Making room for more cake.

No one has ever described me as an athlete.  I was the child chosen last in PE;  the girl who was partnered with the bully teacher for hockey; the person no one ever threw a ball to in rounders but now that I'm a grown up I've found that my love of cake requires a certain level of physical exercise.  I tried the gym and put on half a stone.  I hated it so much that I would reward myself with chocolate after.  I tried dance classes but with two left feet and a dislike for competitive, shouty instructors made me want to punch someone.  I quite liked yoga classes but they made me pass wind, which was rather embarrassing and I was too good at the mediation bit at the end, often having to be woken up because of the snoring.  

 

Swimming is something I've always enjoyed.  I don't have to talk to anyone, I can go at my own speed and there is no sweaty body smell.  It's always so light and bright and blue in the pool that just stepping into the water cheers me up.

This lunchtime I swam 32 lengths, which is 1/2 a mile and should have burnt 290 calories. That should be enough for a small cake.

Today's swim had the added bonus of making me laugh, which is my favourite pastime.  I think there is a disabled swimming group that swims on a Tuesday lunchtime and today there were 4 young men with Downs Syndrome in the pool, having a fantastic time.  They  make me smile every week because they just enjoy every moment of life.  Today one of the lads decided he was going to jump the length of the pool.  Not in one long jump but in separate bounces.  This was fine when he was within his depth but there was a collective holding of breath and sigh of relief as he jumped down to the bottom and sprang back up again out of the water.  He continued until he reached the end of the pool and swam back to meet his friends.  They were so impressed that all four decided to try it.  It was a very funny sight, as they made a line of bouncing human bombs. Singing the Dam Busters march in my head provided the perfect soundrack. The lifeguard wasn't quite sure whether to be worried or not but he was laughing so hard there were tears leaking from his eyes.