Tag: scuba diving (page 1 of 1)

A Ray of Sunshine

Jennifer Michie Sunrise

 

This was my brief glimpse of the sun this morning. It tried so hard to peak out from behind the clouds, but alas, the clouds won and the sky has turned to ash grey again.

It rained last night and the morning air felt clean. The air was crisp, but by the time I made it into the city, it had started to become muggy. Everyone was moving slower this morning. Not the usual exciting pace a Friday morning normally has. Maybe it is the weather, it can’t decide whether it should be hot or be cold. Everyone seems tired, worn out already, waiting for a pause to catch their breath.

This has been such a busy week, I will confess, that I have been living for today. Waiting for a break. I got back in the pool for the first time since our summer vacation this week to put in more hours towards my scuba certification. I was a little rusty, but I remembered the majority of it! It was wonderful to feel the weight of the tank on my back and the rush of water washing over me as I jumped in. I love being under the water, it is a certain kind of freedom.

I have tried very hard to come in to my space this week. But, it has proved difficult. I must work harder to find my balance as this little space is also a freedom for me. A freedom to write, to think, to share.

There are papers to grade this weekend, a cottage to clean and hopefully a long meandering walk through the park. I can feel the Japanese Garden in Regent’s Park calling my name. I want to walk from one end to the other and cut down our “secret” path that is behind the London Zoo, so we can look down at the animals from the hill. The camels are normally outside munching away and if we are lucky the warthogs will be out lying in the mud when we cross the bridge.

Here’s to the weekend, long may it last.

Diving Skills

Goldfish Girl

Tonight, I completed all of the diving skills set that I need to learn and even a few more advanced ones, like rescuing an unconscious diver underwater. Next week, I will have a class to run through all of my skills again as extra practice and then an assessment at the end of the week.

I have loved every minute of this! Especially doing a somersault into the pool with all of my scuba gear on. Now, I just need to pass my pool assessment, take my theory test and then the final step: open water and I will be certified! I can’t wait!

{Image found HERE, Pinned HERE}

Exhale

Photobooth 1960s

Well Friday has finally arrived and with it, I hope there is a chance to catch my breath. I’m just ready to slowly exhale. There was a graduation ceremony at school on Wednesday, so my scuba class was canceled, I missed it. I missed being in the water. The previous week we got to dive in with all of our equipment on and enter the pool by doing a somersault, I don’t think I ever want to enter the pool another way again!

I’m working on editing my Copenhagen pictures at the moment, there are just so many to share! But I’ve narrowed it down to a few favourites. So, I’m hoping to keep my promise to get those posts out soon and have them done and dusted this weekend.

I think we shall have a quiet weekend, although there are a couple of exhibitions on at the moment I wouldn’t mind popping in to. We shall simply see what the weekend holds for us.

Last weekend we welcomed the arrival of Summer with a fresh peach cobbler, but I’ve been craving a brownie, so we might whip up a batch of those this weekend and devour them with a big scoop of ice cream.

Next week brings with it the 4th of July and so I want to work on a menu plan for that, I’m more interested in what dessert I shall make, maybe a shortcake cake filled with vanilla whipped cream, blueberries and strawberries is just what the occasion calls for? We shall see.

School is slowly winding down, although I think the fast heady pace will stay until the last day. I shall soon have more time to myself to get back to my home here and share all the things that I want to share with you.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, wherever you may be. Here’s to the weekend! Long may it last!

{Image: Found HERE, Pinned HERE}

Wednesday

Jennifer Michie Flower Head

This week is going by in a blur. My Monday morning started with a long detour to work as there was a fire at London Marylebone over the weekend and it was shut. From that point forward, I feel like I have been spending the week thus far, running to catch up.

I have another scuba diving lesson tonight and a few things to get done when I get home and then I can put my feet up for five minutes. I just read the most delicious book, so that has been added to my already long list of things to share with you. I promise, my Copenhagen posts are coming soon!

We spent my birthday morning in Regent’s Park eating breakfast in the Japanese Garden. The above image was a close-up of a cluster of roses, still fresh with morning dew, that I shot in one of the rose gardens. They are named, “lucky”. I liked that!

Happy Wednesday my friends, we are almost at the end of the week!

Scuba Lesson #4

Samantha French Breakthrough 2012

This has been an exceedingly busy week. I am working on my Copenhagen posts, I have so much to share with you.

