Creation is an act of sheer will. Next time it'll be flawless.

Hello from the future!!!

Apologies to all (four of you) for the long delay in updating the blog. You know how it is, with all things being equal and all that.

In all the time since our last post, we have had two guest swimmers: the first was Mike. Remember him? From way back in the beginning when hope and glory glazed our eyeballs and Aquablade Hydroshorts technology was yet to be experienced (the drag ages). Inevitably, he contributed enthusiastically to our fun and games, and even invented a new stroke! Well, not a stroke as such, more a kind of bounce through the water standing upright with his hands by his sides. I gave it a test run too, the combined results of which being my relief to return to a more normal stroke*, and the swift disappearance of Seb to an area of the pool where people behave in a more conventional manner. Our underwater charades also benefited in no significant way from the presence of an extra brain.

Our second guest swimmer was a colleague of mine, the perennially belligerent but fun-loving Shezza McBezza (Not her real name). I mentioned to her one day that Seb and I go swimming every Wednesday, and she jumped at the chance to join us.

She hadn't read the blog before.

Needless to say we had a lane to ourselves for the greater part of the evening. I saw Burly McRepface again tonight, but felt disinclined to reintroduce myself amidst the relative rowdiness emanating from our lane. Suffice it to say the peaceful world under the surface became a quiet haven of tranquillity, into which I could plunge to escape the decibels and dumbells. Besides, Burly and I would have little to discuss. After all, I know now what kind of reps he does.

On our most recent swim, Seb and I stepped it up a notch. Only a small notch, mind. I outlined my plans soon after we dived in. "I'm going to do 40, and then we can talk about our emotions." Seb's mouth shrank and stretched silently into his characteristic jovial smirk. I pushed off from the side, thinking that he must save that expression for when he finds something I say slightly strange. After finally completing a kilometre for the first time in a long time, I floated on a metaphorical lilo of endorphin-induced contentment down to the shallow end where we rewarded ourselves by lounging around, talking about our emotions. Half an hour later, a woman in the lane next to us stopped and said to us "You say us women can talk! You two have been standing around here for half an hour chatting away, and my other half is over there chinwagging as well!!"

"Hahahaha, yeah!" we both replied in ullulating unison, a joint vocalisation with the main aim of punctuating the exchange with a full stop. Sure enough, she swam away, and now we both felt obliged to swim. Seb went first, and as the woman returned to the shallow end, where I still sat, I, for some reason, engaged her again. Maybe I subconsciously wanted to explain our unmanly behaviour. "It's a good alternative to going to the pub to talk all the time!!" I said, cheerily.

"Hahahaha, yeah!" she laughed. "Cheaper too!! And you're surrounded by fluid!!"

"Hahahaha, yeah!" I recited, quickly.

We never spoke again. I imagined Burly McRepface phoning up one of his athletic, muscular mates, and saying "Alrigh' Steve? Fancy getting surrounded by fluid tonight? Yeah? I'll meet you in the pub at 8!"

But anyway. An important announcement follows: Initially, Seb and I had planned to book a swimtrek adventure for this summer, 2009. However, both our circumstances have now changed, and we are both off to University again this Autumn to do a Masters course. Separate ones, mind. I've been using that turn of phrase quite a bit, haven't I? The comma followed by the word mind. Anyway, it is for this reason that we haven't been able to book the adventure for this year, and that we are now officially announcing the temporary postponement of our Swim for Glory. Both of our courses run until September 2010, so the earliest we will be able to do it is summer 2011. It's a long time, I know, but just think of it like this: Blackfriars underground station will probably still be closed by the time we have reorganised our adventure. We will still occasionally blog every now and then, but once we have regrouped and got everything booked and ready to go, we will no doubt get in touch with you all and more of you, to make the most out of our adventure for everyone involved: The as yet unchosen charity, us, and you. So we thank you sincerely for reading the blog, or for just looking at the page and not bothering to read it, so we can get pleasure out of watching our counter increase every time (simple things).

So I'm not saying that a group composed entirely of female animals will...breed, I'm just saying that life...uh...finds a way.


*E.g. the Tugboat Tom stroke, which involves lying back in the water, with my toes breaking the surface, and using my arms to propel me in the direction my legs are pointing, hence the "Tugboat" of the title.