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I was feeling rougher than I'd hoped I would this morning and was glad of the extra snooze time when the others went swimming.
But we had activities booked in the afternoon and I am keen to participate, so we got on our bikes and went down to the Sports Plaza where Ernie was shooting some crossbows (hopefully foam arrows for everyone's sake) and Phoebe and me had booked a tennis court.
I managed to play some light tennis in the hot summer sun without feeling too wonky. Phoebe taught me a game where you are allowed to hit the ball three times on your side and let it bounce as much as you want, but if the ball starts rolling on your side then you lose the point. It was good to be doing some exercise again for the first time in a month. My daughter is naturally good at sport, but very hard on herself if she makes mistakes or doesn't succeed straight away. I think we're probably only a couple of years away from her giving me a fully competitive match.
It reminded me of playing tennis against my mum on some camp site in France when I was about 16. My mum and dad were very good tennis players and both sporty, but one hot French summer I did manage to at least compete against her and thought I might pinch a set. It's an important moment when you realise that a parent is genuinely trying their best against you and that you have a shot at beating them. I feel like the game was so exciting that other families were watching. I was briefly ahead, but mum won it.
I think the cancer-imposed isolation means that doing anything that isn't lying in bed playing Civilisation II feels wonderful. It's so lovely just cycling around with the kids, seeing how much more confident they are with each passing year. The kids have found a horrible but huge stagnant pond in the trees behind our cabin and they took me out today to investigate. It's so big that we haven't even got. all the way round it yet. That's a jaunt for tomorrow.
We packed a lot into today with ten-pin bowling and watching the semi-final that will determine who England play in the third-place play off (spoilers - it will be France). It struck me that in my daughter's life of watching International football England have at least got to the quarter finals of every competition and managed to get to finals and win a couple. For me it's been a lifetime of England doing badly, giving occasional hope, for her, it's unbelievable if they don't make the semi-finals.
Can England men go all the way this time?
Nah.
You heard it here first.
