my nose gets pendulous and twitchy, a sneeze explodes and my eyes are itchy and sore.

Anyway, sleep helped a lot. I woke up feeling a lot fresher.