Man Of The Day

Fifty .. 5 ...0 at last! NO, not 50F, not 50 lengths ... 50 years! Happy Birthday Ian!! Ian even ordered snow and the mighty powers obliged - what a way to celebrate your half century ... swimming at the Tooting Bec Lido where the water temperature was just dead on 0C!

Lots of pool activity and a grand Birthday Breakfast for Ian, the man of the day!

But let's start the day chronologically!

stepping out my front door at 6.50am with my bike ... on my way to chant with a friend ...

I was surprised that all the roads were clear of snow ... even the backstreets!

8am on my way to the Lido - had to stop at the beginning of the common to take this

dreamy landscape ... not far from where we let Mick loose ... no sign of him!

getting closer ...

as I arrived Marie-Anne was getting in

... slowly but surely! 2 cosies seems to do it for her!

all of 4 strokes and ...

... out again - the long way back down to the ladies changing rooms

Vince arriving all "mummed up"!

some lovely views

no swimming in the shallow end .. all iced over

no fountain activity

Tricky coming out of the sauna on his way all the way back to the deep end

where he occupied a cubicle

lovely patern

The sun tried to break through the clouds - 2/3 of the pool was iced over

Batch, Sue R. and Clare coming back from their pre swim walk on the Common -

in the background Jonathan fresh out of the water heading for the sauna

Vince (slightly hidden in the previous shot) kept up the time he stayed in the water -

he swam 6 widths - the equivalent to 2 lengths!

I still haven't changed .. but getting there .. from inside my cubicle

I spotted Catherine walking up to the deep end.

I quickly changed and followed Catherine up - 2 widths for Catherine

I'm still not in .. now Kevin arrived with THE birthday cake - signing in

Dylan and Antony on duty in the deep end -

ok, time for me to dive in (I don't like going down the steep ladder!)

and swim 2 widths - gorgeous!

"Saunad" and fully dressed again, I spotted Dominic dive in - looked great!

so I asked him ...

to do it again ..! really .. is that a dive?!

here we go ... that's a more "conventional" dive !

Time to celebrate - "Birthday kid" Ian