Memories Part 6

Textiles

Some years later I wrote some pieces for H & E and wasn’t too surprised when another friend came to me with a copy of the magazine which he'd just brought. He apologised for having seen the published pictures of my wife and myself on a Norfolk naturist beach. He seemed a bit taken aback when I wasn’t upset. He knew we were naturists but had never seen Maja nude. He told us he went naked when he could, but usually alone.

Later, that same friend married and brought his wife to the naturist swims. I was really pleased to have close friends share the naked experience. But they only came once and I wondered if his wife was worried that she couldn’t match up to Maja when they were naked. I thought it would be foolish, that is not what naturism is about, but I think I secretly hoped I was right.

* * *

  

Cautionary tale

As computers started getting more sophisticated and scanners began to appear, another non-naturist friend, Paul, invested in the latest Apple Macintosh computer and Photoshop software. Which we set about learning together.

When he went away on holiday a couple of months later, he asked me to look after his equipment and we set it all up in my flat.

 I took this as the ideal opportunity to tidy up some of my naturist photos and set about scanning them in, cropping the rubbish out and sometimes playing with the colour balance. I even played with changing backgrounds adding multiple images etc, I saved all the images to C.D. and made sure non got saved to the hard disk. it was good fun and an interesting week.

The last picture that I scanned was of Maja lying naked on a German beach, it was a lovely picture, with all of her superb body clearly visible. The reason I know this was the last picture I scanned before handing the equipment back is simple.

I didn’t know until then, and neither did Paul, but a scanner retains the last image scanned – Even when it is switched off and disconnected from the power!

So when he returned from holiday and fired up his computer and scanner, he was, much to his delight, presented with a beautiful naked picture of my wife.

It could have been embarrassing but as a photographer himself it was not a problem and as he had now seen one of our photos there was no problem about me continuing with the editing of the rest of the nude pictures. He'd had more time with Photoshop than me and was able to advise with some of the editing processes. But his teenage daughter was surprised to see a picture of Maja naked on her fathers screen one day when he was doing some editing for me while I was at work.

  Today I have my own scanner and Photoshop software, but it was amusing to discover this trait of scanners. I wonder how many others have fallen foul of this and left incriminating pictures on the office scanner for all to see.

* * *

I never understood how I ended up with such a beautiful wife and have always counted myself lucky. I've never been jealous of other men seeing her naked, on the contrary I have always been proud of her and pleased that other people would want to see her fabulous body.

Since the first accidental exposures, we've never had any worries about showing our holiday snaps to our closest friends – naturist and textile and sometimes we have the best ones on display on the wall at home.

Some people are paranoid about having nude pictures of themselves in someone else’s possession. But what harm can it do to a genuine naturist (unless you want to run for US president). What can they do with the pictures that you haven’t done yourself;

Publish them (even if they did without a model release, where’s the problem?)

Blackmail you (To much Hollywood here)

Or Horror of Horrors – show them to other people, (isn’t that why you take pictures in the first place?)

A standing `joke on the factory floor, from long before anyone knew I was a naturist was;

"Have you got any Nude photos of your wife"

Victim replies, "NO!

"Do you want some?"

Everybody laughs and the victim gets annoyed.

Imagine the reaction when they tried it on me and I replied, "Yes plenty thanks." 

* * *

Near Misses

Maja’s family are German so we have made use of some of the multitude of naturist beaches there and in Denmark, we've also used several beaches in Britain. But we like to find isolated places as well and remove our clothes.  There were some near misses with textiles, but we never actually got caught. Although I’m sure some were suspicious.

* * *

An amusing incident occurred at the Holnis Beach in Northern Germany, we had been nude bathing on the FKK beach opposite the campsite and decided to use the toilets.

They were at the rear of the beach café building and as Maja went to the ladies, she realised that the only thing separating her from the public road and car park was a chain link fence, anyone and everyone driving by, parking or walking along the road could see her naked body. It still makes me smile when I wonder how many passers-by were able to enjoy the view, not just of Maja's beautiful figure, but any naturist taking advantage of the facilities.

The Café and toilets seemed to be shared by naturists and textiles and a young boy of about five years old followed Maja into the ladies, showing all the signs of this being his first vision of a naked woman.

* * *

Close to home one bright summer Sunday I was taking pictures of Maja at the wheel of our Mini Moke on an isolated track at the back of a golf course, in my rock climbing days I'd climbed on a crag there several times and never seen anyone going past. But a car appeared from nowhere and sped past. I watched as the brake lights came on then the reversing lights and after a quick three point turn it came back, slowing as it passed. But too late Maja had slipped a dress over. It was a close thing but I don’t suppose the teenagers in the car would have objected to whatever they did see of a beautiful naked woman. We enjoyed several nude photo sessions around that area, making good use of the rock faces and trees.

