Swimming and Shopping

The weather forecast for this weekend had said it was going to be wet and cold. Nothing like that this morning. It has been almost spring-like. Infact, one could probably say we are in the spring. There are  daffodils and other spring blooms opening all over the place, snowdrops, crocuses as well as the odd daffodil. Also, trees are showing the first signs of new leaf.

We went to Nuffield Health at around 9.15 and found the place was virtually empty. A couple of people in the swimming pool, so I was able to do quite a few lengths. I sat in the sauna for around 10 minutes. It was a good deal warmer than it has in the past, and then into the steam room. You could barely see your hand in front of you in there, due to the steam. It certainly does me good. I returned to the swimming pool and in total I did 20 lengths of the pool, but by then it was getting crowded. We both sat in the jacuzzi for another 10-15 minutes and then it was time to get out, changed, and go off to find something to eat. We drove to  the Kingston Centre and visited Marks and Spencer. We had lattes and chocolate gateau which we shared and then visited Home Sense, which is part of T.K.Maax. An amazing selection of all manner of items, furniture, storage and even books. You have to keep visiting, as you do T.K. Maax, as their stock is changing almost daily. If you see something in there you have to buy it almost immediately, as otherwise it will be gone. They only ever seem to have one or two of the same item, for example, in a particular size. We bought two Dorling Kindersly books, one on Fashion which Carol liked and another on one of my favourite subjects, William Shakespeare. The book on Fashion was reduced to £9.99, the full price is £30 and the Shakespeare one was £7.99, reduced from £16.99. These Dorling Kindersley books are so beautifully produced, with excellent photographs and graphics. We have several others in our bookshelves, several on history and art.

We returned to M and S and bought food for tonight. Pizza, salad, potatoes etc.

850th blog post: Snow and Cold

Incidentally, this is my 850th blog post. I can't believe I've managed to keep writing it for so long, and so consistently.

The weather has made a sudden turn for the worse over the past couple of days. The temperature has dropped considerably. We had a few days with things well below zero. We had been given fair warning on the television weather forecast. A couple of early mornings we've been out to the car and found ice on the windscreen and the windows, so it's just as well I remembered to stock up on spray de-icer. The aerosol versions are fine, but they don't last long. I got a plastic bottle with a trigger on it from Waitrose last week when we went shopping. These bottles are very good and supposed to be better for the environment but it takes some effort to get the spray to come out. You have to sort of 'prime' them to start and trying to keep a fine mist coming out is difficult. I suppose they don't need the propellant that an aerosol uses, the part which is supposed to be bad for the environment. I think they call them C.F.C'S, but I'm not sure what the initials stand for. I think they are the gasses which are supposed to be harmful to the ozone layer or something, and used to be used as refrigerants in freezers and fridges. Perhaps they don't use them any more and have been replaced. Carol would know, as she's a science teacher.

Yesterday morning it was cold and it rained early on. Carol has been hoping it would snow because if it does and it's deep, they will close the Academy. I can see why, as it can be dangerous, slippery, icy and nasty getting in and out of the place and the carpark would be difficult to walk across and keep free of snow and ice. I don't think we ever had a day off school because of ice or snow. In my day you just got on with things. I expect it's because of our old mate 'Health and Safety.' If someone fell over and twisted their ankle or broke a leg they might sue the Academy or worse. It started snowing mid-morning and it seemed it might continue and we've have a white-out. I suppose it did begin to settle, but it only lasted about an hour or two and seemed to fizzle out, so no chance that there would close the Academy early and Carol would have an extra-long weekend. I think she was disappointed when all this didn't materialise. Never mind. The sun made a vain attempt to show it's face, even if it was very weak and watery. Even so, it remained very cold, with more thin rain. The rest of the country has had some snow, in the north of England and along the East Coast they have severe weather warnings. I think they were expecting a tidal surge or something. 

