Luckily for us, H's flurry of enthusiasm for football petered out last Sunday afternoon at about 4pm. She was in the front row in the sailing club house watching, and gave up her seat at half time for a lolly and a trip to the park. Normally on a hot Sunday, the walk from the sailing club across a few hundred metres of grass to the park involves tripping over sunbathers, families playing football and rounders and plump dog walkers eating ice creams. Last Sunday, there was no one to trip over or bump into. No couple sat under a tree playing scrabble. Not a person. Only a few plump dogs eating ice creams.

I am not sure how up to date you are regarding cat Emily, ie have I told you that she has moved to Milford on sea? and who would blame her? It's a lovely place to retire to, and her new family are a retired couple who live by the sea. R got in a muddle and told Jo that Emily had gone to Eastborne, but it is not true - its Milford. Due to not having a cat and wee and poo to cope with, we have made the most of our freedom and spent 6 of the last 9 nights camping at the sailing club. With the run of sunshine, we have relished sleeping with a sea breeze rather than in our stuffy house, which does get very hot in the summer. The girls commuted to school 2 days and turned up tanned, tired and with the most dishevelled hair that I would expect a visit from a social worker, were it not for our new government having sacked them all. We picked a prime spot so we had a sea view too. Last night we had a family fire on the beach, that is a little fire and sit, not a funeral pyre for members of the family.

We are watching HSM2 at the mo, the bit when Troy tells Sharpei he is going to clean the kitchen. A hero in our eyes.

To add some variety to my cycling training, I took Josh out for a spin last Sunday, which was fun and he has caught the bug and bought the shoes and shorts so he can come out with me again. As my blog is increasingly a sports related publication, it may interest some of you to know that Libby Crandon has bought some trainers.

I went to town on a Thursday evening a week ago to buy some sports bras, I was totally overwhelmed by Debenhams, as I rarely go to town or shopping if its not in a charity shop, but charity shops aren't the best place to buy bras. Especially sports ones. And as I have boycotted M and S I had to go into town. Even though it was late night shopping, there were too many people and too much stuff to buy. I so enjoy my solo rides in the countryside, I am finding busy places a bit much sometimes. However, I made an exception for centre court at Wimbledon, where I and Jo Hayles watched Birdych knock out Federer and Murray go through to the semi finals. We had a lovely day, with a Pimms picnic lunch /tea. It is weird how tired you can get sitting and clapping. We did do the walk to and from the ground from the station, and I got a stitch both ways. This is crazy - I never get them anymore when I run.

My sailing career has gone up a notch with two weekends camping meaning sailing on tap, as it were. Last weekend I did my first solo sail on the catamaran, known hereafter as Bat Cat. I managed to tack and gybe and the wind was kind, consistent and gentle. I then took Ang out as my crew, and there is nothing like teaching someone else to consolidate your understanding. I then had another go on my own and it was a bit more windy by then so I came back in quicker. Buoyed up ( is that the right spelling - in which case, great sailing joke!) by this positive experience, I fixed up a sailing date with Bethan, a mum from my class who is also a teacher and more importantly an Olympic sailor. When we went out, there was almost no wind, but it picked up and got to a point where I would not have gone out in it if I had seen the whites on the tops of the waves. I helmed and Bethan crewed, which is ironic, but she was a fabulous teacher, really patient and encouraging about how in control I was, even when I didn't feel it. We got splashed a lot, and she was so confident in my ( and probably her) ability and in the tolerances of the boat, that I kept going in wild conditions that would have had me begging R to let me jump in and swim for shore last year. So, 2012, it will be a steep learning curve, but I reckon Bethan should have another stab at the Olympics crewing for me. I am loving the outdoor lifestyle and feel immense gratitude to our creator for such a beautiful world to get out there and live in. A and H are very good at climbing trees and have a nice set of friends down at the club. H did training yesterday, sailing with another couple of girls of similar ages, they seem to make a pastime out of capsizing, sometimes on purpose. We found out that the world record for the number of people on a Topper under sail is 18, and H, A and sailing friends are setting out to beat that, and spent a few hours on the end of rope trying to all stand on the upturned topper ( hereafter known as ET). Am I selling sailing to you?