Rollerblading and a swim

Today was just a little less frantic than yesterday. I slept in until almost 10am, at which time Genevieve called me from Dover to let me know they were about to catch the ferry over to France.

I was due to meet with friends near Hampstead Heath at 2pm, so I decided I would take Gen's rollerblades out for a spin before meeting them. I left home at around 1pm, and rollerbladed to the designated meeting point. However, it was only 1:25 when I got there, so I then rollerbladed to the Heath itself, where I figured I would find paths I could skate on. I found paths, and all was going fine until I found myself going down a hill. It wasn't a terribly steep hill, and probably would not have been a problem for a more experienced blader. As for me, having only rollerbladed once before in my life, it was a problem. I felt that I was going too fast, and I was only going to get faster. I attempted to steer myself on to the grass where I figured falling wouldn't be so bad. Alas, I didn't quite make it on to the grass before my stack.

I fell over backwards, my backside, hands and elbows hitting the ground. Thankfully, I was wearing wrist guards. They're Gen's too, and I gave them their first scuffs. Sorry Gen! I wasn't wearing the elbow pads however, but I probably should have been, as evidenced by this. (I have just put a link to the picture, rather than putting the picture itself here, for those people who'd rather not see it). It's not so bad, though it stings a little.

After the crash I made my way on to the grass. I decided to change the rollerblades for my sneakers as there was still more of the hill left to go down. I then walked back to where I was to meet my friends. I still had time to spare, so I went and bought a bottle of water, for drinking and cleaning the wound. Then I waited, and waited, and waited. My friends were late. They arrived about half an hour late. Well, two of them did, Sarah and Kate. It turns out that Natalie, who told us to meet at Hampstead Heath station (which is an overland train station) had actually meant Hampstead tube station, so that's where she was. She didn't actually know about the overland station. Anyway, all of this waiting, etc, was only a pain for me because I had previously arranged that I would be home from 3:30 to let in one of my housemates when she got back from her holiday. By the time we all met up, it was close to 3pm.

I got a call from my housemate to say she probably wouldn't be home until around ten to four. That gave me an extra 20 minutes. I chatted with my friends for a bit and left them queuing for crepes.

Going home wasn't so bad, because it wasn't all that far away and it gave me a chance to ditch the rollerblades and get my togs. It was a lovely day today, being quite a bit warmer than it has been lately. Yesterday it was overcast and a bit rainy, but today the clouds were clearing. Also, I worked up a sweat while rollerblading, so I was very keen for a swim at one of the Hampstead ponds. After letting in my housemate, I went and met my friends at Hampstead Heath. They were already most of the way to the ladies' bathing pond when I found them so we went there. They were kind enough to wait around while I took a quick swim. Like last time, it was a bit chilly when I first got in, but then felt fine after I'd been swimming around for a bit.

After that, we walked back across the heath so the others could catch a tube home. Although I could have gone straight home, I went with them to Belsize Park station and after seeing them off, I wandered around for a bit, just checking out what was around my local area. It was really nice because, like I said, it was a lovely day today.