An intermediate distance

Monday dawns cool and cloudy and after breakfast and a shower, I take Norman for his walk with Betty and Nellie, as far as the little bridge. Betty seems to know everyone in the village, having lived here much longer than I have, and stops to talk to several people as we take our walk. She carries titbits in her pocket for Nellie and anyone who has food is a friend of Norman's, so he seems to be acquainting himself with them quite well. Around midday, I drive to the Leisure Centre for my swim and find the pool quite busy, but manage to squeeze myself into the end lane, which is a double, against the rope and complete a 400m mixed medley warm up. For some reason my lower back and legs feel unusually stiff and I put this down to the effects of Sarah's orthotics, perhaps causing me to use my leg and back muscles in a different way. After the warm up I swim 2 x 200m IM and feel much better, so try a 300m IM at a slow pace. I manage the three lengths of fly OK, the backstroke, breaststroke and front crawl being unproblematic. A further 300m IM, convinces me that my stamina can handle the butterfly leg OK and I resolve to make the step up to repeating 300m IM's for a couple of weeks before tackling the Olympic distance of 400m. Afterwards I have a tea aand a scone in the cafe, Sarah has made them again she tells me, but today they are magnificent, tall crumbly monoliths, with sultana protudences, that melt in the mouth. I leave at two thirty in order to allow time to call at the library to return "No Country For Old Men" and to collect a book about ADHD, and manage to squeeze into a parking space down Lairgate. As I approach the library, a traffic warden is writing a ticket for someone illegally parked in a disabled bay and I ask him if I am OK, because my front wheels may be outside the parking lines. He tells me that at least one whole wheel needs to be outside to be fineable and I am unsure whether I am or not, so rather than risk a ticket and a fine, I just drop off the book and hurry back to the car, only to find that I am, in fact, legally parked. Unfortunately there isn't time to go back to the library before it is time to collect Louis. I pick him up from school and drive him back to Tickton, where we let Norman out into the garden, before giving him his tin and then walking to the swing park on the other side of the village. I explain to Louis that I won't be able to play football today, as the orthotics his mum made still feel quite strange, but in the event no one has a ball, so Louis plays with the other children on the swings and roundabouts until it is time for tea. He has preordered ante pasta again, which we eat in the kitchen, accompanied by a baguette, and followed by peaches and yogurt for dessert. Later we walk Norman round the village, stopping at the shop, where I buy Louis an ice lolly, as a reward for his good behaviour. I take him home for seven and when I return, complete the weekend blogs and then have an early night.