I've called this post Second First a Time because I did visit Brighton Beach shortly after it opened at the suggestion of my then girlfriend, but that was a very long time ago.

My second first time was last Friday when I visited my first ever naturist club. It wasn't that I had a great desire to take up naturism, but a couple who are great friends and who I have photographed on innumerable occasions (I am an amateur photographer of many years standing) invited me to join them for a day at this club. Being quite conservative (small c) and certainly being nothing to look at myself I wasn't at all sure about accepting their invitation, but I reasoned that as I had seen and photographed both of them naked so often, it would be churlish of me to refuse. However, I was concerned about the prospect of being in an environment full of naked strangers, come to that I was even more concerned about being naked in front of my friends so I decided to see if I could visit the club on my own in advance of the invitation and this I did last Friday.

I arrived at about midday, parked in the club car park, which is very much within the club's grounds, got out, noting a large number of cars already there and went in search of reception. Once there I was greeted by a very friendly and fully dressed receptionist who remembered taking my call the previous day (which made things easier because I didn't have to explain everything again). She completed the formalities and gave me a parking permit for my car and told me to go and place it in the car, then to come back and she would arrange a tour of the club and its facilities. This I did and was shown around by another very friendly staff member and that was that. I was left in the middle of a field of naked sunbathers still very much fully clothed.

I walked back to my car feeling somewhat the odd one out and stood for a while there in the car park wondering what I thought I was doing. It was then that I remembered the good part of my Brighton experience, the feeling of the sun and wind on my skin and despite being now decidedly middle aged and far from the body beautiful I decided to go for it, took off my clothes and put them in the car. I was now naked in the car park and it took a few more moments to pluck up the courage to walk back to the club house with nothing but my towel and a pair of sandals.

Of course, everyone reading this will realise how silly my concerns were. No one took any notice of me and I decided that a cup of tea would be in order. I took my tea in th chill out zone, seating myself almost as far from the few others there as possible. I was left in peace to drink my tea and to get my heart rate back to normal. Later I walked around the site and took in a delightful walk through some woods without feeling anything more than the exhilaration of the sun and breeze. Later still I bought a second cup of tea and returned to the chill out area choosing this time to sit closer to a group of people who were chatting together.

When an opportunity presented itself, I joined the conversation and as time passed people went away and others joined until I was sitting chatting to two couples who were both fully dressed. There was no way I could have imagined doing that at the beginning of the day, yet I felt no embarrassment, just complete relaxation. Later still I was left chatting to just one lady while her husband went to change and still there was no problem for either of us, he returned and she left and as my time was now pressing, I too had to go but I bumped into the lady who was now just as naked as me. We said good bye all around and that we hope to meet again on another day.

I can't wait for my next opportunity to visit this club and it's incredibly friendly people, in fact, weather and business permitting I'll be there on Thursday this week and when I visit with my friends, I know I'll be just as comfortable with them as I was on my own. This is a great lifestyle and one i hope to keep up for years to come.