I finally got around to giving Danielle her wedding present. This is not how I visualised it. I can still remember the excitement of buying it and looking forward to participating in the wedding. Anyway it was nice to meet up, see the wedding dress, hear the stories and see the wedding album.
Alcira lives nearby and we had made arrangements to meet up afterwards and go to the London Aquatics Centre. We have been thinking about it since May and finally made it today. It has been exactly 4 years since Kavitha and I walked up the stairs of the building in the Olympics Village to see the women’s synchronised diving contest.
It was almost coming up to 9pm by the time we got to the venue. The lady at the counter was apologetic that only the competition pool was available. We told her that that was what we had come for. In the changing rooms I walked straight into a shower thinking it was the changing cubicle and almost got soaked by the automatic shower head. I will now have to travel home in these wet clothes. We got changed and walked to the pool.
The 50m pool didn’t seem very long, but we both realised that it was not as easy to swim like the usual 25m pools that we are used to. Soon we were going up and down the pool where we had watched the swimming legend, Michael Phelps win 4 gold and 2 silver medals making him the most decorated Olympic athlete.
I turned and swam back the wrong way and one of the girls in my pool area politely explained that I was in the wrong lane. Alcira thinks we did about 12 lengths in total. I lost count long time back. We swam for about 25 minutes. I tried to get out of the pool like Alcira did, by lifting myself up the side of the pool. The guy in the next lane saw me struggle and gently suggested that I should just take the steps.
Everyone seemed friendly including the poolside guys and girls. It seems like the Olympic spirit that we witnessed four years ago is still well and truly alive inside the Aquatic Centre. We had a lovely time and will definitely be coming back soon for more.
