Wednesday was a busy day - I was working and then had to give a Zoom talk to the local history society in the evening. It went OK, I think, but I discovered I don't really like presenting online as you don't get any feel for how the audience are reacting. My throat didn't like it either, and by the end my voice was starting to go. Fortunately I don't think I am likely to have to do another online as other talks that were in the diary have all been postponed to dates when it should be possible to give them in person. Giving talks relating to things we have in the archives are part of the outreach aspect of my job, and over the years things have evolved so that only two of us are left who regularly take on public speaking. Usually I quite enjoy it, so long as I am reasonably confident about the subject I am talking about!
Yesterday morning M and I went swimming again. I enjoyed the swim itself, but it ran my energy supply down to zero - I was tired when I got up to take TG to early morning French, and exhausted by the time we got back from the pool. I am a reasonably strong swimmer, but whole I can swim breast stroke easily, I could never do more than a few lengths of front crawl (freestyle) without getting tired. I decided the time had come to work out why and thanks to Google I think I have cracked it. It seems I had been taking in too much air and not breathing out enough, and kicking too hard and fast. Yesterday I adjusted my breathing and eased up on the legs and .... ta da! Twenty consecutive lengths of front crawl happened! After a rest my energy levels perked up again in the afternoon, and I'm sure swimming regularly will be good for me once my body adjusts to the shock of a different sort of exercise.
This morning we were supposed to meet two friends - another married couple - for a walk but they had to cancel. She had some worrying symptoms and had to call out the paramedics, who took her to hospital for tests. M and I ended up going for a walk at Woburn on our own. When we got home I made a large pan full of vegetable soup for lunch as there were various root vegetables in the fridge which needed using up. Nothing showed up on my friend's tests so as she was feeling OK she was able to leave the hospital in the afternoon. Unfortunately, her husband has also had some health issues which mean he can't currently drive, so I collected her from the hospital and drove her home while M collected TG from school. It was the first time since March last year that I have been in a car with someone from outside our household. Another small step back to normality, though not for the best of reasons.
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