Washing in public

After a cold night with no electricty or heating I woke up to go training and cooked my porridge on the gas cooker by candle light - romantic? I don't think so.  Then off for my swim which was a tough session (500m warm up, 50m fast / 50m steady x 2, 400m (40sec rest), 300m (30 sec rest), 200m (20 sec rest), 100m (10 sec rest), 50m fast / 50m steady x 2 = total 1,900m.  It's a hard workout as you time every metre so there is no let up.  When I sit down with my coach at the end of the week she will compare the times agaist previous sessions to make sure I am making progress and not being lazy!  This is a real motivator when you are feeling tired and want to ease off but you know your computer is counting every stroke and every second - no hiding place.
But on the upside I had a good shower and scrub up which the family won't be having but I do hope the electricty is back on when I get home tonight otherwise they may be a bit smelly!

Black out

My blog is a day late due to the severe winds meaning I've had no electricity, internet or mobile phone signal for over 24 hours.  The only reason this is being posted is because I am back at work.
It's amazing how your life depends on those necessities and last night I was sent to the chip shop for our dinner - unfortunately half the town had the same idea so it was a bit of a wait!
The biggest benefit was we had a family "dinner" sitting round a gas fire with candles which was fun.  Then we played cards which we hadn't done in years.  The kids had a new game called "bullshit" where you bluff your way through the game.  It was an eye opener to see how good they were at lying so just wait until the next time they come out with an excuse I may have fallen for before!  That's what they get for beating me at cards.
It reminded me of "the winter of discontent" when I did the same with my parents round a coal fire.  I hope my kids look back in years to come as to how much fun we had without a computer, mobile phone, TV, DVD or any other type of gadget.