Tuesday

Swim 

I got to the pool and had a lane to myself, always a bonus. I worked my way through a session that I had printed off in preparation. Having swum in the morning a few times, I now know when I must leave the pool to be at work on time. This meant cutting off the last section of the session. I would have to either get up earlier or swim a lot faster to finish this session and both options require more effort that I am willing to put in.  

Work 

Just like every other Tuesday, this Tuesday was full of meetings, some of which I was the only attendee. There were small gaps between the meetings that were long enough for my boss to delegate work to me but not long enough for me to do the work. He did mention that he was on leave tomorrow, so I assumed that he was on double delegation duty today. I am sure that he thinks that no one does any work when he is not in the office  

Dinner 

Loved One made schnitzel accompanied with mashed potatoes, carrots, and cabbage for tea. As we ate, we discussed our days. Loved One had been to the physio today and his advice about her foot was to carry on doing her stretches. The stretches she had neglected of late. 

Stretches 

I had also been neglecting my stretches. This evening seemed like a suitable time to resume. I did all bit one, the one I missed was the long complicated one that leaves me feeling a little confused. Once I had finished with the mat Loved One did her routine as well. 

Sofa 

Now that we both felt we had achieved our stretching goals we could lounge on the sofa, watch the television and do very little. I had another attempt at curating our holiday photos from last year ready to make an album. As usual it took a lot longer than I was expecting. 

Sleep 

We were not late to bed and to my surprise Loved One was tucked up in bed with the lights off by the time I had finished cleaning my teeth. 

Monday

Bus 

The school kids are on holiday this week and the bus to work was gloriously empty. That was a good start to the week. 

Work 

The workday culminated in an incident that affected everybody. The troops were mobilised and were almost ready when somebody put a plug in the right hole, restoring everything back to where it was before the panic set in. At least I was not delayed going home. 

Admin 

I had a whole bunch of admin to do this evening. If I had worked at home today, I would have found time during the day to get it done. As always, it took a lot longer than I expected. Loved One did not look happy when I re-emerged into the lounge after doing battle with dull e-mails and spreadsheets. 

Sofa 

We spent the rest of the evening cuddled up on the sofa watching television, Loved One fell asleep on me but insisted that we did not go to bed until after ten. 

Sunday

Swim 

There was a young dolphin chasing fish in the shallows as we walked to water, we watched for a while, putting off walking into the sea. Although the day was warm, and the sea was calm it had been cold overnight, and the sea temperature was starting its steady decline into winter. Once we started the temperature was not bad, it was starting that was the problem. We all did a short swim in the almost perfect conditions. There was no point ruining it by getting too cold. 

Cafe 

We went to the cafe at the end of the car park after swimming. The coffee drinkers were not impressed at the tepid drinks that they were served. The conversation soon turned to alternative places to go after swimming. The closing down of two of our favoured places was playing havoc with our after-swim activities. 

Jobs 

Once we got home Loved One and I needed to prepare the house for visitors. Loved One made scones and I fell asleep on the sofa. 

Tea 

Loved One had invited her daughter, her sister, her son, and her son’s wife around for afternoon tea. As it was so nice outside, we sat around the outside table and chatted the afternoon away whilst tucking into a variety of freshy baked scones. 

Calls 

We had organised to have a video call with a friend this evening but there had been a breakdown in communication, and they were not available. I had a chat to my brother instead. That was followed by our weekly call to my parents to catch up on the array of hospital visits that they attend. 

Evening 

My stomach was not feeling at its best this evening. I felt bloated and full of acid. I suspected that it was the amount of bread that I had eaten. All I wanted to do was sit quietly on the sofa and be left alone until bedtime. 

Saturday

Ride 

After a quick chat with Mark at the meeting point, we established that there was not enough time to do the planned ride as Mark had to be home by eleven. We decided on a climb of the bollards instead. I was just starting the lower slopes of the main climb when I saw a stag, complete with a full set of antlers step out on the road about one hundred meters ahead. He gave me a look of contempt before leaping off across the road and into the field.  

