Hi its Leroy

Would just Like to say a big thank once again from Michelle for the Good vibes that gave her a break in the weather

Also Tommy ( my Cat ) would like to say thank as I was going to sacrifice him to the weather gods, however to things prevented this

1) The Weather turned for the good

2) He has the hiding skills of a trained Ninja

Anyway she should be off and swimming in a couple of minutes. What I’m hoping for is a series of very VERY boring posts saying Michelle has swum this many miles and no problems, with the last one ending in something suitable french Any ideas welcome.

PS . Have told her to bring her passport, 21 Miles to be locked up for illegal entry , would be silly

After laying about all day today trying to conserve energy, the phone call to Reg yielded different results.  The swim is going to happen tomorrow.  We are to meet Reg at 7am at Folkestone Harbor and then the swim will start around 8am from Samphire Hoe.   He said that tomorrow is the best day that there is going to be and this was my shot.

While I was laying about, I was doing some laundry.  Martin and Sonia figured that because I finally washed my nasty beach towel that the winds decided to calm down.  I had stated something to the fact that I wasn’t going to wash the towel until the swim as it was just going to get nasty again from my harbor training.  Martin said that I should have washed the towel last week!  Perhaps he is right, the way it was I had to chase the towel around the guest house just to get it into the machine. (It was so dirty it had grown legs).

Jane and my parents spent the day at Dover castle seeing the sites.  I’ve attached some photos for entertainment.

See I told you all it was WINDY!!!

Mum and Dad:

Yep, half past 7 and another phone call to Reg.  No swim tomorrow, but the forecast still looks good for Saturday.  IF the weather holds, we will be meeting Reg at the harbor at 7am with the swim getting underway around 8am (this is UK time, you lot have to figure it out in your own timezone ) Of course the phone call ended with another order to call tomorrow at half 7.  Hopefully this will be the last evening call that I have to make.

This morning’s swim was quite the adventure.   I could see from the harbor the white horses out in the Channel.  That and the water just seemed to bounce in the harbor, especially as you got closer to the wall.  In spite of this, I was getting in for a quick moderately paced swim…see Jon even from the States I’m listening to you.  I decided to head towards the wall to get the rough part of the swim over with first.  It definitely was a bumpy ride on the way towards the wall, but it was even more interesting on the way back.  The wind was at my face and the waves were really kicking up.  Plus with the waves bouncing off the walls, it felt like I was swimming in a washing machine.  Now mind you I’ve never swum in a washing machine before, but I’ve been tumbled in the ocean plenty of times (Of course this was usually after forgetting to ALWAYS watch the waves!).  This was similar without the being spit up onto the beach with loads of sand in my suit.   And thankfully without the sand rash as well.

After swimming and Jane’s run, we decided to head for a country drive to Biddenden.  What’s in Biddenden you ask?  Well there happens to be a winery and cidery (is that what you call a place that makes cider?  or is it just a brewery? Hmmm.)  The weather was still blustery, but the sun came out during the time we walked around the vineyards.  Then we were allowed to go in and see the bottling of cider.  The smell in the air was fantastic.  It smelled like being out in the apple orchards on a crisp fall days…you know the ones I’m talking about.  It definitely reminded me of home. 

After sampling the wares, I was reminded that England is not known throughout the world as being the finest purveyors of wine, but man do they know how to make a mean cider.  Not that the wine was bad, but I guess since living in Oregon I’ve been a little spoiled on wine.  Holy cow though the cider was fantastic.  Even the little samplings were enough to get the juices flowing and make one wish that they were at the local pub with a pint in hand.  Funny thing after being in Canterbury all day yesterday which is known for its great shops, we all came away empty handed, but take us to a local winery and we all come away with bags.  I know most items were bought with the hope of taking them back home, but we will see if they all last that long. 

I see that you all had a chance to meet Leroy.  He is a swell chap so make sure to be nice to him while he manages my blog during the swim.  I’m pretty sure there are no existing mp3s of me singing.  Oh I know that there are a ton of whopping good photos, but seriously what can be worse that posting pictures of yourself to the web in your bathing suit!  As we all can tell, I’ve haven’t really posted only the great photos of myself.  The one below is a prime example. 

Some photos for your enjoyment:

Jane and Michelle in the vineyard – Jeez it looks like I can’t even wait until it is in the bottle!

Leroy’s idea of heaven:

Artsy photo:

P.S. The first “Guess What this is?”  photo was the legs of stacked chairs.  Congratulate yourselves if you got it right.

Michelle, asked me to make a introduction so that all her family and friends will know who it is that will be updating the website when she’s completing the swim.

So Hello I’m Leroy, the strange person, with the terrible spelling that emails her from across the pond. If you ever at work with Michelle, and you see her in front of the screen, with a very confused look on her face, thats usually because I’ve just sent a candidate for most badly spelled and confusing email of the month. How she gets any work done is a miracle!

