Blood and Blue Bottles

On our way back from our little camping trip we decided to stop at Wollongong for a spot of breakfast and an early morning swim.  We pulled up in the car park and I hopped out of the ute only to realise that my left flip flop was covered in blood.  My blood.  Now I'm not too bad with blood, but when it's my own blood I get a little freaked out.  I could feel the panic rising, my body going weak, my stomach protesting.  The strangest thing was that I'd felt no pain.  I had no idea I was even bleeding until I stood up and felt a wet and sticky flip flop.  My mind was racing at this point, unsure of whether a lack of pain was a good thing or bad thing.  But I was determined to retain an element of calm and not have a freak out in front of everyone.  So I was like, er guys, I'm totally bleeding.  Everyone gathered to examine the foot and confirmed there was quite a lot of blood.  Monster Noggin wondered if I'd stood on some glass.  Band Man noted that my toe looked a funny shape.  I made the point that my toe always looks a funny shape.  Anyway, we found some water, washed off the foot and found the source of the blood.  A huge gash on my foot?  A shard of glass sticking out of my toe?  A land dwelling shark gnawing on my ankle?  No.  It was a tiny pin prick on top of my toe.  So small, that I could only tell it was there because of the blood trickling out of it.  No wonder I couldn't feel anything!  I must have stood on a shell or something.  Still, it took a while for it to stop bleeding and I was wandering around with a roll of bog roll in the absence of a plaster.  So after a spot of breakfast we headed into the surf.  I wondered whether my bleeding toe would attract sharks.  The toe had actually stopped bleeding at this point, but still, I had to wonder.  It turns out sharks weren't the ones to worry about.  It was the damned blue bottles.  A Northerly current had washed a load of them into our waters and as we approached the water we noticed there were blue bottles littering the sand.  They're strange looking creatures.  They look like tiny blue jelly fish with very long stingers.  They're not deadly, but if they get you they do hurt.  I wasn't convinced about getting in the water.  Not with all of those little beasts floating around.  But Mystical Roo had already been for a swim and hadn't had a problem.  I put one foot in the water and could already see three blue bottles floating nearby.  With the waves washing in, the blue bottles were being thrown around all over the place.  It was a leg lottery. They could have washed up against anyone.  I decided the odds weren't good and declared I would not be swimming.  It was around this point that one decided to wrap itself around Mystical Roo's ankle.  Mystical Roo, heroic as ever, was fairly unphased by this event, though appeared somewhat perturbed by the blue stinger that was stuck to him.  He pulled the thing off as I literally went screaming from the sea.  It was very lady like.  Legs and arms flailing, hopping and leaping, screaming.  No wonder I got a few funny looks.  Mystical Roo waded out of the surf and confirmed the sting was no worse that a nettle sting.  Regardless, there was no way I was getting back in the water that day.  We returned home and ended up going for a swim in the rock pool instead.  No blue bottles there.  Just the lesser spotted speedo.