Gym Bunny

With the pool closed (boo!), I have been hitting the gym instead. Well, I say hitting - does three times count?? I went twice last week (once early in the morning, which was great as there were only 4 other people there, and then again on a day off, which was great because 10:30 is a good time to go to the gym for me, if I didn't work...). I mostly just wanted to use the cross-trainer because I like the low impact cardio element, but when I went on the Monday I couldn't work out how to make it work at first! So I had to try the treadmill, which was more obvious. I was very very pleased with myself that I managed to run on the treadmill for 10 minutes straight. Go me! This was just at 7km per hour (super slow) on the first go, but I got it up to 12 1/2 mins at 7.5km today. :o) And it didn't cripple me the next day...

I did eventually work out the cross-trainer (when it looks like it's off, it's not obvious that it will come on when you start moving your feet) and did the 'weight loss' programme. It was good and I enjoyed it. 4 minutes of a low resistance, 4 minutes of a higher resistance, etcetc for 28 mins. The whole gym experience was actually great and I felt great. I think it helps that it's a really nice gym with tonnes of equipment, so even this evening, when I was there around 5, it didn't feel too busy. I may even keep going after the pool re-opens, to supplement my swimming! And seeing as I've put a few pounds on lately and am trying to get an appointment with a dress maker I think that's no bad thing!

Update!

Have been neglecting the blog for a bit too long... And as always I am prompted by recording the efforts of some exercise!

Since the last post I have spent a week in Perthshire looking after two of my favourite pooches, who were absolutely adorable the whole week (despite a bit of whinging from Baff...). We walked quite a bit and read and it was generally very relaxing. The only annoying thing being Flâneur having to work the whole week. His boss is the most annoying man I have ever come across, he really is... When we got back from Perth though we had approximately four hours before being descended upon by my parents and two of their friends (who I've known forever, not just random friends of my parents). I had a nice week with them too, but was grateful that their stay was only til the Thursday so I could prepare myself for going back to work!

On the exercise front I managed to go swimming twice when I was on my holidays, on both Mondays, and again had great swims. In fact on the second Monday it was my fastest swim ever clocking in at about 31:15 (can't remember the exact figure now). I have subsequently not been swimming, partly because I was just knackered last week... I'd been working over the weekend and suffered two very annoying migraines, so I was left pretty tired during the week. I did try to go this week, but was scuppered by the pool being closed! Which is the most annoying thing when you've made the effort to get up and are quite psyched about going for a swim. I stood there for ages trying all the doors, perplexed about why I couldn't get in. There were no notices anywhere, and I didn't remember having seen any when I was last there, admittedly two weeks before, but even so. I had no choice but to just head to work and grab a shower there and start my day an hour earlier than intended. I was pretty cross by this point. When I got to my desk I immediately went online to see what was going on and found their website declaring the pool shut from August 3-23. They are apparently improving the reception area to make it more accessible, which is a good thing, but it's annoying that that causes the whole pool to be closed! Gah! So that's it, no swimming until the end of August... I'm not sure what I'm going to do... And I know I could go to the local council pool, but it's just annoying and expensive, particularly when I've already paid for a gym membership! It works out at about £6 a go, once you take into account the bus fare to get there...

So I might try out their gym, try the cross trainer first thing. I don't think it will compare at all favourably with swimming, but it's worth a shot. Can't do no exercise just because the pool is closed. 

And in this vein, I went for a run today. To be fair, I only went because Flâneur made me. He'd just had the all clear from the physio to do any type of exercise, provided he started off slowly, and so decided that he might try this running malarky, if it made me go out... He ruptured his achilles many years ago, which had always put him off most exercise, but having just, finally got some physio and being good at actually doing his exercises he can now give it a go. I must say it was a great thing for me (let alone him!). It was lovely to have someone to go out with, to motivate me, and to keep me going!! We did my usual route and my usual 2:1 jog to walk ratio, and did really well! Despite not having been out since June (really, this is just the third time this year that I've been out 'running'), we did the 2.4ish mile route in 31 minutes 14 seconds. I think that the fastest I've ever done it. God, I love that man.

