James Nesbitt, Gemma Arterton, Tim Peake, Laura Whitmore and Rick Astley

From Writer Abdul-Rehman Malik:

Chris, I confess, summer’s never really been my season and while none of us asked for this uncomfortably hot weather, for big guys like me, there’s just a lot more to keep cool. It’s with good reason that beach holidays never really appealed to me. Why would I want to bake on hot sand for hours? After all, I’ve got a natural tan already.

Then there’s the ocean. The ocean is beautiful, but the few times I’ve swum in it, I’ve been reminded of its unpredictable power.

So, when on a beach in Maui a few weeks ago, I saw my 7 year-old son and my 74 year-old father disappear under a crashing six-foot high wave, my heart stopped for a second. When they emerged a few moments later from the foaming water, I was relieved and anxiously called them back ashore. They laughed and gleefully ignoring me they ran right back into the water – ready to bodysurf the next break.

By his own admission, my father hasn’t gone swimming for a quarter century. The last time he got sunburned was when he hitchhiked across Europe in 1969. Yet for the two weeks we were in Hawaii, he was a fish and he was fearless. When I saw him cliff jumping into the swirling ocean pool, I couldn’t help but think of James’s title character from Lucky Man. My father felt a bit invincible.

And my son followed suit. The two of them braved blowholes, snorkelled in the open seas, dodged sea turtles and got knocked out by more waves than I care to count. It was like two ends of the human life – childhood and the golden years – were bending to meet each other. My father is old enough to be fearless and my son’s young enough to be reckless.

“We are very afraid of being powerless,” says the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. “But we have the power to look deeply at our fears, and then fear cannot control us.”

It’s good not to be foolhardy, but fear prevents us from experiencing the beautiful life Rick so exuberantly sings about. True joy is to experience the gifts of life in the moment – with people we love. Even if it means working on a tan I already have.