ARTHUR AND OLIVER, THE SURFER DUDES OF SANDOWN

My name is Arthur King and if you’re like me

You know there’s nowhere better than being by the sea

Splashing in the waves and digging in the sand

Whilst our mummies stretch out to try and get tanned

Now Oliver and I we love to play

On the golden sands of Sandown bay

But being in the sea is what we love best

And to do what we do we have to be specially dressed

In a wet suit, a life vest and a hat for the sun

We’re fully prepared for adventures and fun!

With kayaks, body boards and blow up jet skis too

With the sea was right there for us to dip into

As Oliver and I off to the sea we did race

Our mummies both caught us putting cream on our face

They stood there and told us, both looking quite stern

To be ultra careful in case we did burn

But what do they know? We’re both here to play!

And with a last “be careful” we sped off and away

Straight into the sea on our body boards we splashed

As the waves surged past then crested and crashed

We both caught a wave and sped to the shore

Racing each other in a body board war

Oliver won the first race but I got the second

The third a dead heat, or so we both reckoned

Then Oliver started doing all these jumps and neat tricks

Leaping high off his board with flying punches and kicks

He’d land in the sea with an almighty splash

And surfaced again with a seaweed moustache

I just had to join in so I jumped off with a cry

Mimicking the seagulls that were flying by

Coming to the surface I now had seaweed for hair

Oliver did too, we made a right pair

Now I can be a mischievous sort

And just had myself a devilish thought

I whispered to Oliver my fiendish plan

And together the sea bed we did rapidly scan

Gathering crabs and winkles, a cuttlefish too

We made a wriggling seafood stew

Approaching our mummies we each had a bucket

And on the count of three we both went to chuck it

There was a splat and a splash as the creatures landed

Our mummies chests then rapidly expanded

Both letting out screams that were high and shrill

But prepared for this we merely stood still

For Oliver and I we each had a disguise

That we hoped would fool even our mummies eyes

Who could it have been throwing those buckets of creatures?

Surely not those two surf dudes with the handsome features?

Oliver had a seaweed moustache and I had a beard

But then came the shout that each of us feared

“Boys! You rotters! What on earth have you done?!”

Oliver and I looked at each other and broke into a run

“I don’t get it” I said “The disguise didn’t work!”

And then our escapes both ended with a quite sudden jerk

Our mums had gone from horizontal to airborne as quick as a flash

I had no idea how fast they could dash

I looked at my mummy with sea snails in her hair

And seaweed hanging out of her underwear

I tried as hard as I could but couldn’t help but grin

Despite all the trouble I was obviously in

I burst out laughing, howling and giggling

On Olivers mums head the cuttlefish was wriggling

Oliver and I fell into fits of laughter

But I don’t think it deserved what they did to us after

Our mummies buried us neck deep in the sand

This wasn’t the beach trip we’d happily planned

“This serves you right you naughty imps”

“For covering us both in crabs and shrimps

You lie there and think about what it is that you’ve done

Whilst the other kids play and have lots of fun

What you did was nasty and mean

Now we’re off for a swim to go and get clean

Buried in the sand both Oliver and I

We looked out to sea and up at the sky

I said “On reflection that plan wasn’t really all that clever”

Oliver sarcastically replied “You think? Really? No, never!”