Bex did ok

It was competition day today and was always going to be a stressful and potentially traumatic time. Gym competitions are not Bex's forte, she loves gym but has been known to have a bit of a mare at competitions - like the last time she did one - which was probably her worst. The judging is quite harsh and as well as needing good elements, to get a good starting value, you must execute them well and 'stick it' i.e. stay ON the apparatus. I'll give you an example, each time the gymnast falls off the beam she loses .8 of a point as well as not getting the value for the move itself if it wasn't completed. This is where Bex really let herself down last time, so we were dreading this particular piece. They have to compete on 4 pieces of apparatus; Beam, Vault, Bars (Asymmetrical) and Floor. The scores are added together to give the final result and Gold, Silver, Bronze awarded. Usually these competitions are also a personal pass or fail situation but this was a County competition that's extra to the grades and levels and so did not have that extra level of stress with it. Overall Bex didn't do very well (a mare on the bars) but in her competition group she came 3rd on Floor, joint 1st on Vault and 1st on Beam, Beam - can you believe it, she stuck everything on the beam - didn't come off once. One of her team mates did come 1st overall which was lovely. I didn't take photos today but am attaching one from a previous competition when Bex had done ok and so is smiling.

So, what else have we been doing? My mortgage man couldn't beat the one I'd found myself so we're going with that one. The man we'd seen from the estate agents called on Friday to see if we'd decided to take the one he'd recommended - I almost felt sorry for him when I outlined the one we were going with, he was somewhat gobsmacked. We've got frantic work going on here now, just to spruce things up a little oh and I can ride my bike yippee. I cannot believe it, I asked Pete to just hold me on my bike as I wanted some idea how far off being able to ride it when we are on holiday (3 weeks today) I am. Well, I was astounded, I can ride my bike and feel completely normal, you would not know that I can't walk right at all. There's no pain, no discomfort, no stiffness, no nothing - it felt absolutely wonderful. As long as I am careful and put my right foot down as I break it's like being normal again. I've only pootled around our little cul de sac so far (the kids in the street thought I was mad, yippeeing because I could ride a bike) but I think I will have a little ride each day, build up my confidence at being able to break etc etc. I am soooooooooooooooooo pleased though I can't explain enough. I may even take myself to the gym and see how I am at swimming sometime in the week - not going to attempt it at the weekend, too busy. I'm feeling though as if I'm on the right track, however, I can already feel the signs of the frustration that my consultant warned me about - trouble is,he was referring to frustration at 6 months, with 3 more months to go. I've not got to 2 months yet. Aaaarrrggghhhh. Right I'll sign off for now. Take Care out there.