Koala 

We carried on to the highest point above the city and joined the crowds to take in the view. We decided to forego our usual visit to a cafe so that we could take the longer way home. As we got to the top of the climb a koala ambled across the road in front of me, Mark was ahead and had now missed two wildlife encounters. 

Screen 

Loved One was not at home when I arrived. I used the time to get a few little jobs done that required the car to not be in the garage. Once she had returned, we had a cup of tea and then I set about repairing the fly screen in the bedroom. The bottom corner had been torn apart by the cats a long time ago, last week I bought a new bit of replacement fabric. Mark had made me a little cautious about doing this by telling me that when he had replaced a screen, he had ended up with a screen that would not fit back in the window properly. I took it very slowly and tried to ensure that it remained square. I almost got it right, enough not to need to take it all out and do it again. 

Gardening 

The garden was had been neglected for a few weeks and the leaves had started to fall. The paving needed a good sweep, and the grass needed some attention. I spent a happy hour or so tidying up and making things neat. It looked a lot better by the time I had finished. 

Daughter 

Loved One’s Daughter came around for a visit in the afternoon. She is going back East in a few days and is using her final days in the city to have some quality time with friends and family. 

Nap 

I felt the creeping tiredness coming over me as Daughter left. I needed to lie down for a while in a darked room. I woke up a while later thinking that I had not been asleep. The clock however, disabused me of this notion. 

Party 

We went to a friend’s house this evening for a “not quite my birthday” get together. I volunteered to drive as Loved One had done a lot of driving recently and I was not too keen on drinking. We had a lovely evening chatting to a few people but by the end of it I was ready to go home. I can only do sociable with strangers for a limited amount of time. 

Friday

Alarm 

The alarm went off and I started reluctantly to get out of the bed, I could have stayed there if it were not for the contents of my bladder demanding that they be released. When I returned to the bedroom Loved One suggested that I might want to reconsider going swimming in favour of an extra hour in bed. It does not take much to crush my will early in the morning. The sleep-in option was much more appealing. I only felt a small tinge of guilt as I got back under the covers. 

Work 

The lowlight of the day was the world’s more boring meeting. It is a meeting that I must attend once a month. I must listen to all the proceedings in their entirety just in case there is something that is applicable to my area. There normally is not. Nearly everything in the meeting has no relevance to me or my area. I usually finish the meeting feeling exhausted and wondering why I bothered to attend. Today was no different. 

Change 

I slipped home at the earliest acceptable time. I had had enough of work this week and I was glad that it was over. I had a little time between arriving home and going out again. That was enough to get changed and to try and forget about work. 

Pub 

We were going out for a meal with some of our neighbours, we picked them up in the car and gave them a lift to the bus stop. Loved One was not keen on walking as her foot was troubling her. We sat on the bus and listened to another passenger’s very loud phone conversation. It was not interesting. We then caught the tram to a pub close to the restaurant. Inside a disk jockey was doing his best to drive everyone outside with a wall of noise. We sat outside so that we could hear each other. 

Restaurant 

Within seconds of arriving at the restaurant Loved One saw someone she knew; this time it was one of the waiters. Even though we had booked we still had to wait for a table. Once seated we poured over the menu. It all looked lovely. I decided on the spaghetti with muscles, Loved One had the sea food and veal. We chatted our way through the meal and had a convivial time. 

Bus 

Despite our neighbours predicting that there would be a long wait for the bus home, the bus arrived at the stop as we did. The entertainment on the way home was provided by a drunk who had got on the wrong bus and wanted to be let off, something that was almost impossible once we reached the busway. He was very loudly not amused. 

Thursday

Lie-in 

I decided last night that I would not be swimming this morning. I enjoyed lying in bed until Loved One’s alarm went off. It felt decadent. 

Bus 

There were lots of seats available on the bus. I did not need to stand by the seat that a schoolchild had “reserved” by putting his bag on it and loudly saying “excuse me” whilst glaring at him. It had the desired effect. He moved his bag and looked as if the world had just delivered him a great injustice. I felt that my work for the day had been done.  

