Weekend With My Cousin

At the end of September my cousin K came to stay for the night and to see our new house. She was supposed to be getting the train all the way to Penistone where we live, but there were signalling problems, so Lee and I ended up going to Meadowhall to meet K. While we were there we decided to have some lunch so we went into Pizza Express. It was only about 11.30 so Zizzi's wasn't open so we went to Pizza Express instead. K and I shared a mushroom pizza and I had some polenta chips too which were lovely. 

After lunch we popped into M&S for snacks for tea and then we came back to the house and showed K round and chilled out for a bit. Lee went out to a gig so K and I started going through my make up, which I had asked her to help me with. I got rid of a lot that I had very similar shades of. She also arranged my perfume and some of my jewellery which look really nice now. 

K and I sorted out our tea and ate it in the living room while watching a bunch of stuff on the TV including Derry Girls and Heartstopper (which we both love). Then we made some Christmas cards - I have a bunch of supplies and they're all now easily accessible so we each made a few. Lee came home and soon it was time for bed. 

In the morning I slept in quite late and then showered, and then we all had croissants and pains au chocolat for breakfast. We needed to plant some plants so K and I went off to Tesco to try to buy some compost but they didn't have any so we had to go to Pot House Hamlet. We then got back and planted my plants. A few of them came from the old house and my mum has been looking after them for me, and a couple were Christmas gifts from my mum. She kept saying we needed to get them in the ground before the first frost arrived so we finally did it. Well I mostly just supervised and everyone else did the hard work.

After that we all went upstairs to the back bedroom where all the books are. Lee and I have been working hard on organising and shelving them all. There are over a thousand books, wow. My very own library! K helped to shelve some books and she and I also did our nails - toenails for me, ready for my holiday. The books look so good, they're double shelved on most shelves and by genre. I'll share photos. 

K then wanted to get back home so Lee took her to the train station. I'm not sure what I did, but then about 4.30 I got ready to drive to Leeds for a swimming session. It was a LGBTQ+ disabled session at Bramley Baths so I decided to go. I've never been there before and it's a beautiful old Edwardian baths, truly gorgeous. There were probably about 25 of us. I thought I might know someone, but I didn't. But I did speak to a couple of people, and it was a nice session.

When I got back Lee and I had some tea and then I had a nice long bath. I'm still getting used to it and trying to have a bath every week, just to relax! 

All the make up I got rid of. Lolly took a lot of this for herself or her nieces when she came to visit the weekend after, which was totally fine! 

One of the Christmas cards I made, isn't it cute?

My perfume and jewellery on Lee's chest of drawers. I do have a lot of perfume, yes. I love it! In the little red tin, which I also really love, are perfume testers, way more of them than I realised. I've been using them pretty regularly as I'm trying to get through them

K and Lee planting plants in the garden

Ta da

This is the vanity in the en suite bathroom, above the bulkhead of the stairs. My make up is all on the right now with shower gel and hair care to the left. I actually moved that circular carousel on to the windowsill where it now holds Lee's toiletries and soaps. I put more skinarcare on the left

Here is the start

Of the one thousand books

Doubled up

That I own 

But there's still space for more! I will also be working at a desk built in to this bookshelf but I need to get my laptop sorted out first for that

And here's Bramley Baths from outside, it's so cute inside

Trip to France - Day 3

On the first Sunday morning of our holiday Lee, Alison, my mum and I went to the supermarket. Most supermarkets in France close at noon on Sundays so we had to get a shift on. We bought enough stuff to last a few days, including stuff for barbecues. My mum and Alison had got some veggie stuff for me, including a thing that was just breaded cheese, which was delicious! We bought a ton of stuff. I love French supermarkets, they are filled with such wonders. 

In the afternoon we sunbathed. It was hot and the pool was so refreshing. I had bought three new swimming costumes to wear on holiday, although I ended up only wearing two of them. This bright orange one was in a two pack with another that is orange with a purple pattern. I like it - it's slightly big around my bust but it stays up fine when I've got the halter strap on, although it is removable if you wanted. I got the costumes from Crazy Clearance at bargain prices which I'm pleased about.

After sunbathing I had a shower and put on this floral dress. I love it but don't wear it that often, I'm not sure why. My friend commented on the instagram photo of it saying she really liked it on me. And I agree! I'll have to try to wear it more often. The cardigan came from Peacocks absolutely forever ago. 

Lee made pan haggerty to go with tea, which everyone enjoyed. It's just potatoes, onions, butter, and cheese, but it's absolutely delicious and everyone likes it. I was really grateful to him for doing some of the cooking for everyone! 

In the evening we did quizzes in the living room. It dropped quite cold at night, a bit too cold to sit outside, but it was nice in the living room with the doors open so there was a breeze coming through. The sofas were nice and comfy too which we appreciated. 

My view from the sun lounger. I do love having a private pool on holiday, it feels like such a luxury!

In the pool in my new orange swimming costume. It was lovely, I really liked it!

