Sunday 16 August 2015

Show me the face you had when Kennedy got shot



Two very similar days activity-wise. We drove to Gullane. We ran 6 miles and then we went for a swim. Then we went to Tescos and then we went home. On yesterday's swim I got stung by a giant jellyfish. I am hoping to develop a jelly-type superpower as a result. Maybe even if I could get in and out of my wetsuit a bit quicker that would do....I didn't sleep so well the first half of the night as there was odd electrical activity in my arms and legs. The second half of the night I slept deeply.

Today's activity was augmented by having Amanda along. Peter and Amanda took off on the swim and I held back a bit. Yesterday's sea was right in tight to the shore and choppy, but today the sea was smooth and the tide was a long way out. I found myself out of my depth so headed for shore, and then found myself in water so shallow that my knees were nearly dragging, despite being some distance from shore. We swam most of the length of the bay, which was plenty.

On the way back in the car Peter and I were both tired. The conversation was constantly interrupted by neither of us being able to remember the name for anything.
"What was the name of that film?"
"Which one?"
"The one where a man goes in a tank and then has primordial experiences."
"Oh yeah, that one by that director. Ken Something...."
"Ken Loach"
"...no, Ken Livingston?"
"No! Ken... Kenneth Brannagh?"
"NO!! He's very dramatic."
"Oh Yeah, he made that film about a prostitute with 'Blue' in the title."
"China Blue?"
"yeah! And he made that other one that was about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein."
"I think that was called 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'."
 "Was it?"
 (I've just this minute remembered it's called Gothic.)
"So what was the name of the film? Different something....I want to say Different Strokes but it's not that...."
We had to leave it.

Then another thought occurred to me. "What was I doing when Kennedy got shot?"
"I don't know. You were a sperm."
"I was a sperm AND an egg."
"Oh yeah."
Googling has since been done. Eggs last a life-time but spermatogenesis takes 74 days! So I was an egg and some form of protein that was going to get turned into a sperm eventually - or whatever the precursor for that protein was. Maybe I was a blade of grass in a field that a cow was going to eat which my dad was going to eat and turn into a sperm. I've tried hard to remember, but I can't.

So now it is Sunday night and we are rocketing into another week.
Confident isn't a word I want to use in the same sentence as swimming, but I am now fairly confident that I can do a 550m sea swim all in one go. It's neither quick nor easy though.
Here's wishing you all a good week.

2 comments:

idleage said...

the conversation is nothing short of brilliant - could it be the inspirational jellyfish bite - I see that Jellyfish have roamed the seas for at least 500 million years (according to the wikipede) so your one could have been stinging around when Kennedy was shot

Yak Hunter said...

One of your fans was asking what has happened to you idleage. They need another blog post.