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An unexpectedly active day
Jul. 19th, 2014 09:10 pmHaving slept badly thanks to a combination of the heat and the heavy rain, I decide to go for an early morning swim. The pool was quiet with just a few people in swimming lanes — one of my favourite situations because being forced to keep pace with someone swimming crawl forces me to push myself harder than usual. I stopped off at the supermarket on the way home and used the opportunity to pick up my most recent batch of contact lenses from the optician, only to be caught a torrential downpour five minutes from home.
I met Dr S and F down at the Jolly Roger for lunch — a generous and rather tasty cheese and pickle sandwich for me while the others went for classic breakfast fare — before a walk along the river, across Grace Road playing field and back to the climbing centre for tea and one on Chef Paul's cakes. Having brought my kit — just in case opportunity presented itself — I blitzed up a couple of auto routes and stayed on once the others had left to work on some of the bouldering league problems.
I spent an hour pottering in the bouldering rooms, talking to a nice couple who'd asked me for betas on a few of the problems — fortunately ones I'd already sent! — and I talked them through the circuit board — which I was still able do despite not having practiced it since the start of the league. I successfully nailed the next couple of problems on my card — sadly only for single points — and finished with a couple more auto routes, leaving tired but happy.
On the way home, just at the point where Quay Hill joins The Quay and bends right into Commercial Road, the corner was blocked by a coach which had made the first part of the turn only to discover that it had very little clearance on the left to complete the manoeuvre. The driver, looking somewhat concerned, nursed it very carefully round with a series of controlled blips while his relief kept him up to date on his clearance, eventually getting the wheels round far enough that he was able to round without touching anything — even the prominent one-way sign next to the pub. It was such a great piece of driving the impromptu crowd that had formed waiting for the road to clear gave him a round of applause. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look quite so relieved in my life...
I met Dr S and F down at the Jolly Roger for lunch — a generous and rather tasty cheese and pickle sandwich for me while the others went for classic breakfast fare — before a walk along the river, across Grace Road playing field and back to the climbing centre for tea and one on Chef Paul's cakes. Having brought my kit — just in case opportunity presented itself — I blitzed up a couple of auto routes and stayed on once the others had left to work on some of the bouldering league problems.
I spent an hour pottering in the bouldering rooms, talking to a nice couple who'd asked me for betas on a few of the problems — fortunately ones I'd already sent! — and I talked them through the circuit board — which I was still able do despite not having practiced it since the start of the league. I successfully nailed the next couple of problems on my card — sadly only for single points — and finished with a couple more auto routes, leaving tired but happy.
On the way home, just at the point where Quay Hill joins The Quay and bends right into Commercial Road, the corner was blocked by a coach which had made the first part of the turn only to discover that it had very little clearance on the left to complete the manoeuvre. The driver, looking somewhat concerned, nursed it very carefully round with a series of controlled blips while his relief kept him up to date on his clearance, eventually getting the wheels round far enough that he was able to round without touching anything — even the prominent one-way sign next to the pub. It was such a great piece of driving the impromptu crowd that had formed waiting for the road to clear gave him a round of applause. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look quite so relieved in my life...
