Various threads and fragments
Jul. 27th, 2020 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12This current long weekend (it's not a public holiday, it's yet another one of the long weekends I've taken as a way to make the best use of my annual leave given I can't travel anywhere) is drawing to a close, and it's been a particularly good one. Saturday and Sunday involved:
Reading loads of excellent fanfic as part of my offer for the final ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sunshine_challenge prompt (if you want to participate, I'm offering comments on any fanwork of your choice)
Finishing off Kate Elliott's latest book, a space opera called Unconquerable Sun, the first in a trilogy featuring a genderswapped Alexander the Great in space (about which more later, but suffice it to say it's excellent)
Eating takeaway Greek food on Saturday, and an amazing meal I cooked on Sunday featuring duck breast, and my stepmother's legendary glass potatoes (Annabel Crabb is not my stepmother — my stepmother is the 'Alice Ryan' mentioned in the article), all marinated in apricot harissa
Watching the absolutely dire Eurovision film (I was dubious because a) Will Ferrell and b) a film about Eurovision made by North Americans, but a bunch of my Eurovision-loving friends all seemed to enjoy it, so we gave it a cautious try. I will say that the music is excellent, and clearly written by people who know what Eurovision music should sound like, and the cameos by past winners and Graham Norton were fun, as was the hint that in this universe, Scotland has left the UK*, but the actual film was diabolically bad — the worst sports movie underdog cliches imaginable)
Wandering around a bit in the nature reserve near our house
And then today, I went swimming! This is a huge deal for me: normally I swim a kilometre, three times a week, in the indoor pool attached to the gym on the hospital site where I work. Of course, since the lockdown, all gyms and indoor sporting venues have rightly been closed, so the last time I swam was in February. Swimming has basically been the way I manage my mental health, and it's pretty much the only thing that helps me sleep at night, so although I've replaced the swimming with running during lockdown, it's not really a satisfactory replacement. Apart from the mental health benefits, my arms and shoulders have been really sore, because the swimming also took care of them too.
My regular pool still hasn't reopened, nor would I expect it to (and to be honest I wouldn't feel safe swimming and using the changerooms in an indoor pool frequented mainly by hospital workers), but the 90-metre (unheated) outdoor pool has. Normally I only go to that pool a couple of times a year, because it really is freezing, and on hot days it's a complete chaotic mess, filled with loads of recreational swimmers with a tiny area cordoned off for lap swimming. But at the moment it's only open to lap swimming, and you have to book an hour-long slot online. I booked for today, figuring it would be less busy than the weekend.
What I didn't do was check the weather, with the result that I walked to the pool in the rain, at which point it became a complete torrential downpour. I didn't really care while I was swimming, as once I'm in the water I'm wet anyway, and I could hardly get any colder! Given the gap in time since I'd last been swimming, I'd aimed to just do six laps (i.e. half the distance I normally swim), but once I got in the water I realised I was finding things quite easy, and ended up doing ten laps — 900 metres, rather than a kilometre, but still not bad. The running must have kept my lung capacity up to scratch.
It was truly wonderful. I always feel so clean and relaxed after swimming, and my mind feels floaty and rested. I had to walk home in the rain, and I was pretty cold after that, but I was able to warm up with coffee at home. The swim really ironed me out, and I actually fell asleep on the couch, listening to the rain fall heavily outside. The whole thing was utterly blissful.
Matthias and I are going to finish off the long weekend with takeway pizzas from the pub around the corner. I can't believe the difference in how I feel having started the day with swimming, rather than with a run. I feel washed clean, sleepy but only in a physical sense, and my mind is still, instead of whizzing around in all directions. I hope it's going to be possible to keep this up.
______________________________
*The reason being that the competition is being held in Edinburgh, the previous year's winner always hosts the competition, the UK never wins Eurovision (which is indeed noted in the film), therefore Scotland must no longer be a part of the UK.
sunshine_challenge prompt (if you want to participate, I'm offering comments on any fanwork of your choice)And then today, I went swimming! This is a huge deal for me: normally I swim a kilometre, three times a week, in the indoor pool attached to the gym on the hospital site where I work. Of course, since the lockdown, all gyms and indoor sporting venues have rightly been closed, so the last time I swam was in February. Swimming has basically been the way I manage my mental health, and it's pretty much the only thing that helps me sleep at night, so although I've replaced the swimming with running during lockdown, it's not really a satisfactory replacement. Apart from the mental health benefits, my arms and shoulders have been really sore, because the swimming also took care of them too.
My regular pool still hasn't reopened, nor would I expect it to (and to be honest I wouldn't feel safe swimming and using the changerooms in an indoor pool frequented mainly by hospital workers), but the 90-metre (unheated) outdoor pool has. Normally I only go to that pool a couple of times a year, because it really is freezing, and on hot days it's a complete chaotic mess, filled with loads of recreational swimmers with a tiny area cordoned off for lap swimming. But at the moment it's only open to lap swimming, and you have to book an hour-long slot online. I booked for today, figuring it would be less busy than the weekend.
What I didn't do was check the weather, with the result that I walked to the pool in the rain, at which point it became a complete torrential downpour. I didn't really care while I was swimming, as once I'm in the water I'm wet anyway, and I could hardly get any colder! Given the gap in time since I'd last been swimming, I'd aimed to just do six laps (i.e. half the distance I normally swim), but once I got in the water I realised I was finding things quite easy, and ended up doing ten laps — 900 metres, rather than a kilometre, but still not bad. The running must have kept my lung capacity up to scratch.
It was truly wonderful. I always feel so clean and relaxed after swimming, and my mind feels floaty and rested. I had to walk home in the rain, and I was pretty cold after that, but I was able to warm up with coffee at home. The swim really ironed me out, and I actually fell asleep on the couch, listening to the rain fall heavily outside. The whole thing was utterly blissful.
Matthias and I are going to finish off the long weekend with takeway pizzas from the pub around the corner. I can't believe the difference in how I feel having started the day with swimming, rather than with a run. I feel washed clean, sleepy but only in a physical sense, and my mind is still, instead of whizzing around in all directions. I hope it's going to be possible to keep this up.
______________________________
*The reason being that the competition is being held in Edinburgh, the previous year's winner always hosts the competition, the UK never wins Eurovision (which is indeed noted in the film), therefore Scotland must no longer be a part of the UK.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-28 12:38 pm (UTC)On another note, your icon is gorgeous — I want to dive right into that lake (ocean?)!