Kids, when I was a wee little snapper, my skin used to be a deep bronze brown colour, unlike the palid vampire white I am today. Back in those days, staying out for hours in the sun used to be good for us, or so conventional wisdom taught us.
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| Yup, a bronze god in Speedos. |
Whenever we went swimming at the pools, or were at the beach, we would lie on our towels and try to get tanned by using Coppertone Suntan lotion. "Sun TAN lotion?" you ask. Yes, there used to be a product which probably had a -10 SPF rating and accelerated the tanning process, rather than protecting you from UV radiation. It was like basting a leg of pork in the roasting dish so that you get nice crackling, which essentially happened to our backs after a weekend of sunbathing.
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| Beautiful tan today, a crispy, wrinkly old hag tomorrow. |
The telltale signs appear as long strips of skin peel off, and you're left with a raw pinkish red patch all across your back. Sometimes, some asshole at school would walk past and give you a good slap on the back, causing a flinch of pain. In hindsight, that's a sign that you've done some serious damage to your skin, vastly increasing the risk of skin cancer.
Nowadays, especially in New Zealand with that great big hole in the Ozone above us, I'm less inclined to go out into the hot summer sun between 10am-4pm even with sunscreen on. That pretty much explains why I walk around with a bucket hat, lavish my meals with tomato sauce (for the
lycopene) and don't play cricket.
2 comments:
oh how i enjoyed those days. btw, i do not slather on the sun tanning lotion nowadays but neither do i put on the sun screen!
Dude, you need to protect your skin. Skin cancer is a serious issue.
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