Saturday Dec. 3rd, time for the traditional (first saturday of the month) breakfast at the Tooting Bec Lido. It's always well attended and gives people (specially the "early morning brigade" of swimmers who swim at 7am during the week a chance to get together and catch up on things. Today was no exception.
Everybody brought something along for the occasion. Seeing that I'm well into setting up an independent coffee shop with my business partner Danny, I thought of bringing my home espresso machine, grinder, freshly roasted beans and other (coffee related) paraphernalia to the Lido. Before my swim I set up shop at the (lido) caf, switched on "Miss Silvia" (the espresso machine is really called "Rancilio Silvia"!). She needs to warm up (at least 20 -25 minutes) before producing her magic which gave me and the breakfast candidates time for a swim.
Around 9am I assumed position behind the counter and took on my role as "head barista"(!). I was soon taking (coffee) orders, pulling one shot after another, frothing milk and improvising with my latte art!
No time to take shots ... just pulling shots!
I think people enjoyed the occasion : a great swim (sauna for some) lovely food, a good natter and a great cup of coffee.
What better way to start the weekend!
Arriving at the Lido this morning
we were greeted by a dramatic looking sky
the view from my cubicle as I was getting ready for my (1st) swim @ 8am.
I don't know the name of this lovely lady ... although she did come and say hello after her swim when breakfast (and me pulling shots of coffee) was in full swing!
I hope I'll meet her again so we can have a longer chat and I can ask her for her name!
Catherine on her eleventh lengths -
she is training for her relay channel crossing in Sept 2012
the improvised coffee bar at the Lido -
I brought my home expresso machine and grinder and some beautiful freshly roasted beans
If you ever feel inclined to get your own home espresso machine, look no further but:
After having taken all the (coffee) equipment back to the car I saw Michael, Suzanne and Helen getting ready to dive in ... Michael didn't hang about - he was first in and I missed asking the trio to dive in together...
Fortunately Suzanne and her sister Helen waited for me to get into position.
They even re-surfaced!
all I could hear was Suzanne telling her sister to "just swim, it'll get better!"
They are both very good swimmers - I caught up with them in the sauna when they told me that their father is a keen swimmer who had them swimming by age 4 and1/2!
Michael (who benefitted from a head start)
checking whether the two ladies were coming
interesting style - head up freestyle
at noon I decided to go for a second (more relaxing) swim, sauna and re-swim
Carl already fully dressed again put his hands in the water to (blindly) catch that shot - he took other shots - check out his blog!
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