Holidays!

Yippee... I'm off work for two whole weeks. Whatever shall I do with myself...

Well, this morning, I still got up and went swimming. I know, on a day I didn't have to get up and everything! ;o) I did have a lie in, the alarm going off at 6:55, rather than 6:20, but I'm glad that I went. Quite often I get out of the pool, knackered, but energised (the way that you often do after exercising), and want to be going off and doing anything other than going to work. So today I did. I did my 40 lengths (1KM), got out, showered, got dressed again and then headed home for breakfast. Lovely. (I did make sure I had a banana before going to the pool in case anyone is concerned that I exercised without eating). It was a good swim again today too, despite some very annoying people again. I'm beginning to suspect that all other people in the pool are annoying and that I will only be happy if I get the place to myself, or at least the lane! I don't want to constantly moan about other people at the pool, but there was this one guy who always seemed to wait, wait and then go off just as you were about to turn. Thankfully he wasn't a slow one, but the second time it happened I just turned and shot off, forcing him to hold back. Ha!

And my new technique must definitely be working, even though I'm not sure I am swimming any faster on my fifth lengths. But yet again, today, I was under 32 mins. Yay! Having been under 32 mins on each swim last week (I went on Friday as well and clocked 31.57.81), I was not convinced that today was going to be as good - there was no way I could keep that up consistently. But for some reason, I'm not entirely sure what (!), I did. And not just that, my time was practically the same as last Monday, just 3 milliseconds slower at 31.28.70. Woo hoo! I was very happy.

And then it was home to pack the hire car that we picked up yesterday. We're dog sitting this week for Wastrel and SAM in the countryside, so it was goodbye city, hello the gentle sounds of not so far off gun fire... Ah, the countryside! Am looking forward to a nice relaxing week, perhaps a spot of antiquing, some walks, some reading, and possibly even some sewing (yes, I brought the sewing machine with me, when else am I going to get the time to start anything new?) Bliss.

Failure!

Well, that’s probably a bit harsh, but I have managed to entirely fail to lose 6 pounds in three weeks. In fact, I pretty much failed to lose 1! Which is pretty shocking… After a good start, it all slipped away after the (much enjoyed) excesses of last weekend. I am, however, pretty pleased that I did not go completely backwards and only put on one pound from last week, weighing, as I did this morning, X-2 stones 13lb 1/8. It could have been soooo much worse!

On a more positive note I found my old notebook in which I noted my measurements (another scary thing!) back in March last year when I started this weight loss drive. I am so pleased to report that I have managed to shift a grand total of:

4 inches off my waist
3 1/2 inches off my hips
2 inches off my boobs
2 inches off my back measurement

Let’s face it, it’s not all about the weight, but also about healthiness and clothes fitting not only better but getting too big as I drop sizes… So I finally had to ditch some jeans that were too big for me and have found that some of my skirts, that hadn’t been fitting properly for about 2 years, I am now able to wear properly (not fooling myself that they fit and thus creating a hideous muffin top…) I think this technically means I have dropped a dress size or so, but seeing as I had become one of these deluded women who think they still fit into things that they clearly don’t, it’s difficult to tell… ;o)

