Crawling Along…..Still

There’s more to do than I thought Crawling Along. It turns out Cheryl wasn’t being entirely honest when she said my right arm and my breathing were OK. She was being kind. My right arm doesn’t leave or enter the water properly - you’re right, that doesn’t leave much - and when I try to breathe on my left side, my mouth is still under the water. Yes, this makes it difficult.

So my current “drill” involves trundling along with my flippers on, one arm held straight out in front, concentrating on making the correct movements with the other arm. And I have to find a position for my head, which hopefully will not be resting on the bottom of the pool, which seemed likely on my first attempt when my inability to think about more than one thing at a time and to coordinate various body parts came to the fore.

And I have to develop “long arms”, a phrase I’ve heard drifting out of the toddlers’ learning pool. My legs have been left to fend for themselves for a bit and we’re concentrating on the bow, rather than the stern. This summer’s Jetty Swim might be a bit ambitious, I feel. However, I am now inspired by the achievement of our friend, Amanda, also from Wales, who has just qualified as a lifeguard in Sydney, hard enough in itself, but she’s also the mother of three young boys. So - when do I breathe, exactly?