Week 1 of cycling –
complete!
If progress is cycling both to and from the swimming pool
without walking the bike up either of the two ‘hills’, then I have
progressed. I am rapidly developing
contempt for pedestrians who will
walk in cycle lanes, and a surprising respect for the majority of car drivers
who actually do stop when I am waiting at a zebra crossing to get to the next
part of the cycle pathway.
However,
let’s not get carried away, as soon as the car park is back in commission – I
will be driving!
The loneliness of the
30 min swimmer
Cycling may make you a little more tired by the time you get
to the pool for a swim, but there is nothing like an empty pool to reinvigorate
you.
When you
want to swim, you do not want splashing people getting in the way, you want to
concentrate on the rhythm of your stroke and have as efficient a time as
possible. Or at least I do, and having
someone else in your lane lessens the pleasure.
So it was
with considerable delight that the only person who was in the pool when I
arrived left it just as I was getting in!
These
pleasures never last, of course and soon – although later rather than sooner –
other people selfishly intruded on my isolation. However, by the time they arrived my swim was
almost over and I therefore count myself as having had a good experience and an
efficient work out.
The
composition of my post-swim tea appears to have regularized itself into a
mixture that I like and I was able to drink and consider in sunshine which was
unseasonably warm.
The notes
that I made in my Little Book are already the draft of a poem at http://smrnewpoems.blogspot.com.es/
and, as ever, I welcome readers!
Bargain salmon
Lunch was in one of the few places in Castelldefels that
doesn’t hike its prices over the weekend for a menu del dia. Unfortunately my main dish will not be
appearing in Toni’s blog because I was halfway through it before I remembered
about the camera. My starter of Caesar
Salad was photographed and was delicious.
We were
very lucky to get a table and it was only because our timing was immaculate
that we were able to segue our way into a table that became vacant as we walked
in through the door. We were also
recognised by the owner and as reasonably good customers it was in his interest
to see us seated. An excellent meal.
Open season!
The forums in the Open University are beginning to become a
little more strident as the range and quantity of work that is being asked of
us increases.
The End of
Module Assessment is causing various levels of hysteria, especially as we are
nearing the cut off date for the submission of a very detailed pro forma
outlining what we intend to do. This pro
forma is not given a mark, but if you don’t complete it you fail the
course! That concentrates minds I can
tell you.
My choice
of paintings and artist is a little off centre and the choice of critical
documents that I have to use it a little difficult. However, I am encouraged by recent comments
by my tutor who seems to be fairly flexible in an approach will might see me
subvert (a favourite word in this particular course) one piece which is
feminist in tone and re-imagine it as a representative piece of Queer Theory
polemic. Gender criticism is amenable to
twisting. At least I hope it is. Because that is what I am going to do. And soon!