I also went swimming three times this week. Yes three! And all in a row… Tuesday and Wednesday I have already covered, but I also went out on Thursday morning too (and considered it this morning, before going back to sleep…). It was sooo lovely and quiet with only 7 other people in the pool. Bliss. I got my lane to myself the whole time and I really really enjoyed my swim. I think I may have enjoyed it a bit too much, however, as my time was really shocking when I got out! I thought I had been going really well and fairly fast and was feeling pretty pleased with myself. I had tried to work on my technique a bit (cue the excuses), but I think this just served to slow me down… Coming down the home straight on length 40 I thought, yup, this has been good, should be a good time, I wont be happy if it’s over 33 mins as it should be pretty fast. I then touched the wall, stopped the SportsCount and looked at the total. 34.18.86!! Ok, so only 30 seconds slower than on Wednesday, but I haven’t clocked over 34 mins since the beginning of April!! I was so shocked at it that I kept looking to check. When checking the other stats (fastest lap was about average) I saw what I think was the reason – a length of unutterable laziness that is unmatched in all my adventures in the Uni Pool. Yes, length number 28 clocked up a whopping 57.01 seconds!! My slowest lengths weren’t even that bad when I first started at this pool. Clearly I was entirely unarsed in that length. I was very disappointed. But, hey, I went, that’s what’s important, and I managed a whole 100 metres of backstroke after my breaststroke too (4 lengths). I did consider doing more but time was ticking away and I still had to get myself to work…

But all these adventures in swimming mean that I have also managed to walk over 7 miles this week (it’s a round trip of about 2.4 miles to and from work via the pool), not including the walk at Little Glen Garr on Monday. So all in all a good exercise week. Let’s just hope I keep it up next week and manage to get the old weight loss back on track too.

Sister Act 2

Yep, I’m back in the habit (boom, boom). After a fabulous weekend where I ate far too much (more later) I was back at the pool both yesterday and today. Phew. Partly this is in reaction to the large amount of food eaten and partly this is because I really needed to get back at it having been away from the pool for two weeks.

It was tough going and I felt like a lead weight for the first 10 lengths or so, both yesterday and today… Yesterday was worse as I thought ‘I’m never going to get through all 40 of these...’ so difficult it seemed. But as usual it picked up around the 20 mark and soon the 40 were done and not in too bad a time, either (32.55.94). It was very quiet in the pool, which is lovely, with just a few other slow swimmers to start. A couple of them looked like they were just about saving themselves from drowning, so dreadful were their attempts to do front crawl, and one old chap joined the lane, forcing me over to the next lane as he swims so sloooowwwly… But luckily the other slow lane wasn’t so busy and I even had it to myself for the last few lengths.

I had to stop myself from slowing down because of this (no-one else there to push me to swim faster!), but by the end of the 40 I felt pretty good and because there was no-one else in the lane I thought I’d give myself two lengths of backstroke to finish off. These weren’t recorded in my time, but a nice way to wind down after the 40 lengths of breaststroke. I swim backstroke faster (and possibly better) than the breaststroke, but can be a little erratic as I fail to swim in a straight line. This is why I will only do it when there is no-one else around… I do enjoy it though and it can be quite a work out so it’s a good thing to add on when I can. Today was pretty similar and again after my 40 lengths I was able to fit in the two of backstroke, which was great. Not such a good time (33.40.93), but I figured the important thing was I went.

I did want to stay in the pool yesterday though. It was partly a general reluctance to go to work after a nice long weekend and partly a love of the water and an enjoyment of what I was doing. It was so sunny yesterday that work was the last place I wanted to be going when I got out the pool. Particularly, as I said, after a nice long weekend.

Wastrel and SAM had decided to mark the longest day by holding a BBQ on Sunday and a vigil (of sorts) on Saturday night to see in the longest day. Flâneur and I imposed ourselves upon them on Friday night, along with RSL and Wastrel’s brother and thus the feasting started. Wastrel and SAM’s neighbour but one had seen a deer nibbling at his garden and, we were told, ‘shot it out the bedroom window’. Their direct neighbour then butchered said deer (you’ve got to love the countryside) and a chunk of it was then given to W&S. This was lovingly cooked for us into a Venison Wellington, which was delicious, accompanied by yummy roast spuds and asparagus. Yum! I tried to not eat too much of it, but failed by taking seconds and eating goodness knows how many of the little crispy potatoes. Hmm… Ah well I thought, it’s all tasty…

On Saturday Wastrel had organised some activities for the six of us and up early(ish) we went off to the Hilton at Dunkeld for a spot of shooting. We were split up into two groups, Wastrel going with the boys as the tallest girl, and RSL, SAM and I in the other group. We had a really great instructor who was patient and made sure we knew exactly what we should be doing before loading any shells into the gun. My brain still freaked a little every time I went to pull the trigger, but we all managed very respectable scores from the 25 shots we got.

