A stuck earplug and first “After-drop” of the winter

I’m currently on an online retreat which I’m doing from home. In between the 0700 meditation and the 1000 teaching session I noticed last night that the tide was perfect for a quick swim. As it was raining I drove to the beach - not something I like doing as the usual bike ride is perfect for getting me into a good mental space before swimming and then warming me up afterwards. Consequently I wasn’t that warm when I quickly entered the 8.1 degree water. The waves were bigger than the 11mph wind and caused me to take on two rather greedy mouthfuls of water during my 250m circuit.

But the fun really started when I got out. Firstly my hands were sufficiently numb that I couldn’t remove one of my earplugs. I know by the time I get to February I will be coming home with them both firmly embedded and will probably need assistance to remove them! But I wasn’t expecting to be that cold today. However the biggest surprise was my first “After-drop” of this winter. Follow the link if you don’t know what the “After-drop” is.

So it’s starting to feel like this challenge is now getting real.

I shall be sporting a rather daft hat for the next session of my retreat but hey, why change a habit of a lifetime!