Be Afraid

 Yes, be very afraid. Until a swim earlier this week I saw myself as a harmless plodder. I arrived at the poolside, put my paddles and flippers on the side and set my watch to measure my lengths and heart rate. In that time, the two swimmers in my lane ducked under the ropes and carried on their swim in the slower lane. 

Wow, I thought. Did people really see me as a scary swimmer?  - one fast enough to be avoided, perhaps. I smiled inwardly. This has to be quite a feat for a granny with goggles. Actually at the same time as I was sizing up for my dip, a particularly hunky bod with tattoos was standing just behind me. I told him he must be the scary one that the other swimmers were avoiding. We laughed. He insisted it must be me. We got in the water, shared the lane and both enjoyed a swim without having to wait for any plodders... Note to self - I must work on my scary potential for future.

As my heel still isn't fully healed I am doing more swimming and less tennis at the moment. The weather up until a couple of days ago has been good for cycling too. Cycling is another tennis replacement. Sadly, we now have heavy rain which has brought a misery inside myself. Despite this, I am still cycling through  the big puddles to get to places locally. I return home splattered! Until I heard that we had reached 1.5c above normal for temperatures over the last eight months, I revelled in the February sunshine. I think we should all be afraid of that statistic.

I finally got round to having a shingles jab this week. I wasn't afraid of the needle. It was more worrying for me to think about the after effects. I felt like I was going to the doctors as a condemned man. I cycled just in case I wouldn't be able to drive back - there is a logic in that. In the end it wasn't so bad. I felt sick, had a headache, was lethargic - no more than that. 

Jeremy's pineapple tarts

Gold!! 

Lohei 

So with the Year of the Dragon upon us and so much to look forward to I wish you a Gong Xi Fa Chai. Diane, Jeremy, Ira and I ushered it in with a Lohei - we said all the right words and used most of the right ingredients so I reckon we have the bases covered for good fortune this year. I hope you do too.