General goings on

With recent posts dominated by the Swimmer and away games, I feel I have been neglecting our own dear Brockwell lido. So here is a small offering of some recent January happenings.

Water temp has been in the 6-degree bracket for a while - not too shabby for this time of year, and means I continue to forgo encumbrance of neoprene gloves and booties. Sara is now fully back into the Icicle swing of things after her recent voyage across the Atlantic, dry-diving and everything.

On Wednesday we were visited by the delightful Zoe Jewell from Brixton Blog, who made a lovely video about our little gang of winter swimmers that really captures something of what this whole antartic malarkey means to us:


Full post here: http://www.brixtonblog.com/brockwell-videos-icicles/19706

Thank you Zoe!

For this auspicious occasion, Marc finally succumbed to the call of the dry dive - huzzah! As we took up dive positions at the deep end, he attempted through outward nonchalance to fool the camera that he does this sort of thing all the time, and then somewhat gave the game away with his "EeeaarghIt'swonderful!!" reaction (which pretty much sums up the whole feeling of cold water swimming).

On Friday, for reasons known only to themselves, David and Guy decided to swim in their underpants. The mind boggles, it really does.

...which sent Tim into a photoshop phantasia:

 
Owing to an administrative error, Deb recently found herself in possession of about 1.2 tonnes of rhubarb, which she generously distributed amongst the Icicles.

Naturally I opted to present mine in cake format - viz some rhubarb crumble muffins, which we gobbled up yesterday.

Cake offerings in general have been most excellent of late (thank you to the wonderful Lido Cafe for not chucking us and our impertinent piles of tins and tupperware off the premises).

Special mention to Sara's rum cake, all the way from Barbados, which left me feeling a little giddy after two pieces:

Also Tim's amazing iced finger buns:

...complete with blue food colouring for that special Icicle/smurf look:

Thanks to Peter for capturing this classic scene:

We've also had a few surprise visitors. First this sighting by Tim:

And then Punky returns to the scene:

So there you have it - water temps and sanity teetering on the brink of acceptable for the time being.

Parliament Hill Icy Swim Hootenanny

On Saturday I took part in the Parliament Hill Icy Swim Hootenanny (PHISH), a winter swimming gala at Parliament Hill Lido new for 2014! I was signed up for a 1-length leg of a four-person relay, representing The Swimmer with organiser Jonathan and two Swimmer regulars Simon and John.

It was a lovely event with not too many people and an atmosphere akin to a village fete, complete with cheesy tunes and compere making dad jokes. What's more the sun put in a pretty good showing throughout the afternoon, reflecting off the amazing stainless steel lining of the lido and making the crisp 7-degree waters a wonderful iridescent turquoise.

Ever the keen athlete, Jonathan had also signed up for the individual event of 4 lengths freestyle, and was just completing his pre-race preparations as I arrived...

Duffle coat = original Dry Robe?

Warming up

Jon plays his trump card

I was joined by relay team-mate (relaytion?) Simon and little daughter Ruby, ready to cheer ourselves hoarse for Jonathan as he took to the water...

Hooray for Jon and his trusty togs - they're grrrreat!!

With arrival of John, team Swimmer was complete and ready to strike fear into the heart of the opposition:

The formidable Team Swimmer

Grrr we're mean we are

And who should we find poolside but another Swimmer regular and super runner Elspeth, bearing a glorious medium format camera which apparently contained a 12-photo film - yikes.

Just time to get psyched before the off...

John opts for supercool sunnies

...while Simon goes for the erudite look

Ruby's banner of encouragement

Our race order was to be Simon, John, me, Jonathan, and we were up against four other teams in our heat. We all shook hands and the two Js dutifully beetled off down to the shallow end to await the theoretical baton. Then in sploshed Simon and the other starters for take-your-marks... GO!!

Simon put in a solid first leg (of the race I mean) and John followed up with a lusty stroke. The other teams were fast though, and whilst my length went off without a hitch and at my top speed, one of the teams had pulled ahead and Jonathan had his work cut out for the home straight. And blimey can he go - roaring up the lane, he was gaining rapidly on the leading team, all the while Simon, John and I cheering our very heads off from both ends of the pool. Alas, we lost out by the merest whisker, but were still delighted with a respectable second place and generally ecstatic over the whole glorious race.

Post-race high

We wasted no time in piling into the little porta-sauna they'd provided for the event - a cylindrical wooden affair like an old-fashioned caravan, full of warm air and giggling.

