Saturday

Lost 

Today’s ride was going to be a little different. We were meeting at the start of a Park Run and I had decided to actually run it rather than waiting for the others to finish. I had pondered over what to wear the day before. I decided that a tri-suit with a cycling top over the top would not look to out of place. I slipped my running shoes in a small bag and set off to the start. I thought I knew where the start was but when I got there the lack of people told me I was wrong. I few questions later got me to the right place, and I quickly found Mark who had sorted out a place to put the bikes. 

Run 

There were a lot of people, and the path was quite narrow, that made the start a little frantic. As usual I started with the slow group, but they were a little slower than I wanted. I spent the first kilometre dodging around people so that I could find some space. Things became easier once the field thinned. I could then just concentrate on running. My one aim for this run was not to walk. Mark passed me as we closed in on the finish. I toyed with the idea of racing him to the line, but my legs would have none of it, he got there a fraction before I did. 

Ride 

Once we had recovered from the run, we decided to ride down the bike that followed the river to the sea. This was an epic of bike handling skills that we deployed to avoid pedestrians and other cyclists. We were rewarded by a fantastic view of the sea as we approached the coast. It was a calm as could be with that early morning haze obscuring the horizon. Somewhere out there Loved One was having a swim. We carried on along the coast and headed back into town along yet more little roads and bike paths. On the way we decided to give our usual cafe a miss and try somewhere different. 

Cafe 

We sat at the little cafe in the park. I devoured an apple and cinnamon muffin with my cup of tea. Mark noticed that the cafe was peopled by young mothers and children. The expansive play area at the back explained why. 

Planning 

After lunch we went to the travel agent to get some help planning some adventures later in the year. It was not until we were on the way home that Loved One remembered we had been invited to a wedding that would disrupt the plans that we had made. We decided to think about it over the weekend and deal with the problem next week. 

Nap 

I was going to get on with the painting when I got home but Loved One persuaded me that my time would be better spent lying on a bed. I was happy to do that.  

Chores 

Loved One was out walking our neighbours’ dogs when I got up. My dirty bike was sitting outside needing to be cleaned. As I did that, I noticed the washing on the line. It was dry but would not be if it stayed there any longer. I took it in and used the clean sheet to remake the bed. That only left the ironing to do and, as most of it was my shirts I thought that it was best that I did it. 

Dinner 

Whilst I was busying myself with chores Loved One roasted some belly pork and along with it a selection of vegetables. It was all ready by the time I had finished with the chores. 

Evening 

There was not that much to amuse us on the television this evening. I got a little fed up with watching several ‘day in the life’ medical programs that seemed to want to wallow in other people’s misery. I went to bed with the intention of reading. I was asleep very soon after not reading a word. 

Friday

Swim 

Today’s session in the pool was all about endurance. People tell me that these sessions are boring, but I find that quite soothing. I counter the monotony of the session by thinking about what my body is doing. After a while I am so occupied with checking everything is happing correctly that I have no time to think about everything else.   

Work 

Today was a typical Friday with much of the managerial staff either working from home or on leave. This did give me a chance to talk to the big boss and query if I needed to be punctual to the two start of day meetings that had started last week. His reply was very illuminating about his attitude to his management team and gave me a pass to join a little late. This made me happy as I would not have to rush from the swimming pool on those days. I might even get to brush my hair. 

Gallery 

I met Loved One outside of teh art gallery for their monthly late opening session. We dithered about which tour to go on. We could choose to do a tour of the exhibition that we had toured last time or a general exhibition tour. We decided on the general exhibition tour. Our soft-spoken guide took us to the front of the muesum and muttered unintelligibly into a pad of notes. I hoped that I could not hear her due to the noise in the foyer but that was not the case. She led us to another gallery and mumbled about the artworks. We gave up and suggested to our friends that we go had have a drink in the cafe. 

