More great sailing, less Scrabble. Yesterday was F5 gusting F6, and R and I were home alone without the girls, so we headed off to sail together, in very exciting conditions and with only 5 other boats attempting to race, and them full of hardcore sailing nutters, we knew it would be fun. I have never been so wet, drunk so much sea water or had so much fun! I loved it, despite not being able to see or breathe at times. R is great at helming the boat and with me being confident I could enjoy it rather than think about jumping off and swimming home. We had a bit of 'running' when at times the boat would catch the top of a wave and surf for a bit - wow! Fanastic result! Today we got up at 3.30am to do a triathlon in Arundel, a beautiful if hilly part of the world. R and our super fit triathlon PE teacher friend Claire had a 6.30am swim start in the Lido, and were doing double the distance to me, as I had downgraded as ankle/knee still not functioning as it should. I didn't start til 8.45am so went back to bed in the car for a couple of hours. I was a bit disappointed with my swim time, but my bike and run were great (for me) and I was delighted to post a time under 1 hour 30 mins, 1 hour 28 mins and 0 seconds, to be precise. The bike ride was started with about 15 minutes of climbing up, so that warmed the legs up. We went to the sailing club barbecue for tea which was chilled, chatted with some friends and there were not many people about, so plenty of food to go round. I was going to retire from triathlons after this one today, but I enjoyed it so much I think I might do another one....

Today I saw something so jaw droppingly scary I felt better about taking Amy on the back of my bike when she was little. She did wear a helmet, since you ask. We were driving to Hamble, car on autopilot, and along Ingleside in Netley Abbey we slowed down behind a pony and trap, which Hannah told me was a cruel way of using a horse and it had a brading line or something on it. How did she get to know so much about horses? Anyway, a man and lady were being trotted along, and the lady stuck her leg to the left to show they were turning left at the t junction ahead. At which point, in swivelling around slightly, I could see that in her left arm she was holding a baby girl. Goodness, don't we all have our funny ways?

Another weird thing I heard about is a man in our Triathlon club, a fellow triathlete no less, but who takes his traithletes in bigger chunks than I do. First, he does Ironman distance, which involves swimming a couple of miles, cycling over a hundred miles and then staggering off your bike and RUNNING A MARATHON. When I did nearly 100 miles on my bike, and no swimming, the last thing I could imagine doing is running a marathon. Anyhow, this guy, is going to do that 10, yes TEN days in a row. He must have a screw loose, as my mum would say. Meanwhile, in the Bowen house, Mr Triathlon himself is still nursing a nasty injury to the arm after falling off his bike in the triathlon we both did a week ago. My knee and ankle combo meant that I did a 5k run in the longest ever time recorded in the history of the earth, 2 minutes longer than it took me two years ago. I made time on the swim and the ride though, and finished in just over 1 hour 30. R did it in 1 hour 21 I think, the winner, a guy in his forties, made it in 57 minutes. It was a lovely day, sunny and windy. Granny Mary met us and looked after the girls, offered moral support and a lovely picnic afterwards. R was so amazing, with his injured arm all bloody, he ran around to support me on my last few hundred metres before seeking first aid help. What a star.

Today I had a phone conversation with my oncology consultant, saving me the horror and hassle of sitting in outpatients at the Princess Anne, not one of my favourite places for a variety of unhappy associations. Dr Marshall tells me that my blood results are fine, keep taking the tablets and she'll see me in a year. It is a funny time of year, in between my blood results going in and getting the result, I am sure the feelings fade, but its still an anxious few weeks. Still, another year of grace, nothing lurking in my blood, so you are not getting rid of me yet.

Last week I was in Portswood, hanging out at the delightful Llama Lounge, or something like that, which used to be Pizza Hut. I went into October Books, which I love for its subversive nature, and i actually bought a book. I am not one for buying books when a perfectly good library service exists, still my premonitions of the end of a perfectly good library service ( we don't have one in Thornhill anymore, we don't even have a Post Office here anymore) led me to buy a book. It is called the Sacredness of Questioning Everything, by Dave Dark. I question the author's surname before we go any further.

Last week Lou and I were in the post office pick up point in Northam, trying to pick up some postmen, and were chatting to them about surnames. One told us this, which deserves to be an urban legend and to which end I am passing on: A family have the surname Hogflesh. Pronounced Ho Flay. How Hyacinth Bucket is that? We laughed like drains and wandered out into the sunset, feeling slightly more of a comedy duo than when we arrived.

