Day 290 - Monday 11th July 2011 (the Twins 3rd birthday)

No swimming today, in fact no exercise today and I am feeling bad about that. The reason, of course there is “always” a reason why we dont do something we know we should do, is that the Twins turned 3 today. I really didn’t want them to wake up this morning on the first birthday that they really understand and me not be there. As for swimming the rest of the day, from 9am onwards I am up to my kneck with meetings and paperwork, then after work it would be rubbish of me to not go home and help Sharon as she is having about 30 kids over for a party this afternoon and then the adults staying on at ours for dinner. So yes it is an excuse for not swimming, but a fair excuse if one considers it.

Today is not about me swimming though, it’s about Angus McFayden. Angus is a Brighton Swimming Club member who has been training for 4 years to swim the channel; having missed his slots the last two years, once through weather and once through illness. I don’t know him that well as we’ve only swum together a couple of times and we don’t see each other a lot, but I have to say that I had great admiration for him as he has stuck to this challenge for 4 years and despite various challenges over the years he has kept going. He has certainly put in the training one needs (and then some) and has raised money for a wonderful cause. He started his swim this morning and the weather leaving Dover sounded just about perfect, although the temperature in Dover is still low (around 16 degrees) and the channel will be lower than that. So I want to take this opportunity of wishing him well in his swim and to say that I for one have the absolute respect for what he is putting himself through at this particular moment in time. I truly hope that tomorrow I can blog that he was successful.