We had planned to go for a swim at Nuffield Health, but by the time 3.30 came around (Carol finishes work early on a Friday.) we decided against it, as it was far too cold. Although it would have been nice to swim there as the water is usually quite warm and the sauna and steam room is good as relief for my back pain. Also, sitting in the jacuzzi is also really pleasant. Although, saying that, when we went to Nuffield on Wednesday we hot water was off. They had a notice at reception, telling us of this, and that a mechanic had been alerted and things would return to normal once things had been repaired, but it was not pleasant to have to shower under cold water. By the time we left for home it, apparently, had been restored to working order. tidal surge.

We went swimming at Nuffield last Sunday, after Church. We consider that we're getting value from our membership if we go there three times a week. We have now set up our membership and have even bought padlocks for use on the doors of the lockers in the changing rooms. These have combinations instead of keys. If you don't have your own padlock, they give you one to use and the key is on a rubber wrist band which you put on your arm. I prefer a combination lock as it means you don't have to worry about loosing the key, which might fall off in the swimming pool or somewhere else.

Swimming at D.W. Fitness

We went to D.W. for a swim early this morning. I say 'early' but it was around 8.30 when we got there. It was great to not find it busy although we did our usual number of lengths and were sitting in the spa when a load of women arrived and started gathering in a huddle at the stepped end and were soon doing some sort of exercises to very loud music. Aqua aerobics or something. There is nearly always SOMEONE who has to swim up and down making a great deal of noise and splashing about and generally not caring much for anyone else in the pool. We are quite happy to swim quietly, rather in the manner of swans, gliding along quietly whilst paddling like mad under the water. Some people just like to be seen, or so it would seem,  and taking themselves extremely seriously. It's sometimes very difficult to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing. Never mind. I think the exercise is doing us good. There are two spa pools (jacuzzis or bubble pools) and they are not always in operation. Sometimes one or other is out of order (as one was today.) without water in, or else the staff haven't tested the water and so allow customers to use either. Also, the hot cupboard (as I like to call it.) or steam room, which is nice to sit in in silence. You go in there and it's so steamy you can never make out the other people sitting in there. There is tinkly music on but not always.This was out of order a couple of weeks ago, but today it was working.

Wedding and Holiday In Devon

I haven't been on this blog for quite a while. Infact, almost a month. For one good reason; Carol is on holiday from Milton Keynes Academy. We have been down to Devon for my daughter, Chloe's, wedding at the village of Ipplepen. We drove down on the 2nd August and the wedding was the next day. We stayed in Ilfracombe and we stayed in a John Fowler Holiday Park. We were there for the rest of the following week and came back home on the Friday. We went via Bournemouth so that we could visit Carol's parents who live there. We had intended originally to meet up with them in Salisbury on the way down but they couldn't get there much before 12 midday and we wouldn't have had enough time with them to make it worth while as we had to be in Ipplepen that evening to meet Chloe and see the church and then drive on to find the holiday accomodation in Ilfracombe. As it turned out it took longer than we had anticipated to drive across Devon to Ilfracombe. Infact it took us over 2 hours, by which time it was dark and it took us even longer to find the holiday park. The following morning we left at around 6.45 to drive back to Ipplepen but found a far quicker route as we had to be there for 10.00. The wedding service was at 12.30.
It was great that there was a swimming pool on the holiday park site. We had made sure we had bought our swimming costumes with us and it was nice and relaxing to swim. I haven't been swimming since having my heart attack. We have, since returning home, joined the local DW fitness club near the  Milton Keynes football stadium and joined up with membership. It has a gym as well as a swimming pool and there are two Jacuzzis. We went for a free tester session and did around 8 lengths of the pool, but we spent quite a long time in the jacuzzi and came out feeling really relaxed.
We visited a couple of National Trust properties when we were in Devon, one was Arlington Court and the other was Castle Drogo. This was in the process of being restored and it was very interesting to be able to see this being done, particularly how they were restoring a property which had been left to deteriate considerably.