Swim Camp quick recap

Oh'la!!

'K so I've been away for a week to the sun for ouddles of swimming... and I mean A LOT... reckon did just over 14miles... YES 14miles.. now this may not sound much to you pro's out there but for little old me who had done about 14miles from June to Oct (I kid you not) and that is added together.. this was A LOT!

.... lucky then that I'm 5-6kilo's over "race weight" and thus had a good man-made buoyancy aid of my own to help me ;o)

I haven't any pics yet - got a couple on my phone but I'm awaiting a certain Mr Rose to load his photo's up so I can steal them!!

There were 14 of us altogether on the course with one coach. Certainly some people got more attention then others but overall I thought we all got out of it what we could. My front crawl stroke has certainly changed, hopefully for the better... the only "problem" with the new stroke is I'm catching that much water now that I have realised I am completely feeble in the upper body!! Still once stronger with this stroke I should indeed go faster - let's hope so or it would it be a real, ahem, well waste of money!! ...... I'm sure I'm better already but it's going to take some time and practice!

I met tri buddies Julian and Anita once more on the course. The three of us shared a flat in la Santa earlier this year - in fact Jules was in that same flat but with other roomies (the shame of it!)... Anita and I had a 1.5mile walk each day to the complex - which was as good as a wake-me-up as I was going to muster.

Being in an outdoor 50m pool is FAB and something you just wouldn't get over in the UK. Lovely blue skies and nice water. Never too cold and never too warm. Perfect conditions... apart from the gale force winds, which did, if you can believe it, cause a bit of chop on the water but nothing too significant.

One of the good things about doing this sort of things with friends is you quickly identify your fellow classmates... occasionally with no reference to their real name. The class of 2009 thus contained characters such as;

"Hillingdon" - that's what was on his swim hat. Later found out his name was Julian

- "Protugues lady who's not Portuguese" - So named as we orginially thought she was from Portugal but later found out she was actually Persian living in Ireland (no where near Portugal then)

- "French lady who's not French" - I'm not sure why or who thought this lady was French. Maybe because she looked like she could be.....

- Thelma and Louise - who were in fact sisters, Clare and Louise... we just needed something to help remind us on one name.

- Richard the I and Richard the II... yes there were two Richards on the course..... alas who Anita and I thought was Richard the first was in fact Jule's Richard the II..... so more confusion... Anita and I thus renamed Richard the Older and Richard the younger

- The man who wore clothes. Nice guy who we assumed had a problem with sun burn as he had full length skins/ rashy on both legs and body throughout all lessons.

- Billy the stretchy man. So named as he was often used by the coach to demonstrate some stretch or other.

Mikey the float - there was no one actually called Mick or Mickey on the course but we did see a float with this name on so there was someone at the pool at least with that name!

There were others too on the course ...... suffice to say the whole crowd were lovely people. Everyone went there to learn something and get better at swimming. Compared to a tri camp there was a distinctly different atmosphere.... I didn't think people were so competitive with one another, which was refreshing and nice actually.

We ended the week with a course meal on Tuesday night, where I consumed a brandy too much ..... followed by a smaller gathering on final night for pizza and one last (and actually first in my case) ice cream from the pool bar.

An excellent week :o)

Now I've done all that I've got three weeks to consolidate my learning before heading off on a South American adventure for three weeks! WHOOP!

Letter of the week;

O

"O is the fifteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English (pronounced /ˈoʊ/) is spelled o; the plural is oes, though this is rare"

Signal flag	Flag semaphore	Braille

O can be quite an excitable word with many emotions attached

- Oh.... oh dear! Oh My God... Oh No! Oh la la! Oh Oh ohhhhh!
- Oi!

You can also miss letters before the o and things still make sense... for example I'm going on 'oliday this Thursday (I AM in fact doing this, I'm going to Lanzarote for swim camp... and altogether now ... YEAH!)