Work 

Today was a day of meetings with short breaks between them. The breaks were not long enough to start anything meaningful. At least there was the internet to amuse me while I waited for the next meeting. Near the end of the day my boss informed me that I would have to be in the office on Monday as he could not make it and we had a new minion starting. I was not happy about that. 

Home 

Loved One had tea almost ready when I got home. I devoured the Salmon and Salad with gusto. The reason for the early tea was that Loved One was helping a neighbour to adjust a dress this evening. I filled the time by fiddling about on the computer and doing some life admin. Once the sowing was almost complete, we settled on the sofa to treat the television as moving wallpaper. I was tired, I went to bed early. 

Wednesday

Early 

Loved One told me last night that she did not mind if I got ready in the bedroom. This morning when the alarm went off, I switched on the bedside lamp and quickly got changed. Loved One looked and sounded fast asleep. I toyed with the idea of a good morning kiss but decided not to wake her. 

Pool 

The pool was a little mor crowded this morning, but I still manged to get a lane to myself. This morning’s session was all about drills. I spent a happy hour doing strange things in the water that resembled swimming. 

Call 

I gave Loved One a call on the walk to work, she had a lot to do today, and I was wondering if she had managed to wake up. I caught her as she left the shower. 

Work 

The day drifted by in a haze made hazier by the feeling of tiredness that comes from swimming in the morning. I managed to convince people that I was making a difference whilst at the same time putting in the minimum of effort. 

Visitors 

Loved One’s Son, Grandson and Daughter were all coming around for dinner this evening. I caught up with the male side but had to leave to do the registrations at the pool before Daughter arrived. I had tried earlier in the day to get out of the registrations but failed miserably. 

Register 

I did my usual act at the pool to get the swimmers to sign in and to offer yet another excuse as to why I was not swimming. It does not take a genius to work out that I am not going to swim with the group.  

Home 

I got home too late to see everybody. Apparently, Grandson had loudly remonstrated that it was way past his bedtime and that he wanted to go home. Daughter had left an apple and pear crumble. It looked delicious; it is a shame that I do not like the taste of pears. 

Tuesday

Early 

Today was the start of my getting up early to go swim training in the morning. I woke a little before six and got dressed in the bathroom, having left clothes there the night before. The aim was not to disturb Loved One. Loved One had left my breakfast and lunch in the bathroom too. It was not there when I went to bed last night, so I guessed she had made it during the night. Once I was ready, I left Loved One a glass of water (she was giving plasma today and had asked me to leave her water) and found that she was already up. I then headed for the bus hoping that I had timed my journey so that there would only be a short wait at the bus stop. There was not 

Pool 

I arrived at the pool and despite my fears it was completely empty. I worked through my session, a fitness test to see how much I had lost in the last few weeks and finished off with a bit of butterfly. As this was the first time, I was not sure of timings, so I allowed plenty of time to wash, change and walk to work. I arrived at work far too early. 

Work 

The highlight of the day was my boss informing me that I now had to do three monthly performance reviews despite being told three months ago that I would not have to do one for a year. I am not a fan of performance reviews and filling out the documentation that goes with them. As far as I am concerned a good manager does not need to do them, and a bad manager is not equipped to do them. It always ends up as a pointless paperwork exercise that is put into a draw and only reviewed the next time human resources demands it. 

Dinner 

Loved One made and early dinner of salmon and salad. I set up my computer for a zoom meeting I was having later while Loved One served dinner. We finished just as the meeting started. 

Meeting 

The meeting was with representatives from all the other swimming clubs and on the whole it was relatively painless. I got involved in part of the debate about recruiting officials for pool meets, but I did not want to be too involved as it could end up with me committing to something that I did not want to do. 

Sofa 

Once the meeting was over, I settled down with Loved One on the sofa for an evening of television. Loved One fell asleep and I ended up getting too involved in a program which resulted in me going to bed far too late. 

