The week so far

It's been an odd week, this first week back home. It started with a Bank Holiday - May Day - of course. I've done a lot this week, if not entirely what I intended to do. I intended to write myself some goal plans this week and to re-establish contact with people. I've been giving myself a hard time about my lack of economic productivity, but this is ridiculous, given that I have only been back home for a little over a week.

What I have done is to put in place the first steps in my goal towards getting fit. I need to improve my strength and stamina in preparation for the planned cycle-touring holiday in northern Spain in August. We are planning on doing 700+ miles in 3 weeks and of course we'll be pedalling fully laden with panniers. To get fit I need to improve the mobility in my neck and shoulder as this slows me down, affecting my balance and body confidence. Improving my stamina necessitates losing some weight. In order to take the strain off my joints (not to mention the strain on my heart and lungs) I need to lose at least two stone, preferably two-and-a-half.

On Tuesday I joined the Cannons gym at Guiseley, on the over 50s, off-peak option. It's a good gym and has a pool - very important. I went for my gym induction on Wednesday and used the gym again yesterday. This afternoon - after a healthy lunch - I went to a T'ai Chi class, then spent 20 minutes (plus cool down) on the exercise bike. I've rounded off my session each day by having a swim, and a spell in the steam room and sauna. It's been great. I've been practising my Alexander Technique breaststroke - the glide - and crawl. The breaststroke is coming on I think. I haven't felt any ill-effects on my neck. I think I'm still scrunching up my lower back slightly though as I bring my head out of the water. I need to re-read the book and watch the video again. I tried to show Gris how to do it when I went swimming with her at the baths in Archway last week. My front crawl needs a lot of practise.

It is fantastic to have this time to myself, this time and space which I have created for myself. Paul brought me coffee in bed this morning before he left to cycle to work in Leeds. I read for a while - the Alice Walker book that was a leaving present from Ruth back in January. Then I got up, had a healthy breakfast and did some exercises. The exercises were just basic stuff and included some T'ai Chi warm-ups. One of these - the stretch - involved rotating my arms and this hurt a lot! It brought on what felt like extreme cramp in my left forearm and the old tingling in the elbow. I had to keep shaking my arm out. When I'd finished I did some percussive work on my shoulders and arms. The exercise does seem to have helped - or the percussive technique - or both. I need to get the rotator girdle in my shoulder working again. It's been over 2 1/2 years now since the accident and it is almost two years since one of the cervical discs slipped, ruptured or whatever. The physio I saw last year told me that these type of injuries have a life of about 2 years and that in that time the tissues should heal. So, it's time it was healed and the nerve in my arm freed and the tingling and numbness in my left forefinger gone!

I celebrate having looked after myself today!

It has felt like summer these past two days, reminding me that May is my favourite month, full of new growth and promise. I hope it's going to be good weather at the weekend and Paul and I can get out walking or cycling, or both. I just checked the BBC website to find out exactly what this 'summery' temperature is and apparently the maximum is 170C. That is pathetic compared to the temperatures in Australia and Thailand. It's a big improvement on what it was earlier in the week though. - I was really cold and kept putting the heating on. I don't usually put the heating on past the end of April.

We going over to Shipley this evening for tea with Dan. I think he's going to cook us some Thai food, using the lime leaves and galangal we gave him. I'm looking forward to it!