Another Place

Where have I been for the last month - zooming round Manchester on the Metro?

Well, today we had a little trip to the coast just north of Liverpool, starting at Southport, home turf of poet Jean Sprackland, whose poem The Birkdale Nightingale is set in the wild dunes outside the town.
Then on to Crosby beach to see Antony Gormley's installation that I've wanted to visit for ages.
Make no mistake (signage emphasises) this is not a swimming beach. Proceed at your own risk

So, suitably cautioned, we advanced, stepping over the usual beach objects...

and the incredibly large...

to the main attractions...

intriguing...

some customised by visitors...

compelling...

moving...

haunting...

Then on, for a prize-winning ice cream at Parkgate, Wirral, former seaside town where the tide went out

The Railway Is Coming To Cranford!!

Oops, sorry! I mean the Metro is coming to Chorlton! I must've got carried away with excitement! Hooray!

End of June we've been told, and then the city centre will be only 5 minutes away on public transport. Today test trams went tooting along the tracks! 

Looks like we'll soon be in business!

Great Swim Junkie

Saturday was the Great North Swim, iconic swimming event, as it's billed, back in Windermere after last year's cancellation due to blue-green algae in the lake. 

The whole day is so memorable, starting with Park and Sail from Bowness up to Ambleside and the first sightings from the boat of the course at Low Wood marina

Then the one-mile walk from Ambleside to Low Wood, with glimpses of the swimmers through the trees

then onto the lawn in front of the hotel - normally so sedate and quiet but today unrecognisable - thronged with swimmers in wetsuits and spectators 

We were in the white wave at 4pm. This time I felt better prepared psychologically and physically but my time was the longest yet 1:7:39 - only a few seconds more than Salford but I'd hoped to manage the swim in under an hour. 

Everyone we spoke to said they'd found it relatively hard. Even the elites' times were also a bit longer than usual. There was quite a swell and the water was fairly choppy in the first half. Then on the return leg, to me it felt like swimming in treacle, hard work. But the main thing is I enjoyed it. 

And at the end, it's like being a child getting off a rollercoaster, after all the nerves and excitement, the immediate reaction is - again, again!

So now we're weighing up the Great Scottish Swim at Strathclyde on September 24th. Not just a mile, this time 2K down the middle of the loch. Hmmm, now there's a thought...

Poetry Sunday

Horizontal Buoys

The training continues - last Saturday morning, one circuit of the dock - 400m, 14.5C. This morning, two circuits, 800m, 13.8C. I'm acclimatising but it was very blooming cold - and I didn't wear socks! 

And choppy - at one point the great big buoys that mark the corners of the course were flat on the surface of the water, the wind was so strong. But by then the swimming seemed to get easier, I was bouncing along doing breaststroke, ducking my head under each wave - I got a great rhythm going!

So apart from pool swimming during the week -  2K now in under an hour - I'll be in the dock for three circuits next Saturday morning, then four the week after. Hopefully the temperature might start to rise......  The following Saturday - 18 June - is the real thing in Windermere, but I feel ready for it now. The buzz after Saturday morning swims seems to power me through the rest of the day......

Waiting at traffic lights for a tram to pass on the way home afterwards, I had to snap this lovely little iron grille in the dock wall

Chorlton Arts Festival

I love this exhibit, under the metal bridge across to Chorlton Meadows and the Mersey. Last time - two years ago? - it was just four bricks in the water 

F L U X

We Are The Champions!

Blowing my alias...what the hell...blame the adrenalin high!! 

Self with warthog, gazelle and Eve's young man. Strange item between my legs is woolly hat. Too doolally still to put it on head. 

What an afternoon! Traffic diversions (because of Manchester 10K ) so long-winded I thought we wouldn't get there in time. But we did.....

