So far, not so good

Mainly because my expectations of myself were much higher than what I can actually achieve. But then again, if I had actually thought about it I wouldn't have expected so much of myself. Firstly, I went swimming today. Merrily walking along to the local leisure centre in the rain (Curse you England!) thinking that I'm a good swimmer, because when I was younger (Circa 9 years ago) I was a relatively good swimmer. Clearly the passage of time would not impact that, because, naturally, I am immune to effects.

When I entered the outdoor pool, my spirits were high and I set off down the pool at a good speed. Stroke, stroke, breathe, stroke, stroke, breathe. Ok so perhaps I'm a little rusty, and my front crawl (?) needs a little touching up, but I'm going alright. I got to about half way and wondered what the burning sensation in my arms was. Oh right, I'm bloody knackered, that's what. So it turned out, much to my dismay, that I actually suck at swimming, and that put a big, watery, swimming pool piss on my firey dreams of learning to surf. Maybe I could invest a little more time in swimming. Then again I could just use the gym there instead. Good thinking batman.

Later that day I had a training course booked, which I needed to arrive at for 3pm. Needless to say I was a little late. I checked out the location on google maps, looked where I was and promptly headed out the door with my course in mind - clearly I have memorised the streets that I saw on google maps. As I approached, what I thought was, my destination, it became apparent that I did not, in fact, have a photographic memory, nor did I have a sense of where I was. I was currently stood on Aberdeen street, and was looking for Newcastle street. Out of some sheer (idiotic) ingenuity, I thought that since Aberdeen and Newcastle are on the same island, following one would, naturally, lead to the other.
Such clever thinking is bound to get one into trouble, and so it did. I did not find Newcastle street, but after a much needed phonecall to HQ to try and get my bearings, I found out I was actually bloody close. Again, good thinking batman! I retraced my steps a little (literally about 8 to the crossroads) and turned in the correct direction. Lo and behold there was a neat yellow sign yelling "Newcastle Street" at me. I followed this street, a little skeptical, since google said NC st. ran east to west, and I was travelling north. Oh well, perhaps in Australia their streets go round corners.
As far as I can tell this was not the case, and the neat little sign I saw was simply teasing me, indicating that I was somewhere in the vicinity of the elusive street.
After about 20 minutes of walking about in all the wrong directions, I decided to phone HQ again, then phoned the place I was meant to be going. They promptly directed me in the correct direction and I found myself wandering along a street I dismissed as the wrong one (it was full of apartments, surely not the location of my destination). Admittedly the guy I was meeting did have to walk outside of the business and wave his arms as if he was stranded, waving at a passing helicoptor, but it did the trick and I followed his S.O.S. finally ending up in the right place. I had left myself 45 minutes to get there - a leisurely pace I was sure - but ended up marching around Perth for a good 50 minutes, ending up just a little late. Not that it mattered anyway, nobody else turned up for the course.

The course was good, it was pretty simple and I honestly have no idea why I needed to pay $99 to read a .pdf on Australian law and common practice (which wasn't sufficient to answer their theory test anyway) and learn how to pour a pint or measure out whiskey. Both of these things could have been accomplished by simply perusing the internet and going to the pub, both of which are hobbies of mine. Oh well, speculate to accumulate as they say.

And I apologise for the lack of pictures, I shall get round to taking some of this 'quaint' (hah!) little city so you can see where you don't live ;)

Tata for now