* * *

Late one Sunday afternoon, we had been walking our dog, in part of the Charnwood forest when the heavens opened and we were soaked. Until then it had been a warm sunny day and we were wearing shorts and tee shirts. We returned to our new car, but we were reluctant to get in and soak the new seats.

There was no-one else in the car park, so we stripped off, threw our wet things in the boot and drove home naked. We live in an old development in our village with houses and people all around, so we were glad when we got home that we had left the driveway gates open and could reverse straight in.

But the driveway opens onto a corner and looks down the length of the road, which means no privacy there, we had to get out and run round to the rear of the house still completely naked. I don’t know if anyone saw us, but no-one said anything.

After that we started to enjoy nude driving again, we travelled all the way from a naturist campsite near Poole in Dorset to Leicester totally naked and have crossed the country without clothes. It's more difficult for Maja having her breasts exposed it’s harder to cover up, particularly if she's driving. For me I can just put the map book over or a towel if I'm driving.

I have tried to design some quick dress clothes for both of us for those unavoidable situations where we run into a traffic census etc. but I am still working on that … maybe a kilt with Velcro fastenings hmmm.

* * *

Canuding

  We're ardent canoeists and love to find a lonely river to enjoy a day of nude paddling. wilderness rivers, in Canada or Norway, are great, you can be nude for days without seeing anyone. But there are quiet areas everywhere if you look, even around cities, we've found many “secret places.”

  Open (Canadian) Canoes or the new sit-on-tops are best for naturists, the decks on Kayaks keep you covered they are just like putting on clothes.

Occasionally anglers are so well hidden that we paddle past them before we notice them. But often they don’t seem to see us and just continue to stare at their floats. It's not uncommon to come across people bathing nude on the river banks or even making love, I know it is cruel but sometimes it is hard to resist approaching silently then bidding them “Good evening.” The mad scramble that usually ensues, exposes more of their bodies than if they had just continued what they were doing.

* * *

Roy started to canoe with us, as member of our local canoe club while he was in Leicester. But moved back to his family home in the south when he'd completed his degree. Later I was down near his home at Christchurch and called to see him. From then on we travelled between each others homes, canoeing and canoe sailing regularly.

In conversation one night the subject turned to naturism and I mentioned that Maja and I were practising naturists. Roy admitted to enjoying swimming nude from time to time and buying Health and Efficiency. He didn't remember any of our articles, but said he couldn't always get the magazine. So I showed him our copies, he was interested in the pictures and the places I'd written about and I went on to show him some of our collection of photos.

I told Maja about the conversation and the next time he visited it was a hot day so I stripped off. Roy asked if he could and joined me and when Maja returned from shopping she stripped off as well, what followed were several happy years of naturism, both at home and on beaches around the country.

Roy introduced us to a nude beach at Calshot with views out towards the Isle of Wight and our Collie, loved it.

But all good things come to an end and Roy has now married, his wife has not been a naturist so there is no telling if they will eventually join us. Although Roy says he is hopeful

* * *

We've found a wonderful "Naturists Welcome" camp site near Doncaster “Candy Farm” (www.candyfarm.co.uk) The owners are naturists and very friendly, we spent a very happy week end there and made lots of new naturist friends. It was a naturist photographic weekend and we all took turns at being photographed. It made a change for me to be in front of the camera. But I have to admit three of the ladies (one was Maja) attracted the most attention and had the most pictures taken.

* * *

to be continued

Memories - Part 5

Nude at Home

When we can Maja and I go nude at home and, when the weather is right, in the garden. Our rear garden is not visible from the road. But some of the neighbours bedroom windows can see over the fences and the garage. The houses at the rear are separated from us by long gardens, but if the neighbours were to walk down to the adjoining fences the could easily see over.

So far we have had no complaints or comments about our nudity, so either our neighbours have not noticed, or they are not offended. I feel sure, from their knowing smiles, that one couple have seen us nude. But nothing has been said and we are not embarrassed by the possibility, so we continue to go nude whenever we can.

Photography

I have always been a keen photographer, so naturally I wanted to take pictures my gorgeous wife naked. At first we were not sure what we could take and what would be acceptable for the film processors (no digital in those days) so we started off tentatively with a few indoor shots, sending them to the processors to see what would come back.

We mostly used slide film and hoped that as there were no actual prints we wouldn’t have problems with them. In fact we never did have any problems and eventually I found a high street photo-booth that was happy to process naturist prints. But we stopped using them when I went to collect a set of our pictures and noticed I wasn't the only one getting nudes developed there.

They had installed new machines that paraded the drying prints down the front window of the shop and I watched as a group of pictures of a youngish woman posed naked and not too tastefully, on a bed descended to the spool at the bottom of the window, nor was I the only one to notice. Our latest set of prints must have been on display as they were drying, I found it amusing and wondered what comments had been made, but Maja wasn't  too happy, so we looked for somewhere else.

