Sleep Exercise Repeat

As we know, the world is still going a little bit Pete Tong right now. I’m still just keeping my head down and worrying about the big stuff until a later date. I have no idea when life will return to any form of normalcy so I need to stay focused. 

I had a full wobble a few weeks ago.. it didn’t achieve anything, and I was of no use to myself, Dan or anyone else in this period. I still have fleeting moments, panic attacks etc but I’m trying my best just to not focus in. I’ve always been one to take on other people’s issues and negativity and try to help solve it. Forever a sunny outlook, unfortunately, lately, that has been something that I just cannot handle without breaking a little myself. I know people go on about self care but I didn’t quite realise till recently, just how much I needed to practise this.

I keep trying to look to the bright side. You’d think not actually working that I would be bored, when actually I’ve somehow managed to keep extra busy to the point I would really like an extra hour or two added to my day. Between the normal animal issues, I’ve somehow managed to be smashing out the exercise as of late. Mostly running - The Tri Factory’s Stay Safe Marathons have been keeping me busy. Currently on day 4 of 14 attempting another 100km. I’m on track for now (Albeit feeling rather tired today). I’ve made some excellent Twitter friends, of whom we’ve now named ourselves the “Plank Posse” - they’ve made my day with videos of planking with jokes, conversation, poems, excerpts from books. It’s amazing what a bit of positive motivation does for one’s mind, especially when you’re on your own so much. 

 The one thing I’ve been missing from my life is scuba diving: by now I’d be out on the boat at least twice a week and on the hunt for whale sharks amongst just chilling out 15m down. It’s the one place my brain switches off... which for anyone who knows me well knows just how much of a big thing this is for me. First world problems Eh?I guess I need to be thankful that the marine life of the Red Sea are having a well deserved break from us intruding on their turf. I cannot wait to see just how well it is doing once we’re back in the water. A few months is most certainly nothing compared to the life of Coral, or many species of fish but still, it can only but help!

Just over a month ago my friend convinced me to start Kayaking. I’d already bought a blow up one from my friend Leigh, as he was leaving the country. It had sat on my balcony since last October. I kept promising myself I’d go out in it... but I didn’t.  I’m one of these types of people who promises myself I’ll do something for myself and then consistently put it off. Normally I’ll procrastinate and use other people’s needs as an excuse not to do things.  After much convincing from my friend Sandra, and the photos of her out to sea I took the proverbial plunge. The next thing you know I’m addicted. It’s become my absolute passion already. 

My blow up baby didn’t last long she punctured easily.  I keep meaning to repair her (and I shall do so soon!). But in the meantime my friend let me borrow her hard kayak. After an afternoon paddling on that and I found myself ordering a brand new hard base kayak. It’s like I’d learned to ride a bicycle without the training wheels on. A completely different experience, and a wonderfully easy one.  Within an hour my new “Kayaky McKayakFace” (Dan named it.,...) was sitting on the beach just waiting to be used. Now I’m not the type to go buy something straight away, let alone spend that kind of money on myself. But, as I’m not diving and I’m definitely not holidaying/shopping/ going to the gym, I somehow managed to justify the cost to myself. I’m still quite surprised, I would normally feel guilty about spending money yet this time I didn’t care. I still don’t and two weeks later I am so ridiculously happy with my purchase. I will be getting every penny’s (guinea’s) use from    it!  It’s most certainly one of the best things to have come out of 2020 so far for me. Who knew, eh?

 What’s even better is the fact that I can social distance and not disturb the peace whilst doing it. I tend to meet my friend who lives the other side of town midway.. and we decide our route from there. The lagoons of El Gouna make for the perfect route to paddle around without getting bored. No wind days means out to sea, which is even more of a treat. We sit over the corals and watch the world go by. It is almost as good as scuba diving, it seems to have slowed my mind for now, and give me that little bit of peace of which I so desperately needed. The even better result is that it works my upper body, of which I normally avoid like the plague. (I’m thinking we should do away with the saying “avoid like the plague” - considering as proven the past few months that most people do not avoid pandemics!!)

 I’ve even managed to get a tan. I’ve spent so much time in the sun the past few weeks that I’m almost unrecognisable. The day walker may have actually turned into a normal person for once! Factor 50 is still my life - and even then I’ve ended up with a few burns. I just must remember to reapply as much as possible.

