I’m Swimming in the rain……

Dr Becky reporting for duty!

Today is what we British Folk would call “a duvet day” – which in Australian speak I suppose translates to a “dooner day”. This is a day for snuggling up on the sofa with a cup of tea and not feeling too guilty for doing very little because it’s grey and rainy outside and you might get wet.

I used to have a lot of “Duvet days” when I lived in Scotland; now living in Sydney they are few and far between. Imagine the excitement I felt when I woke up to the pitter patter of rain on the window… excellent…. a legitimate reason for a lie in this morning…. and then I remembered I was doing the blog 🙁

The distress of having to haul myself out of bed into my freezing flat (seriously…. why do you not believe in central heating in Australia…) was worsened by the horrible realisation that my wetsuit was on the balcony and was now sopping wet. There can be no more unpleasant way to start your day than attempting to get yourself into a wet wetsuit.

 

(I googled images of getting into a wet wetsuit and this picture of a horse in a wetsuit came up… I’ve never seen a horse in a wetsuit before so I thought it merited blog-inclusion)

It was pretty grey and I was pretty late (after the wetsuit debacle) by the time I eventually got going on my bike and headed down to the surf club. Getting in the water was not particularly enticing…

 

 

But then I thought…..

Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo
Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo
Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo
Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo…

I’ll be swimming in the rain
Just swimming in the rain
What a glorious feelin’
I’ll be happy again
I’ll be laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun’ll be in my heart
And I’ll be ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I’ll a smile on my face
I’ll walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just swimmin’
Swimmin’ in the rain!

They say that “you never regret a swim”, and I have to agree that no matter how bad you feel in the morning, the moment you dive in to that water all the pain of getting yourself out of bed is forgotten and that is why we swim!

Early morning reports from the Drinks Express were of dark, mysterious algae blooms in the water. Visibility was less than optimal as discovered when I swam into at least 2 pairs of flippers and someone’s breasts (apologies to whoever that was….but don’t worry… it wasn’t JP).

Here are some stunning pictures from the swim…..

 

 

Fortunately the lack of visibility gave me and my blog an excuse for having no photos of fish in it and detracted from the fact that I had forgotten the underwater camera this morning.

It did however mean my swim route ended up looking a little like the green line on this Channel swim!

 

Exciting as the night time swimming simulation was, I’m hoping it clears up and Shelley isn’t looking like this in a week’s time….

 

I am told it’s perfectly safe to swim in…. however I do wonder – is the algae radioactive?…. Sterling went into the water looking like this….

 

And came out looking like this…..

 

(Sorry Sterling…. every blog… you and the Giraffe Suit!)

By the time I’d finally made my way back to the surf club after my circuitous tour of Cabbage Patch bay and the rocks off the point…. familiar faces were huddled under the balcony for warmth and shelter from the rain. Drinksy was even offering free hugs for cold women…. an incentive to do “Cold and Beautiful” if ever there was one….

 

And so it was, as it ever is…. to the morning ritual that is the post-swim coffee. A chance to catch up on all news from the preceding 24 hours.

Of note today…..

1. Mike Baird has been in office for 100 days

 

Which of course means it’s been 100 days since this beauty Mr Giovanelli!

 

2. It’s neck and neck between England and Australia in The Commonwealth Games! Come on England and Scotland!

COMMONWEALTH GAMES MEDAL TALLY

1.ENGLAND 12 Golds, 11 Silver, 9 Bronze, Total 32 medals
2.AUSTRALIA 11 Golds, 9 Silver, 12 Bronze, Total 32 medals
3.SCOTLAND 7 Golds, 3 Silver, 5 Bronze, Total 15 medals

Watching bits of the opening ceremony has made me very nostalgic for my old home…. only in Scotland could you possibly consider giving every team a Scottie Dog to walk them into the arena!

 

I bring you this snippet of wonderful “Weegie” (Glaswegian humour….) directed towards one of the track cyclists….

“I love the humour on the streets. I was walking along with my bike the other day, but just the frame, and somebody tapped me on the shoulder and said: ‘Pal, I think somebody’s nicked your wheels.’ There’s no place like Glasgow.”

Queenie has been getting in the “Weegie” spirit of things and having taken lessons from our expert photobomber Rainer…. made an exceptional effort at photobombing two of your hockey girls!

 

3. Despite excessive levels of food and alcohol consumption…. B&B on tour have survived their recent expedition to the Blue Mountains.

 

Here is Rusty donning a spiffing Christmas jumper!

 

And a coffee on Me if you can guess who this acrobatic genius is!

 

4. And just in case you were wondering why the normal speedsters eg: Timmy and Dave were more towards the pointy end of the middle the last few days…. the Extend Barre ballet class might have been a bit too much for them….

I leave you with this image…..

So it’s almost time for the over and the out, but before I sign off, with all these terrible things happening around the world at the moment, take a minute to think of those people involved and look around today and remember how lucky we are to live in such a safe and beautiful place.

Peace is the only battle worth waging.
– Albert Camus (1913-1960)

Dr Becky

 

STATS!

91 swimmers
1 Newbie
17.3 degrees – balmy!