Next was lunch in Aberfeldy (a huge venison burger and chips for me) which was surprising quick… followed by boating and fishing on Loch Tay. Mostly this was boating with line dangled out the back (with a good 20-30 mins of poor Wastrel trying to untangle the lines that RSL and I had managed to mangle good and proper) as we failed to catch anything at all. But it was a very pleasant afternoon and lovely to be out on the water. I’m just a water-baby me.

Wastrel’s brother had declared earlier (and whenever asked what he wanted to do) that we should have afternoon tea so we piled off to Kinnaird Hotel after handing the boat back. It’s a beautiful country house hotel and very relaxing. We had to wait a bit for tea, but it was worth it when it came. It really put some of the Edinburgh hotels to shame. Between two there were 6 fingers of sandwich, about five different types of cake and shortbread. I think we should have had scones too, but were told they were all done for the day. It was all delicious and (nearly) all demolished too. Definitely recommended.

(Image taken from Kinaird Hotel website)

We hightailed it back to the house from there to meet HAL and BC who were joining us for the next bit of the weekend. BC stayed all too briefly, as he had work stuff to do, but it was nice to catch up with HAL who has had a manic few weeks with work. A brazier was lit and more food put out (cold foods this time, which I really should not have looked at let alone had two helpings of having already eaten 3 meals that day… Urgh) and we sat outside enjoying the warm night air, the warmth of the brazier and each other’s company. There was chat, singing and eventually we all turned in after a lovely, tiring, sunny day.

Sunday, then, was the BBQ itself. We awoke to a beautiful day and I helped SAM in the kitchen with salads and stuff while Wastrel, HAL and Flâneur made an effigy out of bread and hay to be burned later (a sort of wicker man who was named ‘Woodwood’ for obvious reasons). The party proper started at noon and we were soon joined by an assortment of friends and neighbours of Wastrel and SAM’s (where it was nice to finally put faces to names). There was more good food (we are always so spoiled when we visit), piñata to bash, and an effigy burned. The sun shone, my back burnt and a good time was had by all. Thankfully just when we were all getting just a little too roasty toasty with the heat of the sun (we live in Scotland for crying out loud, not the South of France) the clouds came over to cool us a little. Most folks left by 6 and those of us remaining wandered down to the pub in the village for dinner. Like we needed dinner…. By this time my poor stomach was groaning from all the meat I had consumed over the weekend (we live a relatively meat free life usually) but that didn’t stop me having lasagne for tea…

I was quite surprised when I got home on Monday (after a lovely walk in yet more sunshine at Little Glen Garr and a delicious lunch at Gleneagles Hotel) to find that I had only put on about 2lbs with all this excess. And while that sort of puts me back to where I was two weeks ago, a healthy dose of swimming and vegetables this week will hopefully put me back on track. No regrets though – I’d do it all again without hesitation! ;o)

Active Week...

Well, so far at least. My legs mysteriously didn't seize up either last night or over night after the run, which is encouraging. At least it means I might go out again this week for another one... Maybe!

Today, however, I got up early and went to the pool. I'd not been for about 4 weeks, due to visitors and a nasty cold, so I wasn't expecting great things. And boy, it was tought! That's alwasy so annoying - how quickly a built up fitness just slips away, but it takes twice as long to build up again! Despite it being hard I did enjoy it. I'd almost forgotten how much I love being in the water. The first length was just magic. But then it always is... It's from length two onwards that it gets hard!! I really should learn to pace myself a bit better. ;o) Popping my stats in to my swimming spreadsheet though I was delighted to learn that length 1 today was the fastest I have done so far! Not bad at all... (It was 38.86). As I say though, if only I could just pace myself better. A fast first lap is all very well, but no good if the rest of them are all rubbish because you've put all the effort in to that first one!

