Greater Manchester Swim

It was the GMS this afternoon. I did the mile in 47 minutes 49 seconds. I’ve done it a lot faster than that before, but I enjoyed it. I needed a little longer than the two minutes to acclimatise before we started and so it took me a while to regulate my breathing. Once I was okay with breathing I was alright. Sue and Terry came down to the Quays and saw my rubbish start. Victoria, Lou and Jade were all helping out or being happy clappers so I was swimming on my own.

Victoria sent me a video of me finishing, it isn’t too bad....until I get out of the water!

Yesterday something a bit spooky occurred....a woman came to donate in Accrington. She had an unusual Welsh name and a colleague asked me how to say it. I wasn’t too sure so I said just call her Ms Richards. Anyway, I nipped into the screening booth where she was to ask how her name was pronounced. When I came out my dream from the night before hit me. I took this lady’s needle out and told her she had broken my dream. The dream was...I was out walking with a friend, Sian. (I had seen a donor the day before called Sian and we’d had a long chat. I also do have a Welsh friend called Sian). The Sian in the dream was a mix of the two Sians. Anyway I was at Malham Cove (I went there once on a school trip, but haven’t even thought, seen or spoken about it for years). I had just walked up a little path near the top when a huge mountain lion jumped from a rock and came towards me. I threw a tree root at it and managed to run back. That is all I remember, but it is still quite vivid.

“That’s really odd,” said my donor, “Especially as I’m actually going walking at Malham Cove tomorrow!!” How spooky is that!! Well, I warned her to watch out for mountain lions.