But work seems to be getting the better of me at the moment, with long days, an even longer commute due to track works and all the heat is just draining my mental energy. Because all this heat is making people mean and mean people are not fun to be riding around the tube with. I had two guys come close to blows the other night because one of them wouldn’t move enough for the other to get in.

But last night, I found freedom beneath the water. My colleagues are excellent teachers and we have covered a lot of ground in a short space of time. I can put my tank together myself, jump in with all my gear on, and take my mask off underwater, put it back on and clear all the water out of it.

Last night, we had to take our mask off, leave it on the bottom of the pool, swim around the group, come back to our spot and get the mask back on and cleared, it was pretty fun. When we finished Jack gave me a handshake, a fist bump and did a little dance, which made me smile, which made my mask fill back up again, so I just lifted by head to the sky and cleared it out once more.

I even got to do a somersault. Being under the water is like being a mermaid. You are just so free. There is a lot to keep a check on, but gliding through the water, with the power of your legs with a world of bubbles and water around you is cathartic for me. I could be in that water every day!

Now, we are working on planning a trip to finish everything off and get our open water certificate and move up to another level if we wish. I can’t wait!

{Image: Samantha French, Breakthrough}

On A Clear Day

Jennifer Michie On A Clear Day

Well, my Copenhagen posts are coming, I promise. This week has been very busy with back to back exams, canceled trains (because there was no driver!), late school nights, another scuba lesson (which was fantastic, by the way!) and not a lot of time to catch my breath!

For now, I give you my morning view. The sun was shining the birds were singing extra sweetly since they know it’s Friday and the sky was almost cloudless as I traveled past the lake. There was almost an azure blue appearance to the sky. All I could think of was Barbra Streisand twirling around in her 70’s orange coat to “On A Clear Day”.

My morning was made all the sweeter now that one of the coffee shops is doing an iced lemon tea. I picked up one for breakfast, now if I only had one of my Mom’s biscuits to go with it, life would be even better! Iced tea for breakfast, just speaks to my Southern heart.

I shall leave you with Barbra belting out this tune, while I enjoy the sunshine streaming through the windows of the main studio and sips of my iced tea!

Here’s to the weekend! Long may it last.

Diving Lesson #2

Jennifer Michie Pool

I had my second diving lesson last night. Being in the water is freedom. We went through how to set up your gear yourself, more underwater hand signals and how to clear your regulator and your mask underwater if water gets in it. I was sad that we had to come out, I would have been quite happy bobbing along a little longer!

Diving

Last night I had my first diving lesson, scuba diving that is. It was more of a trial session, to make sure that anyone who signed up actually wanted to continue with the course once they got a taste for it.

I have wanted to dive since I was in High School, I was saving all my babysitting money to do a course but the timing was off and it just didn’t work out. It’s all about the timing. I haven’t had the opportunity since, but there are two divers at my school who are instructors as well and have kindly offered to teach anyone who’s interested at cost. I couldn’t get any luckier than that!

So, last night I went to the pool, threw on my bathing suit and began my first lesson. We went through a couple of basics as this was just a taster session. I learned underwater hand signals, where everything was on my tank and how to get my gear on.

We jumped in in the shallow end and pulled on our tanks. We put on our flippers and our goggles and had a chance to sit down then lay down on the bottom of the pool and finally do two test swims around the shallow end with our diving buddy at our side. Trying to give yourself enough room to turn a corner with your giant flippers on was like the underwater equivalent of driving a bus around a tight corner.

Diving was like driving a car for the first time, exhilarating, the feeling of freedom just in front of you but a lot to think about too. Were you watching your gauges, keeping the right buoyancy, making sure your partner was okay, following the instructor’s hand signals as well as remembering to breath, sounds like a silly thing to say, I know! The only set back for me was that we eventually had to get out of the pool. I wanted to go, go, go! I felt so free. It was magical!

I’m hoping that I can eventually log enough hours that maybe I can get in on an underwater dig, nothing fancy, I just loved all my Archaeology classes when I was in College and considered being an Archaeologist for awhile, but there was just something about Art History that pulled at my heart strings. They are disciplines however, that I believe go hand in hand. Knowing one only heightens your knowledge of the other. I’m ready for an adventure.

I can’t wait for my next class! I’ve got my eye on a pair of goggles that won’t pull my hair, an inexpensive underwater camera and a pretty good idea of where I want to do my first real qualified dive. But, down to the basics first, I’m getting ahead of myself!

{I’m sorry I can’t show you a funny diving picture, I was having so much fun, I forgot to snap a pic of me and my Donald Duck feet!}