Monday, August 6, 2012

First day in England

We arrived in London at noon and it took us quite a while to get to the car rental place, and get out of there. I was quite nervous about driving on the left side since the last time I did that (more than 10 years ago when we went to Australia).  But made it to Folkestone, which is the next small town west of Dover.  We checked in, got unpacked, went shopping for groceries, and much needed feeding supplies.  We came back and I prepared dinner while Cathi went on a run.  Austin was out like a light.  Needless to say the flight to London was not filled with slumber.  I did get some Zzzzs, but definitely not a normal amount.

I met Evelyn and David Frantzeskou who own Varne-Ridge.  They showed me all the supplies they have to assist in case I forgot anything.  They were awesome.  I also met a few other swimmers who are swimming this week.

I got an email from Paul asking if I wanted to go on Wednesday.  I looked at the weather and it looked like Thursday was a better forecasted day according to both accuweather as well as weather channel.  Apparently I am in the first position, because he said that if I passed it up he'd ask the second position swimmer about Wednesday.  So waiting an entire year to get a 2nd position, has suddenly morphed into a first position.  I'll take it.  I don't want to just go when its even iffy.  I spent too much time in training, and in planning for this thing, to chance having things go south.  It's happened before and to much more capable swimmers than myself.

I will be going down to the beach tomorrow morning with the swimmers that are here at Varne Ridge and doing a short training swim there.

So for now, I will for sure not be swimming any earlier than Thursday.  Stay tuned for updates....

2 comments:

Leslie said...

We are so excited for you, Gordon! Grandma seriously can't stop talking about it - we love the updates! Keep 'em coming.

Steve said...

Exciting stuff! Your dogs are doing well here. We took them for a walk around the neighborhood yesterday and got a LOT of attention. Take it easy and good luck.

Steve