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Jan 5th

Well, I made it to work before the wind and rain got too bad but my left knee was twinging all the way. I was going to run this lunchtime but I think I’ll give it a miss as I need to be good for tomorrow’s fitness test. I’m participating in some smart clothing research by exercising at different heats and humidities (I think!) for different lengths of time. Tomorrow they get to find out my base fitness level by running my ragged!!

Today I’ve been reading a book called Total Immersion by Terry Laughlin. It’s about improving swimming technique in order to improve speed through the water. I’m finding it really interesting as I’ve always loved swimming but have never been amazingly fast. I’d always assumed that the more work I put in, the faster I’d go. Apparently this is not exactly the case so I’m excited to try out these different techniques. 

This afternoon, I will mainly spend reclaiming clay. This involves taking clay that hasn’t been fired but has dried out and placing it into a bin of water. The clay then breaks down into a sloppy mud-like consistency. I can then scoop it out onto plaster ‘bats’ (big slabs) in order to dry out to a firmer consistency. Once it’s done that (overnight to two days) I can then put it through a pug mill (a machine with an internal corkscrew which mixes the clay to a consistent texture). I complain a lot about having to pug clay but actually it’s the final part, bagging the clay, that I get more narked with - it’s just so time-consuming to find the bags, turn them out, break the clay into manageable pieces to fill the bags and then tie them off. Then I get to carry them to the clay store. I suppose this is good weight training as each bag weighs around 12-15kgs. The clay then gets used by the students and thus the cycle continues! Joy!! 

It’s Thursday today, so takeout night tonight. Don’t know what we’re having but I really fancy a curry. We’ll see. :o)

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