Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I wake up Grumpy because on these three days we're off for an early swim at the Batemans Bay Aquatic Centre; on all other days I let her sleep in till late.
This morning we were again the first in the pool but only just: within minutes the rest of the early-morning team arrived, and the pool was full of talking heads again. There was Louise from England whose husband used to work for QANTAS and waits for her in the coffee shop outside; George and Helen from South Durras were doing their "walking-in-the-pool" exercise; Slobodan from Macedonia was there, and his Indonesian wife Yati was talking a hundred miles an hour with Padma; and the Remote Area Nurse who's name I've forgotten and who had spent some twelve years in New Guinea practised some of her Pidgin on me. As for swimming, forget about the 90-second-lap: with all that talking going on, I am lucky to do a lap in the pool in less than 90 MINUTES!
We're home again, and as the day turned out warm and sunny, it's my first chance in weeks to give the long grass a much overdue haircut.
