Bye bye winters season - hello summer season

It is true : robbers broke in during the night from wednesday to thursday and managed to steal the metal railing along the inside of three sides of the pool! Apparently it's worth quite a bit when sold as scrap metal! The police estimated the value of the stolen goods at around £1000! Ironically having the railing replaced would amount to far far more! The mind boggles as to why society has to put up with rogues and people who operate with such dishonesty...

Getting back to a brighter outlook on life, it has to be said that the Lifeguards, as always, tried their level best to make the pool as safe as possible. Ropes normally used for putting in lanes replaced the railing along the inside of three sides of the pool which meant that less confident swimmers had something to grab hold of if needed. Thanx guys!

Improvised railing

Holding on to the railing was only possible on the width in the shallow end of the pool...

Also, the winter season is now officially over ... and as from tomorrow SLSC members will share their beloved Lido with the general public again ...! This also means that I won't be allowed to take photographs ... sad but true ! Not sure what I will do .. probably swim more! Chatting and socialising is still on the agenda too and, who knows, I may very well come up with another form of communicating with my avid blog followers :) I was thinking of posting sounds bites - little interviews or just atmospheric sounds of the Lido .. . the only challenge I am faced with is that "blooger.com" the host of my blog does not cater for sound uploads ... I am however investigating other avenues .. ! so keep your ears close to the ground or more to the point close to the web! I will keep you posted!

Business is usual- with an enforced day off,

many SLSC members enjoyed their swim even more!

I started off catching a few early birds ... like Wendy

Gisela

Nicky

Gail

Ivan getting ready for his impressive pre swim work out ...

now in full swim while Tom and Tim are slowly getting ready to get in

Tim is in!

yes, hello Tom! I know Tim's waiting :) you'll be off in just a moment ... after showing me ....

"The silicon moulded ear plug" that keep all the nasty water out - that's what I'll hopefully get specially made too... soon, well as soon as I get my appointment at St. George's Audiology department! My GP has today sent off the request - so fingers crossed the wait won't be too long...!

Pip gently lowering herself in - she swam her first mile of the season!

Vince, forever the happy chap ... as long as the Lido is open and he can have a swim!

Chris sorting out his goggles before getting in .. count yourself lucky Chris for being able to ...

rest your feet on the only railing left :) the railing on both lengths and the deep end width of the pool got stolen yesterday...

Fernando "bathing" ... I have yet to see him swim :)

Finishing touches are being made in the caf .. open to the public from tomorrow on

Pip watching Chris worshiping then sun

Terry was busy trying to make the pool safe ...

... by attaching foam around the metal hooks the railing was affixed to

and that the robbers left ...

that should do the trick and prevent someone accidentally hurting themselves

poor Nicky didn't feel very well today ...

Terry explaining his protection strategy to Doreen

Rixa tidying her hair

What next Chris?!

Keen runner as well as swimmer, Eamon getting ready to run home?!

Fazlar grabbing a quick breakfast before heading of to work

Billy enjoying his swim

Jonathan still swimming in his winter gear ;)

Surely the water temperature is warm enough by now?!

John, up the deep end of the pool holding on to what's left (of the railing)!

that's all that is left!Like Terry explained to me, it's lucky the crooks didn't screw off the holders as taking those off too would have left holes in the protective membrane that lines the pool and water would have run behind the lining and cause it to bulge and eventually break

Jenny turning around and pushing off again at the deep end - not so easy with the aid of the railing ;)

Barbara arriving at the Lido looking rather shocked and perplexed by the robbery

Read all about it

Happy Splishing!

Spread the word: Our LIDO is open tomorrow!

happy splishing!

Not again ...

This morning I was aiming to be part of the early bird brigade. Not necessarily to swim (ears still not great...) but I had to take my car for its service at Clapham for 8am ... With this in mind I set off around 7am. As I was driving up Tooting Bec Road I saw Veronique cycling on the dirt path alongside the common ... but in the opposite direction ... I found that somewhat strange as she is one if the regular early bird swimmers .. then again I wondered whether she had become an even earlier bird and had already swum at 6am?!

Once I had pulled into the Lido car park I saw Brian and Terry standing behind the locked gates speaking to some one .... Oh no, I thought, here we go again ... the Lido is closed and has been vandalised yet again ... ?!Sadly, my premonition wasn't far off!

Only this time it seems that the trouble makers overstepped the line even further ... Lido manager Brian wouldn't say what had happened, the only thing he did comment on was that the police had to be called out and that the Lido was declared a crime scene! Wow, that sounded a bit serious. No one was allowed in because the police had to first take finger prints.