Anyway when the swim is happening, I will be calling the boat about every hour, to get updates, hopefully of one the four mobiles on the boat will be working and getting a signal. I will be passing on any messages of good luck and support, during the swim, so feel free to post a comment here, and using my rudimentary Web skills of post images of her progress across.

So anyway right at the moment, I like everyone else I guess have everything possible crossed < which is eye watering, but she’s worth it > for good weather.

So to everyone reading this have a good morning, afternoon, evening depending upon your timezone and I’ll talk to on the day of the swim.

Regards

Leroy.

PS. As your all here and reading this, anyone got an MP3 of Michelle Singing? She’s got the goods on me for the last year, I need ammo people Hopefully this will last long enough, before she edits its

At the usual half 7, I called Reg to see about a swim tomorrow.  I was pretty sure that we weren’t based on the information on www.metcheck.com and www.windguru.com, but I called none the less.  It was a short call.  He just stated to call back tomorrow night.  We are still looking at the window between Friday-Saturday.

I think tomorrow’s activities following the swim may be heading to Ashford or the British War Memorial or…who knows.  The day in Canterbury was spent mostly at the cathedral and then wandering around the shops.  We did stop for tea and snacks at the Tiny Tim’s Tea Room.  (Thanks for the suggestion Nick!)  I know that it was probably referring to the Tiny Tim in the Dickens’ novel, but I couldn’t help thinking “Tip Toe through the Tulips.”

Here are some photos for entertainment:

“We are Swimming from HERE to THERE!”

The Cantebury Cathedral and Holy Graffiti:

High Five the Son of Man! and Tiny Tim’s Tea Room

And for the final photo, a contest.  Can you guess what this is?

The oysters must have worked because down at Dover Harbor there were these 4 beautiful swimmers; tall, handsome, the best kind of eye candy and talented swimmers to boot.  They had just successfully swum a relay and were doing a little bit of training/unwinding as they are getting ready for their solo attempts next year.  Unfortunately Jane had already ran back up to the guest house.  I however said a short thank you to Jane for the oysters.  I of course was too scared to even say hello…oh well.  Maybe they will be there again tomorrow.   (Note: Unfortunately my official recorders had forgotten the camera, so there is no official record.) 

High Ho High Ho it’s off to Canterbury we go.  We’ll see if we get any good photos to share tonight. 

Well the weather did calm down, but again didn’t leave a big enough window to swim.  In the phone conversation with Reg tonight, there will be no swim tomorrow.  The winds are cranking back up to 20 mph.  Dang those winds.  Pray to anyone you can think of to drop down those winds.  Right now the extended forecast shows that the best window is on Saturday, but that is a long ways out.

Tomorrow is a possible trip to Cantebury after a swim.  I recieved an order that it should be something around 4k.  I’ll do my best.  I’ve been swimming about 2 miles every day I hit the harbor. 

I am now beginning to understand what the other swimmers were saying that the wait is the hardest part.   Mother Nature will do exactly what she wants regardless of whether her fickleness is making me crazy.  The winds didn’t die down as soon as Reg had hoped.  They are still predicting that they will die down, but he doesn’t want to get me out there on the case of “perhaps.”  I’m beginning each day to trust his judgement more and more.  In looking at the extended forecast, he says there could be an opening on Friday evening.  He isn’t taking any swimmers out today at that is reassuring. 

The crew and I are going out to wander Dover for a bit and I’ll probably go for a short swim.  The orders were to give another call at half 7, so I guess that is just what we will do.

Whatever you are all doing, please keep doing it.  Pray for good weather, light winds and a window for me to swim.  As always I will keep you as up to date as possible.

Ok, in the phone call to Reg it looks like the swim could be happening at 3pm tomorrow.  I’m to call him at 11am to confirm.  His major concern was whether I could swim in the dark.  A huge thank you to the Girls, as we know that I can definitely do just that.  The other concern is if the weather will follow the forecast.  Today it was supposed to be blowing to beat the band, but it was calm.  This is the reason for the 11am check in.  I’ll do my best to post tomorrow after I get the word, but I won’t make promises as I might be running around like Chicken Little if we get the go ahead.  Perhaps Jane, lately my voice of reason, will be able to make a quick posting.   (In addition to those people praying in the States for good weather, you must have also been praying that it happened at a time that you all could watch.  If it goes tomorrow afternoon, most of the swim will occur during your daytime.  Too bad for Leroy and having to update the blog all night!  You’re a champ, Leroy!)

In the meantime, here are some photos from England.

The White Cliffs of Dover

Beach Conversations – Pre and Post Swim:

The boat and the Captain (and yes the tide is out):

The Oysters:

Which way to France?