Something to work on anyway.

The pool was lovely and quite today. I got my lane all to myself for at least half the swim, and the other half it was just one other person. Just how I like it! The uni is on it's summer holidays now, so there are fewer people around to clog up the sports facilities. It'll be a bit of a shock come September again when all the new keenies turn up... Still, September's a long way away. At least I hope it is as I want to have lost more weight by then so I can get my wedding frock sorted!!

While it was hard today, the overall time wasn't so bad: 33:14:95. Only a minute to a minute and a half slower than I had got to. Not bad for 4 weeks off and after a run last night.

Keep all this exercise up though and I'll start shifting the weight no problem. Finger's crossed!!

Swim little fishie, swim…

Yes, I’m still doing it, I’m still getting up early and heading out to the pool to get my kilometre of breast stroke in before work. Phew, but it’s hard sometimes I can tell you. Not necessarily the getting up, I’m getting used to that and going to bed earlier certainly helps, but, oh, ok the getting up… Some mornings it’s just impossible. But thankfully, I seem to do ok on enough mornings to make a difference at the moment…

Last week I managed to get my backside out of bed and go to the pool twice. Monday I already blogged about, but I went on Thursday as well. This was not such a good swim time wise (I’ll put all the stats at the end so as not to bore you), doing the km in 34.00.97. But the important thing was I went. Flâneur was back on Friday morning and I went to meet him at the airport at the hideous hour that his flight got in, so Thursday morning worked as training for getting up early too… ;o)

As well as having missed him tremendously and wanting to see him as soon as possible, I always like to be met at airports when I travel alone and therefore believe that other people might also want a friendly face waiting for them when they’ve just come off a long and boring flight on their own. He’d also had a nasty twist to the ankle while away, so I thought it might cheer him up to see me at the airport when he got back and I could also help him with any bags if the ankle was still bad.

We had a nice relaxing weekend, chilling out on Friday (gave me a chance to get started on his washing), until he fell asleep on me around 8:30pm… Saturday started out relaxed and then we headed out to LS’s wedding in the afternoon. They had decided on a Humanist ceremony, which I must say I had had my reservations about. Stories of hand holding, hippy type affairs (God that makes me sounds old) had me wondering what to expect, but it was actually really quite lovely. The celebrant was very charming and warm and it was frankly miles better than the dreadful civil weddings I’ve been to in Scotland which can be extremely unromantic and legal (By this particular law of Scotland of this particular date blah blah blah). Maybe it’s just one bad experience, but they always seem short and sharp and just a bit of a let down to the romantic in me. There were two readings and we all said a Celtic blessing to them at the end and it was all about mutual trust and respect. The bride looked beautiful in a very classic style sparkly gown and very simple hair arrangement and both were beaming the whole day (which you’d hope!). There was plenty of bubbly sploshing about and the food at dinner was much better than I had either expected or it looked! We did spend most of dinner just talking to each other though, as everyone else at the table knew each other and didn’t seem to want to engage us in conversation, even though we did try. Ah well, it’s often the way when you don’t know so many people at weddings… but a bit of an effort from the other people at our table would have been nice.

Poor Flâneur’s ankle had swollen quite considerably with all the standing around before and after dinner so he was unable to join in the dancing, but I had a good boogy with TS and a couple of other collegues before we sloped off home around 11… It seemed a shame not to stay later but some of the other people we knew had left and poor Flâneur was still jetlagged and sore.

