Beach kit

We finally made it to one of the Hermosa Beach Summer Concerts this weekend. It was brilliant. Great music and a lovely atmosphere, with the sands of Hermosa plenty wide enough to accommodate a big crowd without it feeling anything other than chilled out and friendly.

We took a seat in the highly prized back section, great for access to the swingset (arguably the best seat in the whole venue), and Lady P played in the sand and munched on goldfish crackers while TLOML and I enjoyed the rootsy, folksy strains of the Dustbowl Revival.

Premium seating

Sadly we were only able to hang around for 45 minutes or so. Next Sunday - the last in the series - we plan on staying till the bitter end, or as late as possible. I'd love to be there at sunset, or at least till the sky starts turning pink.

This will mean taking more than a couple of snacks for Lady P. A full picnic will be required. And TLOML suggests we may want to buy a couple of chairs. I consider taking furniture to the beach to be a sign of weakness. (Although I am the first to sit on someone else's chair if they offer it up). I was horrified by the coffee tables I saw families all around us roll nonchalantly out yesterday.

Seriously, people, we're at the beach! All you need is some soft sand to sit on, and a bag of snacks.

Lady P's picnic kit

I ascribe this 'no frills' attitude to the many times I joined my mum on her Girl Guide camps, where the only furniture we had was the kind you built or made yourself from scratch: a woven newspaper mat to sit on, a 'bedding rack' to keep our rucksacks off the ground, and maybe a stand for the washing up bowl if you felt really fancy. All meals were taken sitting on the ground.

Still, I guess it would be nice to have somewhere to prop a solo cup of wine, or a bag of chips without worrying about sand creeping in. So we may compromise and take the Red Wagon. It's plenty big enough to carry our picnic, and when we get to the beach we can fold the seats down to create a flat, elevated surface. Beach furniture by stealth. Don't tell my mum!

One thing I will not be packing for the beach ever again is a toy for Lady P. She resolutely ignores anything we bring to amuse her - but has perfected the of 'borrowing' other children's toys. So that's one way to lighten our load.

We sat 10 ft away from these kids: Lady P wasted no time getting in amongst their sand play