There was some cloud but on this day it kept moving quickly which was good

Simply Be floral dress

And finally pan haggerty all ready to eat!

Swimming in September

As I've said previously, I have really missed swimming since the pandemic hit. We would normally go to the gym at least once a week, and we had holidays cancelled that both had pools involved - one in Tenerife, and one on a complex in the Cotswolds - that we had booked specifically because there was a pool. On a holiday like this, we would normally go swimming EVERY day. If we go out during the day, even when we're abroad, we'll still get back in time to go swimming for an hour or so before eating. It's something I really like about holidays, and swimming in general is one of my favourite things in the world, and I have missed it. 

Our gym reopened at the beginning of August but it didn't feel safe enough for us so we paused our memberships for a couple of months. But it still meant I missed swimming! We went to the big leisure complex in Barnsley on Lee's birthday, which was lovely, but it was quite busy. But I heard about this little pool in Penistone a while ago, and over the past couple of months they've been doing private hire too. They've got some very random times available, and it's £20 for the hour, which was slightly expensive, but I thought it was worth it as I really wanted a swim. I managed to snag a session first thing one morning so we got up bright and early and headed to Penistone.

The pool is in the garden of someone's house. It's a weird set up, but there are plenty of videos on their Facebook page to explain what to do. You park in the (closed) leisure centre across the road and then walk through the garage to the pool changing rooms. I left the payment in an envelope in a letter box, and we used the hand sanitiser. We had our costumes on underneath our clothes, so we stripped off and left our stuff in the changing rooms.

It's a strange little pool - you going out of the changing rooms up two steps, and then immediately down steps at the side of the pool. At one side closest to the changing rooms, there's no way to walk round the pool/no edge to it. There's just the wall. And the steps are quite steep. At the other side, there is a small walkway, which leads down to a door. There's also a viewing room where parents can sit while their kids have lessons. The pool has a step just after the steps in the first photo, and then gets quite deep - by the deep end it is two metres deep!

We got in at 8.30. The water was really warm - the thermometer said 26 degrees which is perfect. The pool isn't very long but long enough to do a little bit of swimming in, which is what we wanted. We lounged and chatted and swam and basically had a good time for an hour!

Afterwards you only get ten minutes to get out so that they can clean before the next people arrive, so we just chucked our clothes back on and sat on towels and plastic bags in the car to drive home. Lee got straight in the shower but I laid in bed for a bit reading. Jasmine is one of those cats that go mad for chlorine, so she licked me and bit my arm for a while. Then I finally got in the shower. 

I've been keeping an eye on the pool's Facebook in case another time slot that's good for us pops up. I'd recommend it if you're in the area!

Lee took this and his phone was all steamy!

Here I'm standing on the step that is between the changing room and the pool. That silver rail on the right is in the water

This is the far side that does have a small walkway. The steps you can see here are doubled below my feet, if that makes sense

Trip to Cornwall - Day 5 - Jubilee Pool

So! On the Wednesday of our holiday we found yet another body of water to go swim in! Honestly, we didn't have a typical holiday for us at all, but thanks to the weather it was hard to want to do anything else than swim and sunbathe and chill out on beaches. Usually we go round tons of little villages, but it was just so hot, we didn't bother.

Anyway, after our trip to Hathersage Lido and how much we enjoyed that, I googled outdoor pools in Cornwall to see if we could find one nearby. Lots of them are on the north coast, but Jubilee Pool in Penzance wasn't far from us. So we set off and got to the pool around 11am.

It is huge. Like, I don't think the photos show you just how big it is. It's triangular, but at it's biggest, it is 96m like 50something metres. That's almost the same size as a football pitch! It is seawater, a bit filtered but not much. This means you can't see the bottom of the pool from not very deep. This is something I really struggle with, but I was really brave and we went across the pool and then to the very deep end. It is like 2.5m deep so REALLY deep! It is also really quite a swim!

We stayed mostly in the shallow bit after the trek round the whole pool. We got out and sunbathed for a bit, and then decided to stay a bit longer as we were having such a good time, so got some chips to share from the cafe. All around the pool are there gorgeous terraces to sit on and spread your towel out on, which was lovely. There were tons of people there. It is £5 to get in and as far as I could see there wasn't a time limit on that. It felt weird to me that the water was salty, though! The water isn't heated, so it is pretty chilly to get into, although they're hoping to add some kind of geothermal heating next year.

I would love to go back here - I'd love to be there right now! I recommend it!

On our way out we got ice creams from the cafe to eat on the way back to the caravan.

Me in the pool

And closer in 

History of the pool - I love the histories of all these old pools in Britain

Showing you the whole pool - it is absolutely massive

Lee on our way in. The sea is just beyond the tower there

Seagulls - I like them even though they're scavengers

Me sunbathing, so glamorous

It extends a lot on the left too. There's a shallower pool right on the left, but it wasn't open when we went.

How cute is the sign?!

