Perseverance

per·se·ver·ance

Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness

Continued steady belief or efforts, withstanding discouragement or difficulty; persistence

persistency, pertinacity, tenaciousness, tenacity, doggedness, persistence – the quality of being determined to do or achieve something; firmness of purpose

I think those words, borrowed from http://www.thefreedictionary.com, just about sum up my evening somewhat!

I mentioned yesterday that I have started swimming again, and this is something I want to do every day now, until I feel the time is right for me to either cut down or stop completely. At the moment, I’ve still got loads of weeks to go, so I’m not even going down the stopping line yet… however, it looked as though I may have had to have stopped whether I wanted to or not tonight, due tothe events that surrounded me.

It all started as I finished work at 5pm. Because of my swimming schedule obtained from the local leisure company’s website, not all pools are open on the same days, so I have to ‘mix and match’ where I go throughout the week. This isn’t a problem as a change is as good as a rest. The pool I visited yesterday was open until 8pm for general swimming, so that was ideal to go straight from work, but tonight it wasn’t open. I had to go to a different pool, which just so happened to mean me travelling along some of the busiest roads in the town to get there. Needless to say, it took me a while to get there. Forty-five minutes, in fact. So, eventually, I turned up at the complex, and went to reception. I advised I wanted a ‘swim’, and I was told the pool was closed – they’d changed the schedule yesterday. I was handed a plan of the times the pool was open, and they were open for adult swimming between 9pm and 10pm, but as it was now getting on for six o’clock, I decided to visit Mum and Dad first. I left there at about 6.35, and came home and visited the leisure website to see if any other pools were open this evening. Although, the website hadn’t been updated, I saw that the pool I went to last night was open between 7 and 8pm. So, off I set again. I reached the pool at about 7.10pm, and went to reception. I asked if the pool was open this evening, as I was expecting it not to be. I was right! The schedule had changed yesterday, and this time I was handed a plan to this complex’s opening hours, and a guide to the changes at the other centres. I wasn’t disappointed, as I was expecting the pool to be closed, but was feeling slightly frustrated. All of my plans were not going according to the plan! I need to go swimming every day – I’ve just got to! Anyway, I trotted home, nd got a telephone number to another of the leisure centres. I got through on the first ring, and asked if the pool was open this evening for adult swimmers. It was! Between 8pm and 9pm. I looked at the time. 7.35pm. Great – I had time to get there!

Now, I knew where this leisure centre was – roughly. I headed in that general direction, hoping my memories would serve me well, and I would find it straight away. On the way, every set of traffic lights were on red. The ones that last twenty minutes. Never mind, I thought to myself, keep on keeping on! I had to cross a swing-bridge to get to where I was going. Guess what… the swing-bridge was swung open as a boat as travelling up the canal. Eventually, the bridge returned to normal, the road opened again, and I was away – well until the next red traffic light!

I finally reached the area where the pool was, but every road, street, avenue, cul-de-sac I turned down was just a housing estate – no swimming pool there. I decided to take one more go at finding it, and if I couldn’t I would have to settle for the 9 – 10 slot at the first leisure centre I visited all those hours ago. I turned into a road, and found the entrance to the car park! It’s a one lane road, in two directions, so I had to wait for three cars to exit before I could get in there, but eventually I did.

I got into the complex at 8.15pm. I was in the water at 8.25 pm, and swam 32 lengths in 30 minutes – two lengths further than yesterday! I did feel a bit rushed, but made sure I swam at least the same as yesterday in the time I was allowed. I got out of the water at 8.55 as I think they were getting the pool ready for some aqua aerobics or something at 9pm, but I’d done my quota for today. I’m not sure if this pool is the same length as the one I went to yesterday – I’ll have to find that out in the next few visits, if I remember.

So, my persistence paid off. I was determined to go swimming tonight, and I got there eventually which is fantastic. If I hadn’t had all of those delays, this post would have just said swam 32 lengths today, so they come in handy after all. The frustration I felt earlier soon went, as I was concentrating on other things. Looking for the pool; waiting for the red lights to change to green; and waiting for the bridge to reopen!

When I finally got home, at about 9.30, I had half an hour to potter about before watching the highlight show of yesterday’s events in the Big Brother house. The show started at 10pm, but without sound. Channel Four took the show off after a few minutes, advising they were doing all they could to restore the sound so they could go back to the show. Eventually, they restarted the show again, with sound. Just as I persevered to go swimming, they persevered and resolved their technical glitch. And I persevered with them and was able to watch the full show!

At any point, I could have just said enough is enough and stopped what I was doing, but I didn’t. And I feel better for it! 🙂