I railed against the evils of Facebook and Xbox to Lou and another friend the same night, poor girls, they don't know what to do with me when I get like that, foaming at the mouth and all. Friend wanted R to go round and help her set up her X box. I suggested that if he were the last man alive, he still wouldn't be the man for the job. We don't have an X box, a horse box or any kind of box other than cardboard ones that bike bits arrive in and A sleeps in and makes into a house for her teddies.

Sailing has been great lately, I had a fabulous sail one evening last weekend in gusty conditions, a year ago I would have been crying and begging to get off and swim for home, and now I am laughing maniacally and loving it. R and H sailed on the weekend, H did one race with R on a borrowed boat ( it was a series for a bigger type of boat) and then she had other commitments, so R did the rounds of teenagers at the club to find crew, and went out in such windy conditions that the mast fell down and they were towed in. Now, I suspect that I would have been crying and jumping off in those winds. R's career 2.2 as a sailing instructor is going well, if unpaid, as he is doing a couple of weekends teaching children at the club. I have got all my duties out of the way for the year, I was the very responsible post of Officer of the Day, having to open the safe and set the alarm and other such things like look after keys, and add up money, which don't play to my strengths at all, but I got through it! It was actually fine, and a lot of it is signposting people to other people to help them.

H has taken up netball club, to add to her wide range of sporting activities, so we now have swimming on Mon for me, R and A, and H has orchestra. Tue, choir, followed later by diving for girls. Wed H swims. Thur H netball, both Brownies. Fri H swims. Sat H triathlon, K and R swim. Good grief, I need a PA or au pair or someone just to keep up with the costume changes.

Going for the burn/ My legs, still sore with lactic acid dripping off them from skiing, were a little upset to hear my plans for today, as I jumped out of bed at 8am and decided I wanted to do my first ever group ride with Fareham Wheelers which starts from Wickham at 9am. So all hands on deck, with R pumping up tyres and A serving me an interesting breakfast of sugar puffs with milk and lemon juice. So, Wickham Square, blue sky and sun shine, very little wind and the most perfect cycling day, so off I go! Now, cycling is not reknowned as being a female dominated sport, and I keep telling the few single friends I have that they should take up triathlon, but I was the only woman, with about 18 males, ranging from 13 - 70 something. Was not expecting it to be any different, if I am honest, and it might explain why I have taken such a long time before taking the plunge of going along to a club run. However, I opted to join the slow gang, and there were 10 of us, we did a pleasant route out around Corhampton, West and East Meon, Petersfield and Rowlands Castle. We stopped there at 25 miles to have a refreshment break, it is a great cafe with speedy service and good choice of food so check it out if you are ever over there. So far so good. However, my body assumed, wrongly, that the day's cycling was done. Oh no. My fronts of my thighs were burning and heavy and I was utterly leaden for the next 15 miles back to the start. I struggled to keep up, got lost behind at one point and really had to work to keep up. My heart rate was always in the zones above the zone 1 I have been training in all winter, at one point my heart rate was above 180bpm. I blame the skiing for my legs being out of practise on the bike... However, I was utterly delighted to find that our riding average speed was 17mph, I usually managed about 14mph on my own, so having a gang to chase along with made a huge difference. I am looking forward to going out with the very welcoming Wheelers again, but I am afraid that Sunday mornings are at a premium. It would work much better for my sporting life if Messy Church could be on a Saturday morning. On my return home, we decided we would go to see my bro and family at Bracklesham Bay where they are staying in a holiday home, with a huge garden and gate directly onto the beach. Wow! Amazing weather, the children all played in the sea and on the beach all afternoon, and R checked out his open water wetsuit which had arrived since we were away. He found it a bit freaky to swim in the sea, with no visibility when you are head down, and a cold head as the wetsuit does not cover your head. I was really proud of him, anyway, I think he is great, learning to swim open water in order to do his half ironman in September. I would stick to breaststroke, at considerable disadvantage to my speed, but at least you can see where you are going when you breathe.