Let's not forget it also represents Oxygen (which I will be requiring during swim camp no doubt)

... and also means zero, nothing, nought..... 0

We also use this as a symbol in modern day communications; to smile :0) or sadness )0;

So many uses..... even a pretty little pattern;

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Job Hunting

As you may have gathered I sort of, kinda got made redundant at the end of August. I have to confess it's taken me a while to get used to doing nothing, it amazes me I ever had time to work ;o)

Still.... Having taken a few weeks off on a time out I've started my research for a new role... I would say hunting, but that assumes I know what is perfect for me and that perfect job actually exists in today's market.

I know what I like, what I'm good at, what I'm prepared to do and what not.... I am quite flexible....

I went to the job centre today and found adverts for the following three temporary jobs;

1. SANTA'S ELVES

The questions is it an ELF;
or an ELF;
... and no, clearly this not an advert for THE E.L.F as we know there is only one of them... the job description reads thus;

As an ELF your duties will include; - 'Meeting and Greeting' children and their families, and assisting to ensure each child is photographed with Santa {can you imagine}
- Entertaining queues {What?! A long queue, lots of kids, and the elf needs to occupy them?}
- Assisting with the Father Christmas interview {That just sounds wrong - if santa's getting paid he can do the interview himself - bah humbug}
- Working the Till Point {Wait, the kids have to pay.... are you trying to tell me it's not a real Santa and in fact Santa's not real?}
AND
- Refilling Santa sacks! {They have put the exclamation mark on that sentance, not me.. I fear that this may be the most exciting part of the day}
Experience in Customer Service or working with children is preferred, but not essential as full training is given.

... but no toy making in sight - this isn't what I imagined a real ELF's job to be... sigh...

... oh and don't worry as it does state that a criminal records bureau check is done to make sure you're not someone who shouldn't be doing that kinda job!

OK... so what else... of course;

2. GROTTO SUPERVISOR

Do you think it means this;
...no... having taken a look - that doesn't seem too Christmas like.....

So it must be for a proper supervisor then;
"If you think you have what it takes to run a Christmas Grotto Event we would love to hear from you!"
OK - I'm all ears..... normal ears mind, not elf ears....
"As a Grotto Supervisor (note capitals, must be important role - yes maybe I could rename the position Grotto Director...) you will be responsible for the day to day running of Santa's Grotto {eh oh, what if the Elf's rebel or something?}
Your job will include;
- Dealing with customers {they mean kids right? Oh and upset parents.. humm}
- Managing a team {oh lord they mean them pesky elfs}
- Control all administration {a.k.a the till} and any other duties as required {cha-chink there's the catch all}

Hummm....

Of course there is always;

3. FATHER CHRISTMAS

Clearly in this day of equality there is no mention that the most suitable candidate is a man, of a certain age, preferably with beard and a nice demeanor.... or who can say "Ho! Ho! Ho!" in such a way as to not appear creepy.

"As Father Christmas you will be required to hold short conversations with children visiting the grotto, give them a present and also pose for a photo with each child."

... and here's the killer;

"A Father Christmas costume and full training will be provided"

Wait a minute... full training... to be Santa.... ?! Really?

Sigh.... I haven't put my application in yet for any of the above.

OH and I just realised... It's October still and I just spent a whole blog entry talking about Christmas!! Already! I'm as bad as the supermarket aisles who's shelves are staked with Christmas stuff already!!!

Letter of the week: R

R

Signal flag	Flag semaphore	Braille

From Wikipedia;
"R is the eighteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English (pronounced /ˈɑr/) is spelled ar;^[1] its name in Hiberno-English is or /ˈɔr/."

R is for;
Recuperation
Rehabilitation
Rest
Recovery

R - is a good word of the week this week! I've officially not exercised since Sunday 1700... have decided that is when day 1 of my physio induced rest started.... so that means I can go to club swim night Wednesday, yes?!

On another front - did I mention I cracked on the no-chocolate-October front. Yep, last Thursday I think it was .. I hang my head in shame .....