Quite a busy end to a busy week. As well as my swims I went out for dinner to The Kitchin with Wastrel and SAM, a lovely lovely treat from Wastrel. Tom Kitchin was in the kitchen too, which seemed like a special treat, and the food did not disappoint! I had new season asparagus wrapped in parma ham with scallops, followed by saddle of rabbit with stuff…. and then an apple sorbet with champagne sauce. Hmmm….all sooo sooo tasty! Good food, good chat and a good time had by all. Thursday night I was out again this time with all The Girls to La Favourita, which is a nice Italian restaurant, when it isn’t full of lots of very loud people. Which is was on Thursday. Lovely company, nice food, but a shame I couldn’t hear most of the conversation. I was also bloody knackered, so happy to sit and listen to what I could hear and join in when I wanted to. I sloped off home when they all went for a drink after dinner as I needed to do a few bits and pieces before bed and then get an early night for the early start on Friday.

And so on to this week and back to the swimming. I managed to get out of bed both yesterday and today for my morning swim, today being randomly easier than yesterday. Going to bed around 10 last night probably helped… I have now joined the university sports centre too, so don’t need to worry about having enough swims left on my voucher (got Thursday’s last week free as the girl didn’t check my card when I went it, result!). I certainly am still enjoying it and was delighted yesterday to see my quickest time yet (33.07.81, nearly the same as the first swim of the year, which was in a smaller pool, you will recall).

The pool is a little quieter as the university is on holiday and I managed to get into a nice rhythm with another girl in my lane so that neither of us was bothering the other. I like it most when it’s like that. Today was a little different as it was mostly me and this bloke who swims at about the same pace until we were joined by this deeply irritating guy who I’ve seen there before who swims with a float and just kicks his legs. He is the most inefficient swimmer I have seen in a while – rather than neat, steady kicks he almost thrashes in the water which means that he not only goes quite slowly, but if you come up behind him you get tons of spray in your face. Which is what happened this morning. Most of the time he’s ok because he’ll wait and let you turn and go off ahead because he knows you are quicker, but on at least two lengths I was trapped behind him, forced to go a bit slower and to tilt my head away from the massive splashes. Sigh. I ended up swapping lanes to the other slow one, which was a bit quieter, and finished my lengths in peace. I don’t usually like to use that lane as it tends to attract faster slow swimmers than me, but it was just one other girl who was not so fast, so it wasn’t so bad.

I was a bit sore this morning and seemed to be going quite slowly so I was extremely surprised when I looked at the final time on the SportsCount and saw 32.47.81! That’s the first time I’ve been under 33 minutes in this pool and coming close to the times I chalked up in the local one. Woo hoo! I had been trying to improve my technique a bit this morning, having found a few tips online yesterday and maybe it actually paid off! Goddamn, get down to 30 mins and I’ll have to add another 10 lengths… Knackering!!

So the tedious stats for the last three swims are:

Date: 02.04.2009 / 06.04.2009 / 07.04.2009
Lengths: 40 (1000m) / 40 (1000m) / 40 (1000m)
Time: 34.00.97 / 33.07.81 / 32.47.81
Average: 51.02 / 49.70 / 49.20
Fastest: (1) 40.11 / (1) 38.88 / (1) 39.30
Slowest: (32) 54.77 / (14) 53.94 / (10) 53.27

It’s not quite the table I would have liked (quite difficult to make out sorry) but if you squint you can really see the progress over the last three swims. Very excited about getting my first lap in at under 40 seconds now, but I should probably aim at consistency over the 40 rather than a very speedy first lap and then slowing down through overexertion! Something to work on…

Hmm… I really ought to blog more frequently, then you wont be stuck with massive posts like this!! Ah well...