I was third last to come in at the end of the day, so I had a personal escort of kayakers - who were all totally lovely and encouraging - thank you so much guys and gals

Thrilled, but too worn out to say much this evening, so here are some pictures

next time, my goal is to build up the front crawl

from the canal into Ontario Basin and the final section

always time for a chat. This guy will be kayaking again at the Windermere swim in a month's time

Dock 9, Huron Basin, the starting area - just about dismantled

Imperial  War Museum and The Lowry

Media City

view to a bridge

the BBC's new home

What a wonderful day despite grim weather and low temperatures. My time: 01:06:51. One month now to train towards shaving off some minutes at Windermere.

Sporting Heroes

Just dropped Pete, Eddie and Eve (husband, son, daughter) in town as Pete and Eddie are running the Manchester 10K at 12.10 before doing the swim this afternoon. Gluttons for punishment!  Eve is the communication link and support team.

Eddie is a lovely, lanky 16-year-old, so Pete said it would be like watching a warthog and a gazelle.

I think he's being just a bit hard on himself!

And now I'm watching the coverage on BBC2, they keep flashing across to Salford where the first wave has just completed the course.

The commentator is saying the water is absolutely freezing and he'd need two wetsuits to even consider it......

The participants all look quite cheery though.....oh my god, that's me in three hours twenty minutes.....

Getting in the Zone

Where did all the hot weather go? The blazing sun that should have been warming up the water in Salford Docks this week? 

Tomorrow is the Great Swim and we're in the last wave at 3.20. The cameras will be rolling, and broadcasting live on BBC 2. Ulp! No pressure then.....

This is my cap - you'll be able to spot me bringing up the rear and staggering over the finish line. 

I swam 3/4 mile yesterday, and a mile on Thursday in 45 minutes - a great time for me. I'd be very impressed if I managed a time like that tomorrow. 

Here's the all-important chip that'll keep track of me

and here's that great poem from Sharon Olds, that seems to sum it all up

The Swimming Race

Noon, Orinda Park Pool, three girls

in rubber caps sculpted with rubber

roses, and they had put our fathers

at the far end of our lanes. We curled

our toes over the edge, the gun went off -

they dove cleanly, as I jumped. By the time 

I had surfaced, and started to dog-paddle, they had

finished the race, their fathers had drawn them up

dripping and were handing them sateen ribbons with

rosettes, a red and a cobalt blue,

I held up my head as he'd taught me, and swam

like a dog toward his end of the pool. The day

was temperate and cloudless, live-oaks

in a large cluster full of yellow-jackets to my left,

the lawn to my right, and there before me, 

at the end of my lane - black lines

on the bottom of the pool, where the drowned would lie -

was my father. I paddled, I felt myself approach him,

I was grinning because of the prize I would win

for coming in third, a Big Hunk bar -

the milk and honey on the other side -

and because my father was getting bigger,

leaning toward me, his arms open.

He pulled me out, and held my hand

up by the wrist. My sister sneered, she said

Why did you lift Shary's fist

when she was last? and he smiled, a smile almost

without meanness, one of the last

times we saw him smile, he said

I thought she was winner of the next race, and his

face flushed with pleasure and the shade of the yardarm.

Sharon Olds

from The Wellspring, 1995

Oh bring on that yardarm!!

May The Eighth

I'd forgotten that on my birthday last year we went to the City Art Gallery to look at the Emmeline Pankhurst picture, before going on to Wagamama for a birthday celebration meal. So it was nice to have a memory prompt on last year's blog post.

This year my birthday started as usual with presents in bed :@) Then a swim for Dash at 11am - he's getting very good at it! Coffee and chocolate brownie in the garden with my sister and family - Malachy and Aoife aged 2 and 1 are the darlingest little dotes and turn any visit into a party!

Then yesterday's Doctor Who on catch up, followed by a meal at Croma - Chorlton's finest! A glass of bubbly on our return. What more could a girl want?! Thanks everyone! 

garden clogs

writing prompts kit

solar powered garden lamp

lemon bath stuff

tartan dressing gown

celebration tipple