The last few days...

Well, I did pretty well this week - I was up and at the pool again on Tuesday morning, which is pretty impressive after going on Monday...  This could be the start of something!!  Getting up was a bit easier but the swimming was still tough.  I think I still ached a bit from Monday.  I should probably build up to doing it more often... On the plus side I'm clearly using my legs properly in the new pool as my thighs and gluteus maximus were really quite sore on Wednesday/Thursday.  In that, using muscles you don't usually, kind of way.  It was good, but hard on Tuesday and for most of the time quite satisfying as it was just me and this one other girl in the lane and we appeared to swim at roughly the same pace, passing each other in the middle of the lane and turning at roughly the same time.  Then she left and I was joined by this big Polish guy.  I saw him come in as I thought - gosh, he looks like he swims aaaallllll the time, all muscly and stretching himself out quite thoroughly.  All professional like.  And then he got in to my lane!  Not the fast one at the other end of the pool, mine.  And I was quite surprised as he wasn't that fast at all.  Faster than me, which isn't difficult in that pool, but not the super swimmer I took him to be.  Just goes to show you shouldn't judge people based on what they look like!!

So, the stats, the stats... Slightly slower overall on Tuesday, but not that much and I went which was the important thing:

40 lengths (1000m)

35.09.10 (only 26 seconds slower than Monday)

Average time for length: 52.73 (the reason for the above)

Fastest Length: 1 at 40.80 (quicker by 15 milliseconds!)

Slowest Length: 26 at 56.52 (also quicker)

It's funny, my fastest length is always number 1, which makes sense, but the slowest one changes every time!  No consistency what so ever...

Anyway, didn't go again this week as have Japanese classes on a Wednesday evening, which makes for a long day anyway, and I was off work on Thursday/Friday for a bit of leave.  This new regime isn't crazy enough to get me up to go for a swim early on days when I'm not then going to work...  Not yet, anyway...  ;o)

Had a very lovely lazy day on Thursday, sleeping in, picking up a car for the weekend and pottering about.  We dropped some old electrical bits that still work off with the Bethany charity shop on Leith Walk, and then headed to Portobello for a stroll along the prom.  It was a beautiful day and nice to be out and about enjoying the sunshine.  

Friday we headed up to St As for a look around and to stay in the Guest House that I want to use as a base for the wedding next year.  Decided that it was better to try it out before booking it.  Had only seen it on the web, and while it looks lovely, you never know until you try it out...  We were not disappointed at all.  Brooksby House is a lovely little house set away from any noisy streets, tucked away near my old hall of residence from my Uni days.  We were met by the proprietess Caryn, who greeted me by name.  It probably helped that they didn't have many other guests staying, but it was a nice touch.  We had picked Friday night to stay there as it marked a year to the day before the wedding, and it was nice that she also remembered that I had mentioned that when booking back in November.  We stayed in the Nicklaus room, their luxury room and it was just lovely.  Very clean, great sized bathroom (with long bath), super comfy king sized brass bed and a view over the garden.  We were very pleased.  

It was another beautiful day on Friday so after checking in we went for a wander round St As.  We popped in to the Chapel and found ourselves in there spookily at the exact time at which the wedding is booked for next year!  I found my heart racing with the anticipation and we've still got a whole year to go!!  We also took a nice long stroll with ice cream from Janettas (essential) and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine.  It really was just lovely.  To the point where I was getting a bit fed up with people saying 'oh, I hope it's like this for you next year'.  Honestly.  It's not going to be.  It will rain.  Guaranteed!  But having been there on a 20th March will beautiful weather, it's difficult not to hope...  ;o)

We dined in Pizza Express that night, both of us feeling the pinch by all the saving for the wedding and honeymoon that meant a more pricey meal somewhere else was not really an option.  But we didn't care.  We like PE and the most important thing was spending a nice evening together.  It was a bit cold after dinner for a walk, so we headed back to Brooksby where I practically fell asleep as soon as getting in!  All these early morning are getting to me I think!

Had a good nights sleep in the comfy bed and woke early as usual.  Breakfast was between 8 and 9, so we headed downstairs around 8:30.  It was another beautiful sunny day and we chose to sit in at the window in the dining room, thus roasting ourselves in the sunlight!  This is Scotland in March, for goodness sake....  Breakfast was served up by Chris, the proprietor, who was just as nice and friendly as his wife.  They have a good range of items on their menu and both deciding that a full fry would just be a little too much, we both plumped for tattie scone and bacon.  With a fried egg added at the suggestion of Chris!  Hmmm... it was great.  The tattie scones (2) were great and the bacon (2 large rashers) cooked perfectly.  Not overdone with lovely crispy edges.  And a perfect fried egg too.  Yum!  

You can tell we liked the place, yes?!  Well on leaving I asked if it would be possible to book it in it's entirety for next year.   For the bridal party.  I could think of no better place away from home to have as my base when getting ready etc.  Chris said he'd confirm in an e-mail, but that he didn't think it would be a problem.  They do exclusive bookings quite often I think, and can cater to your requirements when doing so.  They have a golfing group coming in the week before we want it, but he was pretty sure they were staying only til the 18th.  Finger crossed, crossed, crossed!  It will just be too disappointing if he comes back and says it's not possible...  As they only had one other couple staying he was able to give us a tour of the rest of the guest house and show us the rest of the rooms (other than the one in use).  They are all finished to a really high standard and I can't see any of the party being disappointed with any of the rooms.  They look even better than they do on the web.

Seriously people, I thought this place was great!  Pricier than you would expect from a B&B, but I think it was worth it.

We pootled back to Edinburgh after a long walk along West Sands, enjoying the morning sun.  We decided to take the coastal route through Crail, Anstruther etc, to enjoy the best of the day.  We stopped in Anstruther to stretch the legs and have a chippy lunch.  You can't pass through without going to the Anstruther Fish Bar...  Hmm...  We're not very good with the grease of f&c anymore, but it was good.  One fish and a portion and a half of chips between us was quite enough!  So nice to be able to enjoy the sunshine while we have it.  Great to have a car too, even if the Ford Fusion is basically quite an ugly car.  ;o)  

Good to be home and we still have one whole day of the weekend left.  Phew.  Need to recover from all this galavanting!