Drinks 

We settled down at a table and went through the painful process of ordering drinks from the incredibly slow counter staff who, as always, seemed to be overwhelmed that there was a queue of people. Once we had our drinks Loved One showed the breadth of her social network by people coming over and talking to her. We eventually decided that the four of us would stroll into town and visit a very well-known pub that one of us had never visited. 

Dinner 

The pub was not exactly bustling with life but there were enough people inside to make it intresting. We sat at a table and ordered out meals. I went for the Nachos as it looked like the smallest meal and today was supposed to be a ‘nil by mouth day.’ Loved One had the fish and chips, it was a generous portion, so I knew I would be having some of that later. We had not seen our friends for quite a while, so we had a lot of catching up to do. The evening ended with planning of the next catch up and telling a couple of lads in wheelchairs that the lift would take them directly to the bar.  

Thursday

Scales 

The current diet is working, and the scales gave me proof. I was a lot lighter now than I have been for a while. I knew that this was only temporary as today is an eating day, but I took comfort in a small victory. 

Swim 

The pool was empty when I arrived, the sun was not quite up, and a little bit of steam was rising form the water. I was almost a shame to break the surface. I worked my way through a technique-based session that emphasised that I lift my head when I breath to the left. I did not quite get to the end of the session in the time available, but I felt I had made the most of it 

Lunch 

The team went out to a local pub for lunch, inspired by the fact that Thursday was cheap curry day. We joined two tables together and gathered round. I was quite thankful that the portions of the curry were small, and more thankful that I did not go for the schnitzel and chips, that was huge. 

Ride 

I was half thinking of not doing a session on the bike this evening when Loved One asked me if I was, so that she could time when we had tea. As I had not been on the trainer this week, I decided that I really should do a session. It took me a while to prepare as I had to get changed and drink a cup of tea, both activities can take a long time. I levered myself onto the bike and selected a virtual route, noticing only once it was too late that the route was essentially a climb up a big hill. I struggled and sweated all the way to the top and was rewarded by the app substantially increasing my functional threshold power. This means that future workouts are going to be a lot harder. I contemplated that fact as I stood in the shower. 

Dinner 

Loved one had made Fried Salmon for tea and accompanied it with mashed potato and salad. Loved One thought that she had burnt the Salmon, but I was happy as it was extra crispy.  

Call 

Once the clearing up was done we settled on the sofa for an evening of rubbish television. My sister-in-law rang in the middle of the evening to give us an update on my brother. He is in a lot of pain due to a gall bladder infection and the hospital is planning to remove the offending organ. He is dosed up on pain killers and not quite sure when he is. This is a little worrying given his health in recent years. 

Thursday

Alarm 

I slept like a log last night but was not prepared to wake up when the alarm went off. I went to the loo and decided on the way back to the bedroom that another hour’s sleep would be far mor beneficial than an hour in the pool 

Work 

The day started with a pointless meeting that recovered ground from a previous pointless meeting and that meeting was a rehash of yet another pointless meeting. The meeting was followed, after a cup of tea, with a one-to-one meeting with my boss to go over the paperwork for my performance review. We spent more time reviewing it than I spent producing it. The day ended with a team meeting that overran into my going home time. That did not make me happy. 

Spin 

Loved One was looking after next doors dogs when I arrived home, she returned a little after I arrived and found me getting changed to get on the bike trainer. I have not been on the trainer for quite a while as I have changed to swimming in the morning. The advantage of spinning in the evening is that I am not restricted by time. I selected a route in a virtual London that took me around a few London landmarks before taking me up Box Hill, a hill I have climbed in real life many times. I sweated my way through the session and finished covered in sweat. 

Dinner 

Loved One had been out for lunch with the girls at lunch time and had brought home a doggie bag containing four large pork meatballs covered in a satay sauce. I had them for dinner and accompanied them with a cup of tea. 

Stretches 

It was probably a mistake to do my stretches after having dinner, but I did not want to have a shower and get changed only to exert myself again. 

Photos 

Once I was stretched, showered, and changed I settled in front of the television with my laptop and got on with creating the summer holiday album. I was about halfway through the first month by the time I was finished. 

