My fella is worried he’ll call round one day and find Fonzie in the bathtub

I have a new friend called Fonzie. Fonzie is a grey seal (actually, he is probably 3 grey seals) who lives in the sea in front of my house. I love hanging out with Fonzie and visit with him every day. When I say visit, I mean I stand on the beach looking at him through my binoculars, while he bobs up and down in the water ignoring me.

The Manx word for seal is “raun”, which I was delighted to discover is also the word for “sea dog”. It came as no surprise seals were long-ago thought of as seadogs in these parts, because that is exactly how I regard Fonzie. Despite this long-held impression, seals are not actually related to canines, rather, they are related to bears, racoons, and skunks etc.

My name is Rebecca and I am a seal bore.

Header Image: Fonzie (one from the sketch book) – w/c pencil and acrylic on paper 2022