An Olympic Week

This was another busy week, with freelance work on top of my two archive days. I took some time out on Thursday and M and I went to Aylesbury to have lunch with an old friend and former colleague who we hadn't seen since before the pandemic. We have been having quite a bit of rain, but Thursday was dry and bright so we headed over early and went for a walk first. 

I used to live close to Aylesbury (admittedly a few decades ago!) and thought I knew the town pretty well, but had never discovered the canal. This is a branch of "our" canal which I think was restored and put back into use some time ago. We walked past this narrow lock - just one boat width, whereas on the main canal they are wide enough for two. 

We had intended to do a circular walk, but the footpath shown on the map had been blocked off where a new housing estate is being built. We decided the easiest option was just to turn round and walk back along the towpath the way we had come. I imagine that the houses will eventually have access to the canal and a path will re-open. 

We had lunch at Nandos in the town centre. It is in a newish complex by the cinema, with restaurants fronting onto a green space with a set of sporting statues - very appropriate as we are in the middle of the belated Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Talking of which, I have been watching as much as I can manage. Normally I rarely watch sport on TV, but I enjoy the huge variety of the Olympics, and the sheer range of skills on display. My highlight so far has been the two young British women who won gold medals for BMX cycling. Bethany Shriever won the racing medal after having to fight tooth and nail to get finance to allow her to compete - part of her training was crowd funded - and put so much into her final race that she literally couldn't stand when she got off her bike. Today's BMX freestyle winner, Charlotte Worthington, fell off on her first run then went on to perform an extraordinary series of tricks, all with a beaming smile on her face. Her tribute to the American world champion she beat was matched by the other young woman's graciousness in defeat - wonderful examples of Olympic spirt, and fantastic ambassadors for a sport that had never previously been on my radar. 

On Wednesday I went to another orchestra rehearsal for the festival performance at the end of August, but this time took my viola instead of my violin. Lots of violinists had signed up to play but very few violas, so the organiser asked if any violinists would be able to switch. I thought it would be fun to change things up a bit and play viola now I have one, so I volunteered. I enjoyed playing it and didn't have any problems keeping up, but the sound is a bit scratchy at times - not surprisingly given how little I paid for it. After Wednesday I had the bright idea of trying to play it with my decent violin bow instead of the cheap bow that came with the viola, and it makes a huge difference to both the sound and the feel of the instrument. I'm looking forward to playing it again next week.