Wednesday

Swim 

Today was a technique day in the pool. I played around with a whole bunch of drills and them went on to play around with stroke rates. I felt a lot more awake when I left the pool than when I got there. The days are shortening and getting up in the dark is no fun. 

Work 

Today was not a bad day at work, the ever-sick minion was at his desk today and that helped move things along. Even better than that, my boss was not at his desk today giving me free license to get on with the things that I think are important. 

Stretches 

My phone had been nagging me to do my stretches for the past few days, so I made a point of doing them when I got home.  

Register 

As usual, I went to the pool to take the register and to chat with the swimmers and as usual, the coach avoided any sort of contact with me. As I sat there, I felt that I could make much better use of my time and formulated a plan to not be available on Wednesday nights. 

Photos 

Loved One was out with the netball girls this evening, leaving me alone in the house. This gave me time to deal with a few bits of admin and then make a start on last year’s holiday photo album. 

Tuesday

Swim 

There was only one person in the pool when I arrived. I suspected that the chilly wind was something to do with it. I worked my way through my session and kept an eye on the clock, which now seemed to be telling the correct time. 

Work 

Tuesday is always full of meetings and this tuesday was no exception. It started with a pointless meeting, moved through a few regular update meetings, paused briefly for lunch before diving headfirst into some more pointless meetings. It was not a productive day. 

Tram 

I met Loved One by the tram as we were meeting friends for a meal in town. It would have been a herculean effort for me to get home, get changed and return to town in time. The tram took us to almost outside the restaurant. We arrived far too early and were forced to sit at the table, have a drink and eat some olives. 

Meal 

The Chrises arrived a little before lungless Sue. Sue had not seen the Chrises for a while and the Chrises were only in town for one night. Tomorrow they will be travelling to the top of the country by train. We all had a delightful Greek meal and chatted over many topics, including the re-emergence of Chris’s hair, hair that will be taken away in a few weeks by chemotherapy. 

Home 

We got home at a reasonable time, no one in the restaurant wanted a late night. I drank a chocolate stout and Loved One found something on a streaming service that she wanted to watch. I found it a little strange and lost interest after a while. I gave up and went to bed. Loved One followed when the episode she was watching finished. 

Monday

Awake 

I woke from a vivid dream that centred around eating the head of a greyhound. This did not put me in a good place to start the day, or the week. Luckily, I am working from home today so I could lie in bed and let the images fade rather than being haunted by them. 

Work 

I walked the massive distance to the back room and sat in front of the computer for the rest of the working day. I divided my time between doing things that I should and things that I wanted to do. Some of the things I wanted to do were not strictly work. 

Homework 

I had a small gap between finishing work and starting my German lesson. I filed the time by doing the homework I had completely ignored for the last two weeks. The time pressure to complete it did not help with my ability to do it. 

German 

I had managed to do the right amount of homework and that allowed me to sail through the homework marking section of the lesson. Then we moved onto a more conversational subject and that I find easy. I felt quite good when the lesson finished 

Evening 

I had had enough of sitting in front of a computer, so I spent the rest of the evening sitting in front of the television instead. 

Sunday

Swim

We arrived a little earlier so that I could join the Long-Distance Lady and the Captain doing a longer swim. Although I was not going to admit it, I intended to swim to the far jetty and back. The tide was going out and that made the swimming to the far jetty hard. All the way up I was hoping that the current would give me a massive push on the way back. I was not disappointed although the push did get less as I worked my way down the beach. I got out feeling satisfied that I had had a good swim.

Cafe

We had learnt yesterday that the cafe we had just started frequenting was closing down today. We huddled together in a booth and discussed where we would go next week. We did not reach a conclusion.

Lunch

Loved One warmed some red sausages and we had them wrapped in wholemeal bread and topped with homemade tomato sauce. Neither of us were that keen on doing anything this afternoon. We had talked about going for a walk but Loved One was not keen on account of her foot hurting.