Later I located a Photo Lab used by professionals and processing ceased to be a concern. My pictures were all naturist and I always tried to make them look tasteful, so the lab were happy to process them, many of the professionals took nudes as well. The processing was done in the privacy of the dark rooms at the back of their unit on a business park.

I never asked if they handled more intimate pictures, when we took any – more risqué shots, I used monochrome film which I was able to process myself. Later we used colour slides with no problems. But even then they were quite mild by the standards of the top shelves and websites of today and as they depict an act of love between a loving couple I consider them to be quite beautiful and not at all pornographic*. However they are not for public consumption and are not included in this blog.

*I think pornography starts when the people involved have no feelings for each other.

* * *

When we progressed out of doors with the camera we had to find secluded places, clubs were a bit anti-cameras then (some still are) - We were once reported for having a camera on one naturist camp site, not that we were taking pictures on the site. I was putting the camera (still in its case) into the car ready for our trip to the beach.

The most amusing aspect of that incident was the couple that reported us, they were an elderly and bland couple, with nothing to make them stand out or make a photographer want to take their pictures.

Whereas the couple camped on the other side of us were young and attractive and infinitely more photogenic. They had become friends while we were there and were going to the beach with us on that day.

* * *

Accidents

Once when I changed my employer I found I was working in an office close to my best friends house and as I had a hour and a half for lunch, I occasionally called on his wife for a decent cup of coffee, they'd just had a baby so I knew she would be home.

One time I was greeted with “I’m glad you’ve come today, I've to go to town – it will only take half an hour – could you baby-sit?”

Settled with my sandwiches and a coffee, I noticed a box of slides on the coffee table and thinking they were the latest pictures of the baby, I had a look. They were not of the baby but my friend’s wife naked, taken before she became pregnant!

I confessed to them and apologised for looking, but they weren’t too concerned and passed it off as one of those things. I suggested they should join us at a naturist beach, but even though they weren't worried about my seeing the pictures, they didn’t like the idea of social nudity.

Later Paul had the favour returned, he was helping Maja and myself to move house when the bottom of one of the cardboard boxes fell out and my collection of nude pictures, including some of the "specials" was spread across the dining room floor – it took him quite a while to pick them all up, particularly the oral ones.

The knock-on effect of this was that we would share and discuss each others nude photos whenever we had any new ones. I still couldn’t persuade them to go naturist and I did notice that his nudes were only of his wife, while mine were of both of us (although I must admit most of mine were of Maja - she's better looking than me).

Strangely they recognised their inhibitions and asked us to take their daughter to nude beaches, when she was older, so that she wouldn’t grow up with the same problems. Unfortunately fate intervened and it never came about. He was killed later by a drunk driver and his wife moved away, she asked me to dispose of the nude photos of her which I did reluctantly.

to be continued

Memories Part four - Holidays and home

Holidays

One year we went camping at the Lakeland's Sun Club, the sun was shining when we arrived and continued to shine throughout our stay, facilities were in the nearby village which was quite a walk away, but the remoteness of the site only added to its attraction.  Right on the edge of the dunes it had a great setting, although the beach was not official it was mostly deserted and the dunes big enough so that textiles would have to try really hard to be offended by our nudity.

Having just arrived, we were preparing our midday meal on the site when Maja realised we'd forgotten to pack the can opener. Another nude couple who were just setting off for the beach overheard our predicament and without hesitation, approached us.

“There is a can opener in our tent if you would like to borrow it.” They offered, pointing out which was their tent, then continued on their way to the beach.

We always thought of that as a demonstration that naturists are the nicest and most trusting of people. It also fits with the general behaviour of naturists. I've had many disturbed nights on textile campsites through the lack of consideration of fellow campers. But I have never had a disturbed night on a naturist site.

* * *

Our Mobile Home

We moved to a residential mobile home in Leicestershire, overlooking the river Soar and open fields beyond. It was ideal for us, though a bit basic and the pipes froze most winters. Outside the French windows, running the length of the van, was our garden path, then a hedge with a gate through to an area of the river bank which was only accessible from our garden or the river. We had some great wildlife sightings from here, from Kingfishers to Arctic Terns, voles and the occasional fox.

Our garden spread round the ends of the mobile home, there was a large fence at one end and a hedge at the other and we found it was totally secluded. The hedge alongside the path was about shoulder high so the only place, we might be exposed was when we came and went from the French doors and even then, it was really only Maja's breasts that could be seen. Although we could look over the hedge and see people walking in the fields on the opposite side of the river or the boaties cruising by in their narrow boats, they couldn't see any more of us than our heads. We spent many happy days naked and enjoying the views. It was fun exchanging banter with the narrow boat crews as they cruised by, slowing for the locks ahead. They had no idea the people they were passing pleasantries with, were totally naked.