Trip to Cornwall - Swimming in the Sea

On Tuesday evening after we'd got back from Porthleven and Godrevy Point, we decided to get to the beach and go swimming. It wasn't too late and it was really hot. We packed some drinks into the picnic bag and set off to Poldhu Cove where we'd been on Saturday. We knew it was a nice beach and this time the sea was further in too.

The water was freezing! It took us ages to get in - the shoulders are the worst bit I always find! There was another couple having problems getting fully in too which was just funny. We were in there for ages, but eventually our hands were going numb so it was definitely time to get out. But I'm really glad we managed to swim in the sea because it's something I love to do and you just don't get the opportunity to do it that much in the UK! Lee enjoyed it too which was good.

We dried off in the sunshine, relaxing for a while on the sand. Then we went back to the caravan and had bits for tea as we'd had the big lunch in Porthleven.

Me in the sea! I hadn't yet managed to get my arms in as you can see

Alcohol on the beach is one of my favourite things

My ass and the sea

Lee hiding under his towel because it was too hot for him, poor lamb

Panorama of the beach. I promise there were more people than this around, but maybe they were all behind us at that point

Beach selfies

This is a gorgeous beach, I would recommend it

Bits! I love eating open sandwiches on holiday, is that weird?

Finally, I love this photo of myself. These foldable sunglasses came free with a bottle of Malibu that I bought, can you believe it? I can't wear sunglasses other than my prescription ones, but I really wish I could because these are perfect. I like this photo a lot - I made it my profile picture on Twitter.

What I Wore 24th June

One of the things about being on holiday and going swimming a lot is that I end up getting changed a lot! I think my record was four times in one day. But that does mean that I got lots of outfit photos for my blog!

I had bought this cover up for the pool a few weeks ago on Crazy Clearance because it was really really cheap and I liked it a lot and thought it would be perfect to shade me a little bit from the sunshine. My swimming costume came from Yours, but a while ago. I like it though, it feels comfortable but also looks really lovely. I will definitely be taking the wrap with me on holiday later in the year too.

I always try to wear either a hat or a headscarf when swimming in the sun because I do burn my head easily. I forgot one day and ended up with a burnt parting which is so painful and then awful when it peels!

After my shower I got dressed. I had taken this yellow Scarlett & Jo skirt because it's perfect in the summer as it's just one layer and really cool. I bought this top three years ago just before we went to France and although I don't wear it a lot I do really like it and I thought it looked cute with this skirt.

We took this photo on the steps of the caravan just before we sat outside in the late sunshine with a cold drink each!

Swimathon 2015

I first heard of Swimathon when someone I know on Facebook signed up for it. I clicked across and saw that there are three levels for it - 1.5km, 2.5km, and 5km, and that the 1.5km and the 5km can be swum in teams. The 1.5km pool equated to 60 lengths of a 25 metre pool, so 20 each between me, my mum, and Lee. That seemed like an achievable goal.

My mum and I go swimming at our gym every week, but that's a 20 metre pool and to be honest I wasn't sure how many we usually swam. But I persuaded her we could do it and signed us all up. The website was fine for me to use but I have heard other people with complaints about it.

When my mum and I first went to our pool, we knew we had to do 25 of our lengths - and we did, easily. Since then, we've been each week and done at least 25, but up to 32 or 34. We were also doing it without resting or touching the bottom, even though by Swimathon's rules you're allowed to rest.

I was doing 25 lengths in 20 minutes by last week, so I decided that that was my aim for Swimathon itself - 20 lengths in the bigger pool, in 20 minutes. Lee was going first, then my mum, and then me.

We swam at Barnsley Metrodome and when we got there it was a bit of a shambles to be honest. I would definitely think Swimathon could do better with this - there was no one from the organisation there so all the Metrodome staff had to count lanes for us.

When it got to my turn I just got in and went for it. I smashed my target - I did 20 lengths in 15 minutes! I was so impressed! We did our 1.5km in an hour dead, which I think is great for us.

We each received medals and then we got changed and went out for something to eat - we were starving!

Here's some photos

My mum and her medal

Lee and I and ours

Isn't it great?!

Swimathon raises money for Marie Curie Cancer Care, and so far we have more than £700 for them, nearly doubling our target. If you would like to sponsor me too, you can do so here: http://my.swimathon.org/sponsor/rebeccaemccormick

Next year I'm definitely going to do the 1.5km by myself. I think I could do 40 lengths easily, so with a bit of practice and maybe a rest or two, I'm sure I'll do fine!

Swimming on Holiday

Where we were in Wales had a lot of amenities. There was a games room with a pool table, a table tennis table, a table football table, and other stuff. There was a snooker table in its own room. There were games and jigsaws and books to borrow. Then there was a big swimming pool which had a jet stream, and a sauna and stuff. Lee and I went swimming every day, and my mum came a few times too. My stepdad came in on the last night to take some photos of us.

So here we are swimming!

My lovely mum

My mum, Lee, and me

Lee got a piggy back

Me and my mum

We both wear our glasses when swimming because otherwise we wouldn't be able to see!