B and I walk on the beach searching for agates, since April of 2020.
One day he picks up a beach object. "What's this?" he says.
"Um," I say. It is a plastic tube, about three inches long, wider than a normal straw. "I recommend not licking it."
"EWWW!" he looks horrified and drops it.
"It's probably been washed clean." I say. "The ocean is good at that." I am laughing. His face is so appalled.
"Yuk." he says. "I knew what it was when I saw your face. After all, I don't use them."
"I don't anymore either." Yeah, one of the two parts of a playtex tampon inserter. I didn't buy those because they generate so much plastic trash and don't fit in one's pocket as well as the OB ones. Some have cardboard inserters. As a physician it would be silly to feel squeamish about touching any part of one's own anatomy. Ok, if my guts were falling out I might be squeamish, but that is hopefully unlikely.
Not licking it, you say?
Well, the clear agates are easiest to see when the sun is out, at a low angle. They light up then. They look like they have the texture of gummi bears. It is even easier when they are wet. So if they are dry, one tends to either dip them in water or lick them. We aren't the only ones, either. The Pacific Rockhound Facebutt group confesses the same behavior. I love the chunks of iron, yum.
Another friend found an unexploded mine on the beach. He picked it up "so it wouldn't hurt a kid" and put it in his pocket. When he got home, he put it in the back of his pickup and called the local police. The police came and peered at it, consulted and called in the Bomb Squad. They very carefully removed it. Fun, eh? Our dinner group about died laughing at the thought of him walking along the beach with a pocket full of bomb. "Really? You didn't worry about it?"
"Just thought I'd better not trip."
After the Japan earthquake and tsunami, a container was found on a Canadian beach with a motorcycle inside. Here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/harley-davidson-motorcycle-swept-away-japan-tsunami-washes-canada-coast-flna746918. And now it is a memorial: https://www.insurance.harley-davidson.com/the-open-road/profiles/tsunami-motorcycle.
#14: Iron Noder