Sanding

Eventually, I got up from the outside table and headed to the laundry to do part two of fixing the mess that I had made. That is when I discovered that I had missed a few holes. I filled them and sanded the holes I had filled yesterday. All that was left to do was to clear up the mess I had made clearing up the mess I had made. That required a lot of vacuum cleaner action.

Nap

A nap was in order after all of that activity. I lay on the bed and was asleep before the podcast I was listening to had finished.

Dinner

We probably did not need tea, but we had some anyway. Loved One prepared some homemade giros.

Calls

Most of the rest of the evening was taken up making calls. The first one was to my brother, who is suffering from yet another lung infection. Then we called my sister to wish her happy birthday before we talked to my parents. We fished the marathon of calls by ringing another friend whose birthday it was today.

Sofa

The remaining evening was spent on the sofa, drinking a beer, and watching television.

Saturday

Ride

I arrived at the meeting point a little early and found that Skye was already there, doing laps of the park. I joined her for a lap, and she tried to persuade me that we should do a flat ride. Mark arrived and Skye continued her campaign to do a flat ride even though the plan was for a hilly ride. She was still trying as we hit the bottom of the bollards for the main climb of the day. I watched the other two disappear into the distance and contemplated the fact that I had not been on the trainer for a few weeks.

Gears

We decided to head to Lofty from the top of the bollards, this required more climbing. I was near the top on the final rise when I could not change gears. This left me in an impossibly high gear that I did not have the strength to push up the hill. I had to stop to sort it out making starting again difficult. I eventually joined the others at the top of the hill.

Cafe

Skye had to be home to take her girls to netball, she peeled off and headed back to town. Mark and I carried on to take in a different descent that takes us past a nice cafe. We sat in the sun drinking our tea and watched the world go by for a while before continuing home.

Lunch

Loved One decided that we should have a large lunch as we were babysitting this evening. She made a massive plate of bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns and much, much more. We sat outside in the sun and worked our way through the mountain of food. I had an incredibly happy stomach by the end of the eating marathon.

Nap

After a suitable period of digesting Loved One suggested that I should have a nap, she did not have to ask twice. I settled into the bedroom very quickly. I got up an hour or so later and found Loved One about to settle down for a nap on the sofa. I suggested that she went to the now nice warm bed instead. She disappeared quickly.

Filling

I had a little job to do in the laundry. There were holes that needed filling after the failed attempt to hang the dryer. The first part of the process was to put the filler in. This was a lot more involved than it should have been.

Babysitting

After a few minutes of pleasantries Loved One and I were left alone with Grandson. We played with him until he started to show the signs of needing to go to bed. Loved One took him to his room and started the process of getting him to sleep. We had been warned that there would be some complaining before he went to sleep. Loved One was not expecting to spend the next three quarters of an hour trying to get him to settle.

Return

We spent the rest of the evening watching the television and waiting for noises from the bedroom that never came. The parents came back at a reasonable time looking happy after having their first night out together for quite a while.

Friday

Alarm

I had no inclination to get up and go for a swim when the alarm went off this morning. I turned it off, cuddled Loved One and went back to sleep for an hour.

Work

The office was dead today. Only a handful of people were in, the rest had either taken the day off or were working from home, some were doing both. The complete lack of people allowed me time to get a few things done. It would have helped if I had had some enthusiasm to get things done.

Swim

I slipped away from work a little earlier so that I could do the swim that I had planned to do this morning. The pool was empty when I arrived. There were no distractions, apart from the clock still being wrong, allowing me to just get on with the session. This swim finished the working week on a high note.

Pub

We went out for a meal with the swimming club this evening to celebrate the end of the outdoor season. The pool closes for the season on Sunday. We were the first to arrive, having not gone to training. The rest arrived over the next half an hour, some looked freshly showered. I ordered a genuinely nice seafood couscous salad. I thought that I had made the best choice from the menu although Loved One’s crispy pork belly did look nice.