* * *

At this time the Wanlip Country Park was being created and there were a number of lakes that had once been gravel pits. They were now filled with water and many of them could only be accessed with difficulty. Being local we had time to find our way about and we were soon skinny dipping in the more secluded ones and drying off in the sunshine beside them. No-one ever came close enough to see we were naked. Although the odd bird watcher might have received a surprise courtesy of his binoculars. If any did we never saw them.

In some areas we could walk a long way without clothes and never meet anyone. Although occasionally, when we were walking clothed, we came across some frantic activity that suggested we weren’t  the only ones making use of the privacy.

But our naturist jaunts came to an end at some of the pools when the local council built a Bird hide  with clear views over them.

We could still go nude on the other side of the river, by the water ski lake,  when it wasn’t in use and I could get home from work by using that area as a short cut. So often I would strip off as soon as I could and put my clothes in my bicycle saddlebags while I walked through the rough parkland. The flora was high enough and the ground rough enough, so that if I saw anyone I could drop into a dip and slip my shorts on.

* * *

It was on one of these trips home that I had an amusing and highly unusual experience, I was flashed! Not by a dirty raincoat, but by an attractive young woman. Most women think it's only men that flash, but on the contrary, it's only women that report it. Most men just enjoy a woman flashing them.

It was dusk and as I walked, clothed, along the path that connected the parkland with the road, a bright light came on in a first floor window attracting my attention.

Standing in the window was a dark haired young woman of about eighteen, wearing only an open short leather waistcoat and a smile. Her breasts were pert and not too large and I could easily see that her hair matched and was obviously her natural colour.

She turned away and I wondered if she had exposed herself by accident, but she then bent over to expose her behind and looked back over her shoulder in a classic “Top Shelf” magazine pose. Pity all her effort was wasted, the view was enjoyable but I only had eyes for Maja.

* * *

Memories part three

Travelling

The advent of a car and the ability to travel further gave me my first experience of nude driving, a naked female driver near to Lands-end happily slowed her 2CV Citroen to drive between the crowds of surfers heading for the beach, her naked breasts clearly visible to everyone and those close enough to look into the car as she passed were treated to the vision of a triangle of dark pubic hair. 

A man might well have been arrested for driving in such a state of undress, but it was the early seventies and no-one seemed the least bit offended by this girls motorised immodesty. Not long afterwards there was an article, in H & E about a couple in America who regularly drove naked in an open top sports car.

That gave me the idea that on the open road I could drive naked, only my top half would be visible and if I got near to crowds I could pull a towel over. Thus started a career of nude driving and over the years I've driven most of the length and breadth of the UK without clothes. I can usually find a quiet corner of a service area car park to dress before entering the buildings and by having shorts available I can dress quickly if need be.

* * *

I started to take H & E regularly and as always, there was a lot of debate about single male naturists – It didn't make any sense to me, I would have thought an attractive single female naturist held a lot more potential for disrupting a club than any lone male. It seemed to me that the men of the naturist clubs didn’t trust their wives to be near a naked single male, in case they should be tempted by him. But they allowed themselves the company and potential temptations of naked single females. I'm surprised the women in the clubs didn't realise this.

Of course I may be wrong, it could be the wives who daren’t trust themselves to be near a naked man. Either way single naturist men were considered to be pariahs and single naturist women were welcomed with open arms.

Whatever the reasons, it meant that I was condemned to solitary nude bathing for many years to come. Although I did manage to find an occasional nude beach where I could be with like minds, even if as a solo male I couldn't join in the activities.

Marriage

I was twenty three when I met a beautiful young woman who, after a brief courtship became my wife. I told her about naturism early on in the relationship and introduced her to the delights of H & E. She enjoyed the articles and the problems page and was happy to note that the photos weren’t distorted, pelvis thrusting models but mostly every day people. By now the airbrush cover-ups had ceased so the models could be seen in their entirety.

* * *

Maja wasn’t sure about going nude in public, but she eventually agreed that we should go to a club for a trial day and I agreed that if she didn’t enjoy it, we would leave.

We selected a club close to Meriden in the West Midlands, on arrival there was a friendly greeting and introduction to the club facilities then we were shown where to get undressed.

A little old man – the club secretary - took us round to introduce us to everyone. I know it shouldn’t make a difference but Maja was a tall slim blonde with a fabulous figure, she looked stunning naked and the club Secretary took great delight in introducing her on her own before admitting she had a partner. 

Maja seemed to settle to social nudity right away and there was no sign of her earlier nervousness. I was very proud of my beautiful young wife that day.

The club and its members were very friendly and had we lived closer we would have joined, but in the end we decided it was just too far to travel.

to be continued