understanding patterns; connecting dots

  I woke up half an hour before I wanted to get up. Like many early risers I don't have to set an alarm so I get to wake up slowly under the warmth of the doona. This morning I could hear the faint sound of the ocean surf, a little breeze in the trees near our bedroom window, but not too much. Good. The water has been between 9° and 11° this last week. As I lay in my cosy bed, I started to look forward to stripping off and jumping in. I arrived at 19W about 10 minutes before first light. As I often do, I wandered down the short track to 'have a look', something my board riding friends have taught me to do - always. As I took the above snap, I met a few early shift icebergers who had already been in and out. These lockdown days we are staggered out over the hour before sunrise. "'Morning Col. You won't need fins (ie, there's not much surf), and there is lots of thick seaweed (unusual for RAAFs Beach)".  Hmmm. Doesn't sound that pleasant. A lot of pe

Two years ago I was carrying some groceries home from the IGA when it started to rain. I was only 500m from home so I decided to jog to try to avoid getting wet. Nice try old man! I was dismayed at how, despite other kinds of fitness, I seemed incapable of what seemed like a relatively basic task ...  When my knees started giving me grief about 20 years ago, my GP told me I was not going to be able to run (for exercise) again. I'd never been a good runner, but living close to the Merri Creek Trail meant I had easy access to a good running track. The silver lining of that prognosis was that I started swimming at the local YMCA once a week and swimming has become an important part of my life these days. And I'd given up on the idea of running. Until that day running home in the rain. The difference was that I'd been riding a bike regularly so my leg muscles and those around my knee felt stronger. A few days later I put on my old runners and set off for a lap of the village pa