BACK TO WORK - fitness campaign and sensory awareness

In two weeks (minus a day), I shall be returning to work....... this is with very mixed feelings! I shall have been off work on long-term sick leave for six months, and my pay will have dropped to half this week.

I have thought about retirement - but I had always given myself the age of 65 as my time to go - and I don't want to be defined by having cancer, so I shall go when I plan to, rather than because of having had cancer.

I'm cutting my hours down - and shall be working 25 hours a week - the long term plan is for 2 days one week and three the next - but this is open to alteration and adaptation, and I'm lucky that our NHS will allow me to use up annual leave in a phased return..... 

In the run up to this momentous date, I had determined to try to get work-ready, fitness wise. I've put on loads of weight (sitting around on one's backside eating cakes and chocolate contributes enormously to this). We had planned to do the Marsden March in March, but as many of you know, this was cancelled due to windy weather - so - we dressed up, and sat around and ate cake and other goodies instead! The Charity event has now been rescheduled for the 19th May, so hopefully, most of Maddy's minions will be able to participate on that date - perhaps the weather gods will treat us kindly, and we can have a picnic after our march?

If any readers who didn't sponsor the original event, would like to sponsor the second attempt, that would be great. I'm so sad to report that one of the planned marchers, a colleague's father-in-law, lost his cancer battle last week, so the day will be particularly sad for his team. All proceeds go to the Royal Marsden - and I can only sing their praises for the amazing treatment they offer all their patients. This should be the link:-  https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/maddysminions

Sadly, my baby Ned Quiney is probably not going to be there in his wig and warpaint because he will be in the final throes of his Masters at the RCA..... but we shall make up for him with our own wigs and warpaint.

I've digressed...... in my effort to get fit for work, I have started endeavouring to treat my body with more kindness than I have as yet managed since my hysterectomy - this week I started swimming. On Monday I managed 1025m and a long walk. Yesterday, I walked about 5 miles, mostly around  Kensington, and today, so far, I have swum 1275m. 

Whilst swimming, I was musing (swimming is SO boring....there's nothing else to do but muse) and I was thinking about my blog, about my cancer, and about sensory perception...... I was poetically arranging thoughts in my head (managing to keep count of my lengths all the while) and I was amusing myself with witty comments about sounds and smells.... Have any of youseen "Swimming for Men", a Rob Bryden film? It's hilarious- and well worth a watch.... well - they have the sound sequences perfectly recorded... you'll know what I'm talking about if you watch it. 

In the pool - especially when you're swimming on your back with your ears in the water, there's that muffled sense of unreality - almost like being in another world....... I was thinking about this, when I noticed the smells...... yes.... the SMELLS - as I swam up and down, I became super aware of different smells that seemed to magnify - aniseed....... perfume........ aftershave...... chlorine (duh).... strange. I just couldn't work out what the aniseed odour was. Any ideas? 

Continuing my contemplation about heightened sensory perception, I was formulating my thoughts and thinking about including these in my blog. I thought, I can also talk about my birthday meal last week, when Peter and I, and Ned and Rupes went to a restaurant in Clerkenwell called 'Dans le Noir', where one is escorted to a table, in pitch black, and one eats a meal in complete darkness..... fascinating....... well I was thinking about all this, whilst hacking (.......not really 'hacking'! 'poodling' would be a better gerund) up and down the "medium swimmers" laned off section of my local pool, and I was also aware of the strange swimming pool etiquette that exists in the early mornings when the serious (and old) swimmers come out.......do you overtake a slower swimmer? or do you wait at the end and time your set off so that there's a nice gap between everyone? Have you chosen the correct section to swim in? All these different agonies.......... 

After I had finished my 1275m, and climbed out (as gracefully as I could manage), I picked up my towel and locker key (I cannot, simply cannot swim with that attached to my ankle like a tag) I went into the changing rooms.  As I opened my locker, and smiled at the lady nearby (who had been overtaking me efficiently in the middle lane, whilst swimming with paddles and no leg kicks.....yes...... no leg kicking 😠), she asked me quietly if she could have a word........ "oh Lord", I thought.... Have I broken some etiquette rule somehow? "Here goes". I waited.......and......she let me know quite politely, and kindly, I might add, that my costume actually was see through at the back, and had a hole in it.....and I might like to throw it away.

Oh. The shame. And I was worried about my image (and silhouette) as I climbed out of the pool..........