Monday

Lie-in 

Loved One and I enjoyed out extra hour in bed this morning, the hour that we should have had yesterday due to the clocks changing. I stayed a little longer in bed as I was working from home today. 

Work 

The day started with a major incident and declined from there. After struggling with the problem for a while I got involved in the sort of meeting that has long gaps as people do things. There was an obvious course of action that could have been taken but I did not want that path to be trodden. It took a while to get to the route cause and get the right solution to be implemented but by just after lunch it was all working. I finished the day on less demanding tasks as I felt I had given enough by that point 

German 

Loved One was out for the day and this meant that work blended seamlessly into some personal admin and then into my German lesson. Yet again I had not done my homework and yet again I had to think up of something on the fly to say. Luckily, I find this quite easy to do. The rest of the lesson delved into another area of grammar and that, as always, confused me. 

Sofa 

Loved One arrived home halfway through my German lesson. She had had a long day of driving and going to a funeral. I found her settled on the sofa. We both had a bite to eat and then searched the television channels for something we wanted to watch. The search was unsuccessful, we resorted to a streaming app and watched a crime drama until bedtime. 

Sunday

Early 

Mark picked me up early in the morning, which did not feel as early as it should have been because the clocks changed last night. I Loaded my bike and bag of shoes into the car, and we headed off to the triathlon we were competing in, forgetting to turn off the house’s outside light. 

Parking 

Mark had wanted to arrive early as he had been told that there was limited parking. He had allowed a lot of time for the journey, and we arrived before the car park had too many cars in it. We whistled through the formalities and racking and were soon sitting under the club tent people watching. 

Swim 

At the allotted time we vacated transition and took a walk along the beach to the start of the race. The first turn buoy did not look too far away, and the water was quite shallow. The first wave went off and almost ran to the turn buoy. That was a novel start. A few more waves went before we were called to the line. The preceding waves had all run to the buoy, so we were under no illusions about what was going to happen. The gun went and we charged into the water. I was exhausted from the running by the time I could start swimming. It took a few hundred meters of swimming to get back into a rhythm. Halfway through the swim I looked up to see a massive container ship on the other side of the breakwater. That was a first. 

Bike 

There was a long run to transition and, because the spectators were standing on the soft sand, some of it was over a sharp gravel path. That did not make my soft feet happy. I found my bike and I was soon out on the road to do the four loops to make up the distance. I tried to go a little faster on each loop but had no idea if I did. 

Run 

My worse discipline is the run. My sole aim is not to stop and walk. I plodded around at my usual place and was overtaken by many fast and young people. It was all quite dispiriting until I realised that no one slower was going to pass me. I made it to the end without stopping. 

Results 

Much to my surprise, I manged a third in age group, and there were more than three people in my age group. That gave me a small lift, countered by the fact that they cancelled to presentations for technical reasons. 

Pool 

Loved One was marshalling at a swimming even at the pool on the other side of town. I joined her there and helped with the last few events. It has been a while since I have been to a swimming event. It was nice to see many of the swimmers from other clubs again.  

Pub 

A large group of swimmers met in the pub afterwards, Loved One and I caught up with a lot of people that we had not seen for quite a while. The Ceaser salad and two pints of Guinness caught up with me on the way home. There were merely seconds between putting the car in the garage and me taking a nap.  

Daughter 

Loved One had invited her daughter around for tea this evening. I managed to wake up before she arrived. Daughter was aching from a ten-kilometre run and I was aching from the triathlon. We were both walking around very stiffly. Loved One prepared lasagne and salad for tea, which was why I had only had a salad in the pub. Two large meals in a day would have been disastrous for my waistline despite the exercise. 

Calls 

Dad was late to call this evening. It turned out that they were getting ready to go out for a meal after the call and the getting ready had taken longer than they expected. We chatted about the last week, their new water meter, and all other hospital visits. Dad managed to last a minute over the usual thirty.  

Sofa 

We finished the evening sitting on the sofa with a bar of chocolate and a drink or two. We went to bed at our usual time which was now early as the clocks had changed.