Day 241 - Friday 29th April 2011

Today is the special bank holiday Friday for the Royal Wedding. The forecast was for rain and mist all around London , however, the sun shines on the righteous and it was pleasing to see a bright blue sky and around 20 degrees. Luckily the same could be said for Brighton and a glorious day was had.

I started the day at 6.45am at the beach and was in the water by 7am. Others were there; Leo, David, Shoichi, Paul, Martina, Evo & Amp; Bella; some stayed close to the pier and some went around; I, however, like yesterday swam on my own really hard and kept the pace the same throughout and went to the West Pier and back again. The tide was going to the East, so I was swimming against it going and with it coming back. The odd thing was though that it took me 17 minutes to get there and 23 minutes to get back; really it should have been the exact opposite; but there you have it, the sea does what it wants. Like yesterday I enjoyed the swim a lot, it is just so great not being in a pool with others all around you and swallowing up cupfuls of chemicals. The sea may not always seem the cleanest of places and certainly it has its fair share of salt, but one thing it doesn’t have is chlorine and other shitty stuff like that in it. The temperature was an average of 10.1 degrees, which was fine to swim in, but it meant I was shaking like Shaking Stevens when I was driving home to have a hot shower. Sharon commented that it was because I was only wearing a T-Shirt; it is possible of course that she was right!!

After my shower I helped Sharon get the kids dressed and then while she headed up the road to our neighbours for a Royal Wedding garden party, I headed off to Falmer for an hour with Ross. Once again it was an hour full of shoulders, chest and abs, which after my sea swim made it a really good challenge.

An hour later, feeling all worked out and healthy I headed home, got changed, downed a protein shake and was up at the neighbours just in time to see the Royal couple say the “I Do’s”. Whilst I was not that bothered about the whole wedding business to start with, actually it was a beautiful wedding and they seem a great couple and how refreshing to have the TV on and it be in aid of something good, positive and happy.

That should have been my day done and dusted, but oh no; Mr “I don’t like heights” here, ended up having to climb a 30 foot ladder at a tight angle and shimmy off the end into my bathroom window (which thank goodness was open). I am not exaggerating when I say it is 30 foot, in fact I think it’s a little higher and all I had was my brother-in-law at the bottom with his foot on it to try to keep it steady whilst I climbed as fast as I could and did my best to keep my eyes focused on the wall in front! All that had happened was Sharon's dressing gown had got stuck in the door, but it was enough for it to not be able to open from the inside, so I had no choice but to go in through the window. All I was thinking of as I was climbing up was that if I slipped I wouldn’t be able to do the channel swim! What a stupid worry to have; surely dying may have been more of an appropriate worry! As Roy Castle used to sing ; “dedication, oh oh dedication, dedication, that’s all we need………”