Busy, busy, busy

Phew. So starting with the exercise, which is the boring bit. I'm still going to the pool, which is good, but I still haven't got above twice a week. And last week I only managed to go once. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as I only got a five swim voucher for the pool and want to join the Sports Center when I get paid in April. So no point in getting another one really when pay day is tomorrow! So, I went last Monday and was pleased with my times. Quicker than before and I even overtook someone in my slow lane. Not ideal as I'm not fast enough for the other lanes, but the other people in my lane kept stopping at the shallow end and then setting off just as I was about to turn! Grr... So, the stats for last Monday:

40 lengths (1000m)
34.13.74 (nearly a whole minute faster!!)
Average time for length: 51.34
Fastest Length: 1 at 43.12 (the slowest for a while, but it didn't seem to matter)
Slowest Length: 28 at 55.38

So not too bad. My Flâneur went off to Jakarta on Tuesday so I didn't want to get up early and bugger off to the pool when we could spend a bit more quality time together on Tuesday morning before going to work. I meant to go on Thursday instead, but when the alarm went of at 6:30 I just curled up in bed and refused to get up. There being no-one to either make me get up or lure me out of bed with breakfast, I just stayed there until I had to get up to get ready for work. On Friday I was a bit hungover so that was definitely out!!

But I managed to get my backside out of bed today and head off to the pool this morning, which was pretty impressive as Flâneur isn't back yet... I think a little habit may be forming, which is no bad thing. The pool was really quiet this morning, which was nice. Just me and one other girl in my lane for most of the time, with most of the other lanes pretty much the same. Usually there are between 20 and 30 people in the pool, but today it was probably 12-15... Must be University holidays or something.

And today was my best day yet at this pool. It didn't seem like it was going to be when I started off. I felt slow and the swimming felt hard work. Well it is hard work I suppose. I felt so good when I finished and checked the time on the SportsCount for my total. That's partly why I do it, I must say. So (just to bore you some more) today's stats:

40 lengths (1000m)
33.35.28 (that's nearly at the time of my first swim in the local pool at the start of the year! Yeah man!)
Average time for length: 50.38
Fastest Length: 1 at 40.84
Slowest Length: 10 at 53.24 (nearly my fastest slow length of the year!)

So really really pleased.

Other than not swimming this past week has been pretty busy as I try desperately not to miss Flâneur too much (didn't quite work). Everyone has been very sweet at making sure I'm ok and not too bored without him! Very lovely... He left on Tuesday last week and that evening I was out having dinner with TS who I teach palaeography with. We had a great time, but I'm not used to drinking half a bottle of wine on a Tuesday and it went right to my head!

On Wednesday it was the last of my Japanese classes of this term. It's gone really well and I can't believe how much we can now do! It was Japanese 1, Course 2, so we're talking beginners stuff here, but I don't think that at this stage in any other language that I have learnt have I been able to say what I have done/will be doing/am doing using past and not past tenses. It helps make me feel like I'm getting somewhere! I was even able to construct the fairly complex sentences of: "Yesterday, R-san went to Jakarta by plane. He is doing research work there. He comes home on Friday next week." I'm not sure if this will work but:


きの　ラエイさんは　ジャカタに　ひこきで　いきました。レセチャの　しごとを　します。　ラいしゅ　きにょび　うちに　かえります。

Cool. I think I might have got 'Jakarta' wrong, but otherwise it's not bad!! Impressive, no?? ;o)

Thursday I was out again, this time at HMcM's for dinner and chat. We were joined by RF and HAL and talked about all sorts of grown up things that made us feel very old... Again, too much wine was drunk and my head was sore on Friday morning. I'm lucky if I have a few glasses of wine on a Friday/Saturday these days, but at H's I had two glasses of Prosecco and then the best part of half a bottle of white! Urgh... Made me feel totally out of it on Friday and I ended up leaving work early because of the stinking headache. That'll teach me. I was very glad of a night in to myself on Friday night. It's lovely seeing people and having company (eating alone is miserable), but it was good to have a night off!!

