One Thing At A Time

A quick swim and some photos before the exciting task of making Soda Bread with Wendy! I love Soda Bread and can't wait to get over to Wendy's Kitchen ... but all good things come to those who (can) wait (more or less patiently!)

So my motto for this morning was "let's take things one at a time ..."

The weather is so glorious that the first point of attention and indulgence simply had to be gliding through "fresh" water, taking in the scenery around the pool and absorbing the wonderful reflections of the freshly painted cubicle doors on the rippling surface of the water!

but before that could happen I was sightly thrown off my usual routine. Instead of choosing one of the cubicles at the shallow end of the pool, I had to alter my habit as the row of cubicles at the shallow end were getting their facelift today. I found an interesting cubicle instead !

The water felt a touch warmer than yesterday's 7 C so, who know, it may have even slid up the thermometer and past 7C ? David has left for a weeks holiday in Madeira ... so we'll never know for sure - up on the black board it did say 8C ...

All change please .. unless your routine is changing in one of the top end cubicles anyway :)

Alfonso was already in the pool

while others were planning their next move - batch and Sue had been for their morning run, "Tall Chris" was catching up on things and Brian and Aaron were discussing how to get the dingy in the pool - Aaron's task was to clean the bottom of the pool

Vince as in trance - swimming up and down -

and when he was finally "done" with swimming - the sun was so bright that Vince could hardly see - mind you Vince swims without goggles which must be so tough on the eyes ...

finally Mr Bubbles got in - he swam 18 lengths - success! he reached his goal of swimming "a mile in march"

Batch in the pool - he swam 6 lengths - he usually used a float between his legs to help balance his sinking legs ...

stretched out Sue

Still Sue - a lovely study of her technique - she really pushed the water away on the final phase of her under water movement

I like that angle and phase too - quite unusual - I don't think I've captured that before.

When I came out of the sauna , Aaron was in the dingy, cleaning the bottom of then pool

- hard work - and he loves it!

and finally I caught sight of more Lido Art before heading off the Wendy's Kitchen to make Soda Bread

Make sure you check out the step by step guide to making Soda Bread!

Back In The Pool With My Camera

I got to the Lido a bit earlier this morning. Mr Bubbles (Alex) got in just a bit sooner than me ... but of course stayed in much longer than me! Specially as Alfonso arrived too and the two love swimming together ... I did my 4 lengths - I think I could have done 2 more but preferred to take my camera in for some underwater shots - they pool was quite crowded .... :)

Alex got in before me - I was still half dressed when I saw him getting ready to get in -

Alex's routine is sitting at the edge of the shallow end of the pool and to dive in from a sitting position - so I quickly put my hand and camera in the water and caught the moment masses of bubbles were made!

Sangeeta got back in after her bit in the sauna and swam a width - she swims without a cap ... not sure how she does it? :)

It only takes one guess to know who this is :)

Alex and Alfonso - Alex slightly in front

and up the pool again - The shot looks funny as Alex (closer to camera) seems to also own Alfonso's stretched out arm

Pip was also in the pool

So was Vince - fully stretched out, just taking a breath

I tried another head on shot of the two boy racers - a shame I couldn't get Alex more centre frame - my goggles were fogging up at that point and I was lucky to get them at all :)

They hadn't quite finished yet - pushing off again

Vince's "attempt" at butterfly .. :)

A welcomed sight : the water thermometer showing full 7 Celsius ... make no mistake it was still cold - specially staying in the water taking photos! what is pretty amazing however is that the first year I swam through the winter (4 winters ago) the water never sank below 7C and I was only able to do 2 widths - and now 7 feels soooo much warmer and I don't even think about not swimming lengths. Marvels of the body (and mind, I suppose)!

I was joking with David (Mr. Thermometer) when reading the temperature - we both commented on how hot the water had become which made Bernie chuckle! Bernie is amazing - swimming lengths when this is her first cold water swimming season.

It's Officially Spring

Officially, today is the first day of spring and one could be forgiven for not quite buying into it ... just yet! But there is always hope and to be fair we have been shown some slight signs of spring ... such as the days getting longer, the sun peeping out from behind what seemed endlessly thick blankets of clouds and of course the lovely Daffodils! These irregular bursts of energy are so welcomed. Almost as on cue the sun is effectively trying hard to push through while I'm writing this blog and throwing a lovely light glow onto my keyboard.

However, it's mostly the water temperature that we swimmers go by! It's still hovering around the high end of 6 Celsius and we are all longing for it to push through the 7 C barrier and to keep going! As I said, there is always hope!

If it's any consolation, works on the Lido getting her (or is it his) annual make over have begun!

this is just the beginning of quiet a task ahead

I'm even getting quite good at the head on stuff ...

this is (headless) Alex -

I'm glad I caught Alex as told me that he finds these shots interesting .... :) by the way check out his blog too specially as he has taken a shot of me which I love!:)

For this picture of Nick I let the water run over the lens which gives the top of the image

that misty and almost mysterious feel

then Nick rolled over onto his back ... swimming without stress ?! maybe? check out the swimming without stress website. They supported our Cold Water Champs. and are offering SLSC members good deals

... and just as I was about to take an underwater shot of Nick on his back,

he decided to flip over onto his front again to swim breaststroke :)

Everybody Is Loving It

What a glorious day .. finally! Everybody had a bounce in their step and an even bigger grin on their face when I asked them what they thought about the weather.

Sue Miler loving her swim - she even extended it by half a length and had Ines transfer her flip flops from the middle steps down to the shallow end!

Kate coming out of the cubicle with her newly purchased training fins

ad setting of on her first ever attempt with fins

straight into the sun - surrounded by lovely sparks

reaching for the end .. well not quite .. as she

... off again on another couple of widths

here she is pushing off just about to start her first arm movement

Kate's technique is getting better and better - amazingly she has only just started swimming freestyle a few months ago

Being married to (little!) Carl Reynolds must have its advantages :)

she told me she's "loving" the new experience of swimming with fins

in fact she's loving them so much ... it seems like she'll never take them off again .. they are coming to the sauna :)

"Hubbie" Carl is not quite done yet ... ( hey, I got him head on !)

pushing off again ...

... but that's it - 1 Mile in 6.5 Celsius is enough!

Peter checking out who else is in the pool

ahhhh yes, Peter spotted this lady .. sadly I don't know her name ..:)

and she too is loving it!

Batch run 10 K on Wimbledon Common (and loving it) before his swim

Vince took his time today - he swam twice - Loving it (of course!)

Jonathan - getting ready...

to set off on a few lengths ... obviously .. loving it! and who wouldn't!

there is nothing better than swimming at the lido in full sunshine ... specially after days and days of grey in grey ... I went in 3 times - that's 2 saunas and 3 swims - finishing on a HIGH is simply the best!