Disappointed, as I'm sure many were too, I turned around hoping that I could come back and swim over lunch by which time the police would have hopefully been and taken all the evidence they need to find the hooligans.

Hopeful, I made my way up to the Lido around 11.45 ... sadly the gates were still locked and Terry informed me and Andrew (who I hadn't met before) that the police had only just come to investigate the matter and that no one was allowed in.

Well, let's hope that when we come back tomorrow morning we will be greeted by open gates and a healthy looking Lido!

And just before I go, I want to extend another big thank you to my newly found "blog fan" Brian Eady! Thanx for your lovely and encouraging e-mail Brian. Reading your e-mail address I noticed that I had misunderstood your surname when we spoke the other day ... I thought it was Evy when in fact it is Eady :) I'll simply blame it on my ears! I immediately went back to that blog entry and changed your name to the correct spelling! What a gentleman you are for not even mentioning it to me!

Lido gates firmly locked and closed to everybody due to another break-in incident

Andrew all ready to go ... but ...no where to go ...

... despair set in once Andrew realised that the Lido was closed! "What am I going to do?!? I'll need to find another form of exercise for the day!"

Police investigation was underway

What a treat

What a busy day ... sill, time for a quick blog and a couple of photos ... also, an update on my ears :) - sure you are curious :) Well: they still hurt! I've been to the GP yesterday - she is going to refer me to the right department at St. Georges ... not sure how long it will be before I "hear" :) from them?! no, my hearing is actually fine (thank God!) and I will be on the GPs case if she doesn't get back to me by end of the week (which is what she promised). Anyway, for now she gave me drops (to calm the inflammation) - Can't say that I notice an improvement... but I guess it's early days. Then again I'm not a fan of treating symptoms .. I prefer to have the cause treated immediately which would also be to get these silicon ear plugs moulded asap!

Using my usual ear plugs and the use of additional Vaseline plus 2 swimming caps, well pulled over my ears, I simply had to go for a dip!

This morning the water felt magical and warmer than the outside temperature - it was rather windy and one could have been forgiven for questioning whether the weather Gods had pulled the plug on us :)

On top of this, the ladies showers were without hot water (again) which meant that we were allowed to take a shower in the mens changing rooms! What a treat!

Could only get a rear view of Chris and Sue :)

But a good shot of Stuart (the piano tuner!) who came for a quick swim before heading off .. no not to tune pianos (for once) but off on a 2 weeks holiday to Cornwall! I Hope you have a great time and fab weather there!

This is a first

I must quickly tell you about Brian Eady - Brian used to swim at the Lido for years until his mother died and he moved to Somerset. He loves the Lido and still gets the newsletter which is how he discovered my Lido blog. Brian reads it every day and gets the feeling of still being in touch with what's happening at the pool! Anyway, the reason why I am able to tell you all this is because, just imagine, after finding out through the blog that I am having trouble with my ears, Brian, found my phone number and gave me a call to tell me how he overcame his ear problems - "go to the audiology department, have your ears seen to and then ask for a set of specially made silicon ear plugs that get moulded to your ears. Once you have a set of these you'll be fine - no water will ever get into your ears again." Thank you for this great advise Brian! Your kindness touched me! I'm off to see my GP later this afternoon and hopefully I will get a referral to the audiology department very soon too!

This silly and painful condition of my ear meant that this morning was a morning like no other. I cycled up to the Lido, I even had my cosy on (under my clothes !) - nothing new about that :) - but once there, I didn't go for a splish ... I'm sorry to report that I wasn't even as much as tempted to getting in and swimming head up breaststroke just doesn't do it for me (unless it's one quick width at the cold water champs while wearing a fancy hat!)

Still, it's hard to keep away from the Lido ... besides, only three more days of being allowed to take shots ... so I made the most of it and also took a few little video clips ...!

Karen has been swimming at the Lido for years ...

and enjoying every minute of it! "I'll really miss not being able to swim this summer because I'm about to have an operation which will mean that I won't be able to swim for some time ..." Let's hope you have a speedy recovery Karen! I'm sure you are making the most of it now:)

elongated Tim :)

Ann arriving for her swim

Tim, Sue, Nick and Chris

Yes Nick it's all about the reach :)

David swimming lengths .. even before..

... checking out the temperature ... highest of this year's season so far

Ruby, eyes closed meditating while swimming

Kit swimming up and on her front ...

and husband Bob (Morris) is swimming down ...

.. and on his back :) "I only come to have a wash :)"

Jenny talking shop and interested in what Margy said about my stroke ... " to slow down my stroke rate was the most important advice" .. "Oh I'll try that too then!"

perfect! Jenny has a lovely stroke!

Here a few video clips!

Watch out for Jonathan's clip-he made a point of wanting to get featured!