Back in the swim!

There is an infallible rule of alarm clocks for me, whenever I set one, I inevitably wake up at least half a hour before it is due to go off. In this case at six thirty, waking at six and eventually getting up at quarter past. It is still dark outside, but slightly less cold, Norman has dry dog food for breakfast and a little smoked salmon, as there is a bit left over after I have made my rye toast with Philadelphia cheese and smoked salmon, accompanied by my usual Italian coffee. The weatherman on Radio Humberside says that the morning should stay fine, but heavy rain is forecast for this afternoon. There is no ice on the car, as I set out to drive to North Bar to collect Louis and then walk him to school. He has packed a bag with his Spider-Man suit in it, for a party at Hector's House, the after school club, we discuss the Xmas Pantomime, which he seems set against, for some reason, until he learns that "The Chuckle Brothers", are in it and is instantly converted. The power of television! After delivering him safely to Saint Mary's, Normy and I retrace our steps back to the car, before collecting Dolly and Teddy from Cherry and driving to our usual parking spot down Newbald Road. It is now a few degrees above freezing and the mud has thawed out between the car and the woods, so I carry Norman for the first fifty feet, until I can set him on drier ground. In the woods the ground is still frozen and so mud is less of a problem, but today is a very poor relation to yesterday, a grey sky sucks the colours out of the landscape and as we emerge onto the common, a blustery, force six wind, is blowing from the south, but at least it is dry,for now. On the assumption that the ground will be frozen in Burton Bushes, we make our way there, only to find that the side of the wood, which is exposed to the southerly wind is boggy, whilst the northern edge is still frozen. We navigate our way through, more or less, successfully and return to the car, having stayed out for around an hour and a half. Dolly and Teddy won't get off the lead again until Monday. After dropping them off in Cherry Burton, we call at Morrisons, and encounter a perfect Xmas shopping storm! Fridays and Mondays are when the pensioners do their shopping, they like to take their time and stop and chat, but the Xmas frenzy has also begun in earnest now and demented housewives are frantically trying to navigate at high speed around the slower oldies. I only wanted some bacon, black pudding, parsnips and carrots, to accompany a brisket of beef, I have bought for tomorrow, but seeing as I am here, I collect my stuff anyway and then queue for half an hour to pay. We arrive back in Tickton at noon, unpack the shopping, give Normy a few biscuits and then pick up my swimming togs and drive to the pool, just as it starts to rain. The pool is very quiet and I have a lane to myself, it is almost three weeks since I have been able to swim, so I ease back into things with a leisurely 400m backstroke, and then follow that with two more 400's on breaststroke and freestyle, followed by 4 x 100m individual medleys and then warm down with easy 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke. 2,000m in total, lasting about an hour, afterwards I drink tea in the cafe and eat a couple of oaties, and realise that I am now fully recovered. The heavy rain has finally arrived and I get a soaking as I dash the few yards from the leisure centre to the car, and then drive home in a heavy downpour. The river Hull, is within inches of the top of the levee again, much more of this, and it will breach and flood the fields and Swinemoor. The new Beverley hospital has been built on the corner of Swinemoor, despite fierce opposition, it is, after all, a floodplain. It's previous site, next to the Westwood, has been sold to property developers, who will, no doubt, make huge profits. I arrive home for two thirty, meditate for an hour and then make a very late lunch, fish fingers, chips and garden peas, with tea, bread and butter. Norman has a tin of dog food and then wants to sit on my lap, as I read the local paper and finish my tea. Outside it is now dark, but the rain continues, hopefully it will stop long enough to walk Normy round the village later. I marinade the beef joint in garlic, salt and pepper and then construct a Caprese salad, that I leave to cook in the fridge, before separating my whites from my coloured washing and putting the former on to wash. A better day is forecast tomorrow, so between the Poppy Seed and other chores, I may get them dry. Later, I finish, Weil's " Gravity and Grace", her theories about God and Creation have a strange echo with the theory of super symmetry, that tries to reconcile quantum mechanics with relativity, although her writing precedes these by over forty years. So far we agree on one major point, the necessity to absorb suffering into the self and not reflect it onto others. I still have to read her "The need for Roots", but will probably intersperse Cormack McCarthy's, "The Orchard Keeper", first. To bed at ten, after letting Norman into the garden. It is still raining!