Saturday saw me in Glasgow with RF trying on actual bonafide wedding dresses! God, it was terrifying... Mostly the hideous monstrosities that these places sell (we saw one girl trying on a Jordan-esque poofy thing that had a sky blue top and too much netting on the bottom. Eek!). It was all very eye opening and confirmed that that is definitely NOT what I want. I just didn't look right in them. So we came up with a good list of dos and don't to take to a dress maker and I'll get what I want, not what someone else thinks I should wear. So there. ;o) Two things though that the woman said that had me raising my eyebrows:

'when you find your dress, you'll know' - hmmm...
'Is your mum coming up to help you dress shop at all?' (answer: 'no') 'so she trusts you then...' Err? sorry? I love my mother and respect her opinion but wtf? Did she think I wasn't able to chose a frock without mummy?? That she had any say in what I wear on my wedding day?? Anyway, I know there are plenty of mothers out there who do hold that kind of sway over their daughters, but mine aint one of them. I would take her opinion (at a pinch), but other than that, she'd be the first to say that it's my choice not hers.

Anyway... it was a great day with RF and it was really nice to go back to her gaff in the country for the night so I didn't have to spend the weekend at home on my own. AB made us dinner, which was yummy and 'all organic, all local' as he'd been at the farmer's market in Edinburgh that morning. Hmm... It was a lovely chilled evening and much appreciated. RF dropped me back in Edinburgh on Sunday around lunch time, which gave me loads of time to get the (much needed) housework done. Phew. All this stuff going on though and I've not yet finished the quilt!

It's been great while Flâneur's been away. I've missing him like crazy, but my lovely friends have made sure it's not made me too crazy. ;o) Thanks guys!! More to come this week...

A new pool and a new regime...

Well, I did it. I got up at 6:30 this morning (or thereabouts) and was out the house by about quarter past 7!! And when I say I got up I should be clear that this was after much protesting and whinging and whining… If it wasn’t for my Flâneur I would have very easily gone back to sleep. But he’s a real trouper and a real motivator and just a truly wonderful person (pass the bucket. ;o) ).

It didn’t help that I had a terrible night’s sleep last night (again…). Tossing and turning, periods of being awake, periods where I’m fighting between being awake and asleep (the only way I can describe these episodes) just generally rubbish! And I had been really tired yesterday owing to a similar period of sleep on Saturday night. That was entirely caused by alcohol (not even that much), which always disturbs my sleep, but I could think of no reason for it last night. Humph.

Anyway, despite all that I got up when my Flâneur made me, ate my breakfast (poached egg on a muffin, prepared by himself), sorted my lunch and swimming gear and was out the door before I would normally be thinking about stirring! Well, when I’d be creeping under the duvet pretending the radio wasn’t on and I didn’t have to get up…

The early start meant I could finally try out Edinburgh Uni pool. And I must say I liked it. There were a reasonable number of other crazy people there, but enough lanes (6) variously marked out that I could just pootle at my own speed up and down the slow lane without feeling I was keeping anyone back, and certainly with no chance of overtaking anyone! There was one girl in our lane who clearly didn’t realise the lanes were marked by slow, medium and fast, as she was way quicker than the rest of us, but mostly it was just me and these two guys, swimming up and down.

It is a larger pool the Uni one, at 25 meters, rather than 25 yards. I still made myself do my 40 lengths, but owing to the extra 85 meters or so I was a bit slower and a reasonable bit more knackered!! Feel the burn, oh yes. Still feeling it in my thighs I think! But it was great. Despite it being hard I enjoyed it and felt great coming out. Meant that I could face the readers at work without too much pain and with a smile, which was good because we were really very busy today! Normally I’d be practically slumped at my desk, but not this morning. I’ll be slumped on the couch later, but that’s ok, I’ll be at home then…

So pretty pleased with my times, considering I was doing the equivalent of an extra 3.7 (or so) lengths of the municipal pool, and here are the stats:

40 lengths (1000m)
34.43.99
Average time for length: 52.10 (not that much slower really)
Fastest length: 1 at 40.95
Slowest length: 6 at 56.76 (but I paused at the end of it to demist my goggles)

Pretty pleased, all things considered and love the fact that I swam 1km! Cool.