Most days I get up at 6.15 am to get ready for my morning swim at 7 am in the local pool. As it is August, I have the luxury of a lie in until 7.15 am as the pool opens at 8 am for that month.
I would like to say that I feel a sense of smug satisfaction for rising so early and taking physical exercise before many people have stirred from their beds - and I suppose I do. But, the thing is that I find it difficult to stay in bed after my accustomed rising time. When I was working I went for a swim before work started and I have sort of continued that regime. If truth be told, I do not really ‘lie in’ with any degree of sincerity. At the time that I need to get up, I get up and if I try and stay in bed I feel uncomfortable. So, my soft, musical alarm on my mobile phone goes off and I get up.
This morning, my arrival at the pool was greeted by what appeared to be a small meeting at the gate. It turned out that the increasing murkiness of the water in the pool over the last couple of days had prompted the technical services to Do Something and thus “product” had been added to the water, but for the “product” to work, we swimmers had to be excluded.
The helpful message from management that the pool was closed was sent to members of the leisure centre via email at 10.10 am today, that is some two hours after we arrived to start our swim. Sigh!
I made the best of a bad job and decided to go for an extended bike ride from the pool to Port Ginesta, so that I could tell myself that I had kept up my morning exercise.
Admittedly the effort of cycling those kilometres was somewhat mitigated by the fact that I have an electric bike and I make full (full!) use of its electric capabilities, but it is still exercise under the meaning of the act and as such it is duly recorded by my Smartwatch and adds to my daily PAI rating (whatever that is) – one of those acronyms linked to health and exercise that, in spite of its meaning being ambiguous (or even unknown) is something I take semi-seriously and try and maintain a rating of 100 or as near as I can get. Because, yes.
Not only did I go all the way to the beach in Port Ginesta, but I also went as far as the Gavà bike lane could take me in the opposite direction, which amounts to a total of 17.85 km which, even on an electric bike (for me) is quite a lot.
Not that the electric bike is my only form of ‘personal’ transport. The electric scooter was taken out of the boot of the car AGAIN yesterday and I used it to get to our favourite ice cream shop as a jaunt to get out of the house.
I am not a natural bike rider, but I am semi-professional compared with my shaky progress on the scooter. On the scooter, like a highly-strung thoroughbred horse, I am spooked by: anything other than a completely level surface, traffic, people, turns, crossings, pavements, other scooter users, hills, slopes and the state of the world. I do not, I have to admit, exude confidence when I am a-wheel, but it is the only way that I can match Toni’s walking without having to pay the price in pain for days afterwards!
So far, my two trips on the scooter means that I have paid 150 euros per trip, given the total cost of the purchase. A sobering thought.
The weather is a little cooler, I think, but that doesn’t make me particularly happy. Yes, the sort of heat that we have been experiencing has been of a different quality than in previous years, but I’d still prefer that to the cold of winter – that any diminution of heat now makes me far is almost upon us! But that is only may paranoia speaking. I hope.
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