Bad news came in today. Barry phoned to say that the pain in his arm, from the ulnar nerve injury, is more serious than he thought. He has been banned from swimming for six weeks and has to go through an unspecified period of rehab after that. He has to try and keep his arm straight at all times and not the bend his elbow. He has to wear a splint on his arm to keep it straight while sleeping. We decided that our planned swim from Palm Beach to Manly, in the first week of December, is now impossible. He will not be in the water again until the end of November and we can’t do the sort of distances we are contemplating, with so little training. He sounded pretty down about it all, as he also has to cancel his planned Rottnest swim in early 2016. Time is a cruel mistress. I’m still struggling with my neck injury. I saw Sandy Rogers, a friend and physiotherapist, from the Balmoral Beach Club, on Tuesday and she gave me some massage on the neck but it is so far failed to alleviate the pain. I swam on Wednesday but couldn’t swim Thursday or Friday and have also been off work the last two days. It’s been very debilitating, giving me teeth grinding headaches and vision blurring migraines. I think this goes back to the neck surgery I had in 1998.

People like Barry and I are getting old but we refuse to go quietly. The problem is that after threescore years on the earth, if you lead an active life, your body is battered and broken and starting to fail in various respects. The skill in training at this age is to push yourself hard enough to get fit, without pushing so hard that you break something. It’s a difficult exercise. It’s like trying to coax a reluctant horse.I feel for Barry as he has always been a touchstone for me, achieving superhuman goals in the water. I can’t believe he’s as injured as I am. Still I know he won’t give up.

As Belinda is away and my neck’s was too sore, I didn’t do the Wednesday gym session this week.

Goal number three has been deferred, not cancelled, until the autumn of 2016.