Anywho, this is my ramble for the week. I’m sure I’ll try and write again soon, like I keep saying that I will.  Tally ho and all that!

My first update

I just managed to delete a whole blog update. Well that sucks!

A week later and I'm here. We've settled into our new place, a beautiful one bed apartment that overlooks a Lagoon. It's a 10 min walk to downtown and I cannot complain (although I might do when the summer months kick in). The sun shines every morning, up to a cool 30c, the evenings are a little chilly but by UK standards.. It's summer already! Very happy with our choice, as we walked up to the block to view i had a gut feeling that this was the apartment for us. I was right. I was also mega shocked to find out that El Gouna has broadband... Yes, fibre broadband. So now Dan and I can work from home, Skype the whole lot! Go us! 

The first few nights we got bitten to death by mosquitos though. I swear if I ever get a chance to be reincarnated I'll come back as a mozzie; they have such happy little bloodsucking lives around here! RAID and OFF! Have become my new best friends. We're slowly getting them under control, they're crafty little buggers, they get through anywhere!

El Gouna itself is quite simply stunning. It's vastly different to everywhere else that I've visited in Egypt, it's like driving into a completely different country bar the sand.. You can never get rid of the sand.

The marinas and downtown remind me of being somewhere in the med. Coffee houses and meetings take place around the edge of the marina. There's supermarkets and shops amongst tonnes of different restaurants. I had the most awesome Chinese last night. Yes, Chinese takeaway in Egypt.. It's weird, I know!

 

So yeah, first week down. Tonnes of meetings, moving into our house, meeting new people, a day trip to Hurghada... Which is a bit different to here to say the least. It's been a busy one! I haven't even managed to get into the swimming pool yet. Jenfail.

Hoping to get back in the water this week. I've got my eye on some kitesurfing and paddle boarding too.. Just because I can, and well.. It's Egypt why work with no play?!

Jen.  

New Beginnings

Right so that's it... After about four years of empty threats I've finally gone and done it.

My notice is handed in. My bags are (half) packed and I'm heading for sunnier climates very shortly. 

When I say sunnier climates, you all know I mean Egypt. Yes, Egypt. The place where everyone in the UK is claiming that is dangerous.  Believe me when I say that it's really not.

I'm quite sure I've got more chance of something happening to me in London when I visit. I've been motoring along the M20 at rush hour for well over the last year, day in and day out for work. I've seen tonnes of fatal crashes along the monotonous drive of every day life.

Not to be negative, but if my name is on the bullet at least it should be somewhere I am happy and doing something that I love rather than on a cold and wet UK motorway.

I'm not going to update this blog because I think the world wants to know what's going on, however, for the family and friends who know me and want to follow my new path and update on where I am; this is where I shall lead you to.

I shall also try and not bore you all to death with diving photos!!!



I'll be back in the next few months for a fleeting visit any who so it's not exactly like you're getting rid of me permanently.

See you all on the sunny side.

Jen

The only thing you have to fear....

I'm feeling empowered! Yes, actually I am. I know that's very preppy for a Sunday night but just hear me out....

Today marks the start of something new in my life. I may well have just cracked my biggest fear: Claustrophobia. In the last few weeks I've hit my issues head on by tackling each one:

The main fact being that I'm a scuba diver who hates being in enclosed spaces. Don't laugh!

I've always felt comfortable diving as I'm in control of my equipment. Safety and control make a massive difference to fear. I've never fancied caves, going through small passages, low visibility, inside wrecks etc. My irrational fear sweeps through my body and freezes me on the spot.

It all started back when I was little. There were a few moments that encouraged the fear to grow. One being when I managed to get my neck stuck in a sunroof and nearly decaptiated myself (impressive, eh?) Another when we went to the HMS Warrior on a school trip and I managed to have a panic attack in the engine room. Obviously I was ridiculously popular with the other kids in my group when they had to cancel the tour. To this day I'd take the stairs over a lift. I don't like walk-in cupboards and if anyone tries to hold me down, well, just don't please. :)

A few years ago in Gran Canaria, my Guide took my into a small hole cave at about 29m. I was so proud of myself for completing this really trival task. It was a start for me to realise that actually it wasn't so bad; in fact I'd found it very interesting.