This last week, I have been taking in my quota of films for the year, as R and I have spent an awful long time on a coach, on the way to and from Morzine, in France, near Geneva, for skiing with his school trip. More on that later, but for the film buffs, these were all new to me, and a fairly eclectic bunch of titles... The A team - great, but too much double crossing and I get muddled. Marley and Me - I cried at the end, and was pleased to see miscarriage and early parenthoold given a fairly realistic portrayal by Hollywood standards. Balls of Fire/fury - ridiculous comedy about ping pong. There is no way you can make a good film about ping pong, but it had is comic moments, despite the subject matter. Sherlock Holmes - excellent film, missed the end as the coach drew in to the school driveway seconds before it finished. Despicable me - great comedy genius characters, loved this one. Wild Child - what can I say about a film about a wild child from LA who joins a boarding school in England and falls in love with the foppish son of the head teacher that hasn't already been said? What happened in Vegas - one of the most predicatable rom coms you could imagine, no twists in the tale whatsoever. So, that is probably my year's ration of films, all over in a week. Phew. Skiing. Now you are talking! Why would you want to stay inside watching DVDs when you could be out there doing it for real? We were a bit subdued on arrival because the temperatures were in the low 20s, great for a spring walking break, but not good for snow to stay snowy, and the first two days of skiing on slush and lumpy snow low down, but decent snow and great sunny conditions higher up were tempered by the fear that the snow would all disappear - it really was melting that quickly. It is very late in the season and we were delighted when the temperature dropped overnight to freezing, and despite a rainy/sleety day when everyone was miserable, and then a 'white out day' with good skiing but no visibility, we were jut pleased it was cold again, the pistes were being looked after as best they can be and the last two days were clear but cold, perfect conditions and lots of runs high up in good condition. Lots of the lifts were shut (about 50% open) which meant that although we could see the swiss border at the top of a mountain, we could not ski into Switzerland, which I thought would have been fun! The only other problem with the lack of snow at lower altitudes is that like us, tons of people from the lower resorts were heading higher up to start the day, so the slopes and lifts were very crowded on the days with sunshine. However, despite my fear of crashing into people (and of being taken out by the dreaded snowboarding fraternity who sneak up behind you) I managed to keep up with the intermediate group and skiing with 13 teenagers with no fear certainly speeded me up. The French alps are beautiful, the buildings in the villages are identical to those in Switzerland, and it is a cheaper place to ski, and handier to get to, if a bit crowded and packed with Les Anglais! Amazingly, there were lots of skiers there worse than me, which is not something I have come across before, I think a combination of me getting better and it being a big resort with lots of beginners. So, I found myself having to think ahead about other people's moves and avoid them, and overtaking people, the only people I have ever overtaken before have been stationary, so a big shift in my ability! The company on the trip was fabulous, R and I had a pleasant en suite room in the hostel which served great food, although the vegetarian options were egg or cheese, for lunch and tea. Ah, omlette again! They did apologise at the end of the week and explain the oven was broken so they were struggling to cater for our group of 30 teens and 8 adults, (we had a rep and two coach drivers to feed) plus a bunch of about 50 Belgians, who true to form brought their own two ring stove tops so they could cook waffles of an evening. The other teachers from R's school were great fun and easy going and very accepting of me into their 'gang' - likewise the teenagers, who were generally polite and chatty, or polite and quiet, but either is fine with me. The boys who skiied with me in the same group were really sweet, always checking I was doing ok and apologising if we bumped into each other. Spending time with young people is always such a positive and life enhancing experience, I remember when we ran the youth group in Sheffield we wondered why anyone would lead adults when you can work with youth? I was really impressed with R's rapport with them all, they really like and respect him, and he clearly has built that up over the decade he has been at the school - bearing in mind that the youngest kids on the ski trip were only babies when he started teaching at Cams - and the oldest ones he taught there are now 27. The oldest kids he taught in Sheffield are now over 30 - weird or what? I was really proud of him, he is a great teacher, clearly, and I remember something we said a while ago when we were still involved in the big Vineyard church leadership - that the leaders of a church should spend a day a month shadowing their volunteer leaders in their day jobs, to really see what skills and talents they have but which are missed. I have never shadowed R at work before, and although this was kind of not 'proper' work, I was impressed by how his laid back approach works, with the young people grasping the chance to be responsible for themselves, in most cases, with the odd exception as can be expected from 13 year old boys! I hope R cuts and pastes this and prints it out for his head teacher to read, as for many of us, our bosses don't always realise the fabulous people they have working for them, and get complacent about those people. Note to self - remember not to do that when I am sec of state for education. We brought back some delicious rose wine with grapefruit in it, it is a beautiful drink and a bargain at 4.5 Euros a bottle. Had some tonight. Yum. We got back to Fareham at 11am, dragged our stuff into the car and then out again and then shot up to Claygate to eat lunch, and pack the girls stuff up and bring them home. They had a lovely week staying with Granny and Pop, and a day with the cousins in Little Bookham, after a weekend away with the big Vineyard church, thanks to Ang and Paul who took them with their clan. We have a plan to go skiing with them all next year, lets see if the plan comes together - I hope so, as it would be fun to take them all too and they have the crazy 'have a go' spirit that is necessary for a good time in the snow. The present to R from the children on the trip was a pair of reconditioned skis and poles, so he now has all his own kit, so there is no giving up now...