How remiss of me. It’s been well over a week since I last blogged, and I’m sure people’s lives are very empty without my wafflings. Actually, I don’t really expect anyone to read my rambling missives, but it serves quite a good purpose for me as a sort of ongoing diary of what’s going on training and racing-wise. And I get to stand on my soapbox and bang on about things that make me cross. Like cruisers whose “skippers” go too fast on the Thames. I mean, honestly, some people are complete a-holes on the river. I was out training the other day and this absolutely massive vessel (OK, it wasn’t as big as The Waterman, but still....) was steaming by, creating this enormous wash that broke over the sides of my boat, over my back up to my bra and pretty nearly tipped me in. Of course, I requested politely and sweetly in delectable language that he “cool his jets”, and his reply was: “I can’t control the boat when it’s going slowly, it’s too big”. To which my response was, “In that case, sir, I suggest that if you are unable to steer a boat that size, you should not be in charge of it at all”. I appreciate that larger vessels rely on forward thrust for steering and therefore ARE very hard to steer at low speed, but then my argument would be that such a large boat should not be allowed on inland waterways in the first place.
See? Rant over.
So, we’re nearing the end of week three, and I’m getting used to the new training regime, with pre-breakfast runs, and spreading the sessions over the day rather than doing the whole lot in the morning to get them over and done with. We’re trying to find a suitable programme of racing this winter, and have got some exciting things in mind. We decided not to race the Wingfields in the end, and will focus on the early races such as Wallingford Long Distance Sculls, Pairs’ Head and the Silver Skiff in Turin, Italy. We were thinking about doing the Armada Cup in Bern, but looking at the pros versus the cons, we seem to be heavily weighted in favour of the latter! With a mass start in waves of scullers, and new entries (i.e. me) starting near the back, the likelihood of me coming back with a very damaged boat, and potentially a damaged body to boot, was too great to risk going. I think it would be a fun thing to do one day, but perhaps not right for me, right now!!
So there is a lot to look forward to, and with the Zambian National Constitution Committee winding up at the end of August, things are looking exciting. I believe that they are hoping to have the Constitution in place fairly quickly, and I know that they definitely want it in before the elections in 2011. I am obviously hoping that there will be a green booklet in my paws well before the racing season starts in earnest in 2011!!
On another note completely, my poor little ginger mog has finally been emasculated. He has come home feeling very sorry for himself, and I am sure that he won’t be scaling the garden trellis for a few days yet while things, err, settle down. However I don’t feel so sorry for him that I am relieved to have pre-empted the inevitable spraying antics of the territorial feline in full masculinity mode!! He’s getting his chops around a bit of tuna as a treat (hoping he won’t barf it up from the anaesthetic) and he’ll be right as rain very soon I’m sure!
He would have loved our little school holiday trip the other day. We took Tabby (the wonderful boy’s little girl) to the Sea Life Centre in London...I could honestly spend endless hours in a place like that. I love anything nature-orientated and was fascinated by the weird and wonderful shapes and colours the sea has to offer. The oddest thing though, was the influence that Hollywood has had in there. Of course, there were the resident Clown Fish and co, and the entire section was named after Nemo and his scaly pals.
Funny, really, how popular culture permeates every aspect of our lives....I see that the New Oxford English dictionary has a new entry in the form of the word “vuvuzela”.
'Nuff said.
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