I started my route into technical diving a few weeks ago in Egypt. With this I had to up my game with safety and getting used to my equipment; especially in emergencies. Going past 40 meters on a dive is when it becomes far more serious. You have decompression to deal with amongst other things. It's not as simple as what I've been used to doing for years. 

One of my main problems was that I hadn't taken my mask off underwater since I'd passed my open water back in 2004. Suddenly realising I had to do it again gave me nightmares and stressed me out. Now writing about it a few weeks later I actually laugh at myself, how pathetic! I soon got over it. Mostly because I didn't want to fail. But I guess we've all been there whilst doing something you don't like at somepoint in your life.

I've been plucking up courage to start UK diving for years. Low visibility really scared me but I promised myself I'd at least try. I was very lucky on the fact the one day I jumped in the lake back in May the visibility was fine! However, I've been back a few times in the last few weeks and I'm now quite familiar with not even being able to see my own hands through the silty water, what joy!

I was diving with others, whom I knew were next to me but not a clue where. It was actually very comforting when floating through the silt on your own. Therapeutic almost. I thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed pace. It was only when I suddenly had this tap on my mask and then a thumb appear in front of my nose did I realised it was time to go up!

So yes. There you have it. Mask skills. Low visibility. Being a bit more self sufficient and aware. Maybe I might even attempt a few more lifts in the oncoming months. You never know but at least it's a start. We all have to start somewhere.

Jen's adventures... Part 1?

It's been a while, once again. Time flies when you're having fun, and personally I've been having a blast.

I was going to write a few decent blog posts from my adventures in Dahab,

Only for my iPad to pick up that I'm in Egypt and turn everything into Arabic. A slight nuisance to say the least! Especially as I'd written everything down on my notes before hand and then was unable to transfer. Now I'm back, nearly 2 weeks later and feeling far to lazy to retype it all out again. So, in a nutshell:

I made 15 dives in my new kit. I need to adjust a few things slightly, but I looked awesome, I must say! I got my deep speciality qualification. (40m). I saw some stunning coral. I saw some even more stunning fish and turtles. I drank a hell of a lot of sakara (the local beer), and learned that drinking to excess is stupid. (A lesson I tend to forget every so often). I had an amazing time with amazing friends, some new and some old. I also had a bit of a panic attack when the boyfriend got delayed on his flight home by 30 hours, but on the brighter side easyjet have compensated us... With free flights to return in the Autumn. Panic attack and his stress = well worth it!

So.. All is grand. I had the best week of my life last week really, my last dive at the  Southern Reefs was one of the best ever! I then returned home safely to go to Hard Rock Calling, of which I saw two of my favourites out of many bands, Temperance movement and the Boss. The even cooler thing was that I stood next to the Temperance movement for the whole Sprigsteen set. (How awesome is that?!)

I then proceeded to have a nice week at work, and then jumped out of a plane at the end of the week. With a parachute, and a tandem random strapped to me too... Obviously. 'Twas probably the scariest moment of my life... The physical movement to drop from the plane, I just simply cannot put into words how much I thought I was going to die. Instant thoughts of how suddenly my life is too precious began to surface as the plane started to descend above the clouds. However, as soon as I was out.. Wow. 40 seconds free fall.. I hit 128mph and boom.. The world is in front of you from and angle I never thought I'd see. The parachute opens at about 5000ft and the fun begins.. Softly and slowly through the clouds to the ground, playing and spinning as we went. No broken arms or legs, totally safe and sound. Amazing.

Unfortunately I didn't get any photographic proof, the company wanted £140 for a video, and to be honest, I'd rather add the few extra pounds and do it again! Not to mention said video would have just been me screaming profanities for a half a minute, not exactly something to be proud of!

To top it off, we had the titanic ball at the King's hall on the Saturday night. Amazing effort made by every single person that went, I felt like I'd gone back in time! Baypromo once again rocked it. Long may the town's enthusiasm for fun and craziness carry on :)

Anywho, update of sorts completed. Off on adventures for a few days next week too so I shall blog again shortly. i'm off on a magical mystery tour for the boyfriend's birthday. I hope he likes Southend at this time of year ;)