Boxing Day Swim 🏊 - High Tide, Force 7 High Winds Near Gale - David, Ernie And I Didn't Go Far. We

Yum Yum Helen's made pumpkin pie 😊

Stacey Hearl and I went down for an Open Water Swim 🏊 today. It was just after the turn of low tide. It was overcast and dead calm. My swim was 448m in 13:49. Water temperature 7 degC. #greenock #rwsabc #openwaterswimming #shoreline #beach (at The Royal West of Scotland Boat Club)

Open Water Swimming along The Esplanade, Greenock - 7 January 2014

Happy New Year! 

This is my first Blog of the year.  I am working at home today to try to get some marking done.  I have done a reasonable job but there is still lots of marking to do.

Seeing as I was at home I decided to go for an Open Water Swim in The Clyde.  As normal I swam from the Royal West of Scotland Amateur Boat Club (RWSABC).  

The last time I was in was in December.  Today's weather was fairly mild with with the temperature around 9 degree C.  It was overcast with lite winds.  

I went in around 15:45 and stayed in 15 minutes.  High tide today was at 16:41 so the water was well in.  I much prefer to be swimming around high tide if possible.  The main reason is probably that you are walking over sand to get in the water.  Going in at a low tide means that you are walking over cobbles and larger stones to get in the water.  I am guessing I swam about 400m.  I never did put my face in and mostly swam side stroke.  After coming out I went into the boat club a took a nice hot shower.  I was still a bit shivery after the shower.

Having said that I am still on a bit of high from the swim.  It was great.

I didn't take a picture today but here is one from early December when the conditions were much the same as today.

I have spoken to a few people who tell me stories about people they know who made it a habit to swim in The Clyde every day.  I certainly believe them now.  Today's swim means that I have had at least one swim in The Clyde every month since April 2013.  I expect that to continue.  I would like to get in once per week but I'm not sure if my schedule will allow this.  

Happy swimming!

These are the Group Photos from the New Year’s Day Swim at RWSABC in Greenock.  24 of use went into the water to get wet.  The majority went for a 5 to 10 minute swim.  Gerry Malone, Ernie Currie and Colin Campbell went for the “normal” 2 km swim.  Conditions were rough with a north wind making it bouncy. 

Swam with Stacey from Rosneath Slip (1st slip) bang on high tide. There was a south east breeze creating a reasonable swell. Swam to the yellow pole and then back towards the beach. Stacey exited the water at Rosneath Slip (1200m 42m) and I continued to the Boat Club (1675m 53:33) Water Temperature 13.5 degC #esplanade #inverclyde #greenock #rwsabc #openwaterswimming (at Royal West of Scotland Amateur Boat Club)

My thoughts on the summer budget

I read the full Budget speech that George Osborne gave today.

I think that from a public relations point of view it has been a good budget for the Chancellor.  I found myself thinking, "I agree with that" when watching the news and hearing the headlines.

Now that I have read the budget I am less pleased.

I am disappointed in his Infrastructure plans to increase productivity.  

He said -

“Four fifths of all journeys in this country are by road, yet we rank behind Puerto Rico and Namibia in the quality of our network. In the last 25 years, France has built more than two and a half thousand miles of motorway – and we’ve built just 300. In the last Parliament I increased road spending, even in difficult times, and set out a plan for £15bn of new roads for the rest of this decade.”

I was disappointed in this because it makes no mention of public transport, it makes no mention of improving streets and paths to allow and encourage people to walk and cycle.  Roads and streets are important and are a good place for investment, but I am concerned that the Governments plans will see more roads built, which will then fill up with cars and lorries, leading to no net improvement in productivity or happieness.

At one point in his speech he said -

For Britain is home to 1% of the world’s population; generates 4% of the world’s income; and yet pays out 7% of the world’s welfare spending.  

What a meaningless statement!!! It may be factually correct but it is not illuminating.  We should really be proud that we spend 7% of the world's welfare spending because there are lots of places that spend zero.  

I was disappointed that the budget didn't set out any proposals to increase the affordability of housing or energy by increasing supply.  This is the other side of the tax cut coin, making peoples money go further.

A search through the budget statement shows that equality or inequality was only mentioned once.  He stated that - "In the last fortnight we’ve seen independent statistics showing that since 2010, child poverty is down and so is inequality."  I do not see this as a strong budget to reduce inequality.

I was pleased to see that non-dom status is to be phased out.

I see that corporation tax will be reduced to 18% by 2020.  I would have liked to see that a reduced tax rate associated with less unequal pay structure within corporations. Rather than just taxing high earners companies should pay more tax if they have highly unequal wage structures.  One way to assess wage structues within a company would be through the use of the Gini Coefficient.

I understand that there is going to be further tightening of the rules concerning taxation to close loopholes and I support this.

I find that the discussion of tax credit and minimum wage confusing.  I see that Ian Duncan Smith was cheering the increase in the minimum wage and I am prepared to trust his judgement.

In conclusion, I see this as a budget that was well crafted from the political point of view for middle England.  I think the Budget will not play so well in Scotland.  I am disappointed because I do not see this budget as making Britain a happier place to live.  The Chancellor and the Government don't seem to want to promote more equality, or if they do, they are limiting themselves to only a few tools.  The Budget will not improve affordability which is the other side of the tax coin when it comes to improving peoples lives.  

I hope you find these views interesting.

If you want to read the full budget statement for yourself the reference is:

Osborne, G. and HM Treasury, (2015). Chancellor George Osborne's Summer Budget 2015 speech - Speeches - GOV.UK. [online] Gov.uk. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-summer-budget-2015-speech [Accessed 8 Jul. 2015].

Helen and I cycled from Kirkintilloch to Falkirk and back. The total distance was about 50km. 😊

Reykjavik Harbour - weather was beautiful today.

In London with Helen for a long weekend! (at London)

We saw this in Reykjavik - read the sign and I hope you smile 😊