We stuck around for <hushed, respectful voice> The Endurance Swim, which is calculated as "10 lengths of the lido (610m) plus one length for each degree centigrade above freezing up to a maximum of 1,220m". The temp being about 7 degrees, this came out as 1,068 m, or six circuits round the edge of the pool. Lord knows how they do it - at this temp I'm generally doing 350 m and even an extra 100 m feels a bit ropey.

They set off in waves, with about 30-40 participants, the nutters, who seemed to go round and round forever (to the extent that John apparently tired of cheering and descended into some unexpected heckling). The event was accompanied by some super tunes on the sound system, which has the added bonus of saving me time on the post-production of film...

Still, nice to feel like I'm not the most bonkers person in the vicinity for a change.

Living the dream

I swam a bit, I laughed a lot, I got cold - then warm again. This is what good days are made of. Thanks for having us, Parliament Hill Lido!

Sara Returns!

Back in November we bid a sad farewell to Icicle Sara, and now - after an epic 3-week crossing of the Atlantic in force 8-9 gales followed by a jolly long rest in Barbados - our chief mischief-maker is back, looking for all the world like Polly Pocket with her new hairdo:

From Barbados to Brockwell in the blink of an Icicle

Over the past 6 weeks we've had to endure communications from Sara containing pics such as this:

And this:

While only being able to respond with material such as this:

Jack of all trades

For her first swim back, Sara looked slightly startled come end of length two, but soon mastered the situation for a respectable swim in 7-degree waters. Wot a gal.

To celebrate her safe return I made a pistachio cake, of which I was rather proud:

We scarfed it down in the cafe while Sara regaled us with tales of whales, night watches and cabin boys.

Cheers cheers cheers for Sara - the naughtiest Icicle was bound to be naughticle.

The January Swimmer

Last Saturday we were blessed with the first sunny day in what feels like an age, perfectly coinciding with this month's installment of the Swimmer - wot luck! I'm sure you know the drill by now: meet Hampstead when all the world's still abed, gallop to dip at Hampstead Men's Pond, canter to splash at Parliament Hill Lido, trot to splish at Serpentine, and finally stagger to splosh at Brockwell Lido.

A record-breaking 30 in attendance this time, including healthy representation of ladies and Brockwell Icicles alike. Moreover, our very own Peter was out in full photographic force, wielding serious Nikon camera and directing shots in no-nonsense voice. And frankly the results are so wonderful I'll let them do the talking (with a couple of my own humble offerings - no prizes for guessing which). Thank you Peter!!

Hampstead, 7am

The Swimmer family grows

The mighty Jayne and Anna

The marvellous John and Marc

And of course the luminous Marcus and Peter

Hampstead Men's Pond

 And yet...

The paradox of the ponds.

Water temps were up more than a degree from the December Swimmer - so, bracing but not offensively so.

Chocks away

Bottoms up

John's 5-degree face

We were treated to sunrise over a most stunning backdrop of low, amassed purplish-blue clouds on the horizon, looking for all the world like a spectacular mountain range.

A lady, egad

 See what I mean about the clouds?

Another classic from the Jonathan trunks wardrobe (matching pillowcases available)

Not bad for a selfie, Peter

Swimmer legends Will and Simon

Parliament Hill Lido

Typical January scenes at the lido

Will has even managed to coordinate googles with Swimmer hat

Marc making it look easy

En route to Serps

Parliament Hill: well worth the climb

The mighty team

Serpentine

A personal highlight for me at this point was the inauguration of my top Christmas present - viz. a Dry Robe! Basically an oversized dressing gown with bags of room to get changed within - the dernier cri in outdoor swimming dignity, and a welcome upgrade from the totally inadequate tree that had hitherto served as changing facilities.

Perfect exposure

This is possibly the funniest swimming picture I have ever seen:

No wait maybe this one:

Back into running kit in time for my traditional and highly restorative mid-Swimmer smoke, plus hot sweet tea from Anna and blessed cake from Liz. Fortified for the last leg home!

Everything in moderation (including healthiness)

Photos peter (ha) out a bit here - apparently mr photographer had to down tools to become mr leader of the fast group. Is there no end to his talents?

Highlight for this stage has to be John nipping into a shop for the laudable purpose of procuring his customary packet of fruit pastilles, then passing them on to Marc on the trot in manner of relay baton handover.

Brockwell Lido

Triumphant arrivals...

The fast team

 (Peter's so fast he got in the picture before the shutter closed)

Marcus inadvertently takes out an old lady in his excitement

And the final swim - possibly one of the best ever at Brockwell, perfect 6.something degrees, full-on sunshine, dancing light patterns on the bottom, healing waters on tired limbs, and body generally awash with endorphins.

 

Oh and I might have gotten a little carried away with my preparations...

 Maybe I'll get a tattoo for the Feb Swimmer.