The wind proved to be quite strong again this morning - cycling up tooting bed road to the lido was tough ... even for Alex! The water felt colder too - Stephanie, equipped with a new thermometer recorded an average of 6.5 C - she swam 10 lengths and had the tip of her fingers go numb .. again - She asked me how many I was going to swim: "4 stephanie, 4 is the magic number for me!"

Lifeguards have it sussed out too,

nothing goes without flip flops!

rescued and in good company:

yesterdays infamous, solitary and lost green cap

"Busy Jane" hasn't been able to make it to the pool for 6 weeks ... nothing to do with the wintery water temperature ... so she says - all to do with being (over)worked!

Suzanne and Michael after their swim

play time

Simon lowering himself back into 6C after his sauna

dunking under and resurfacing - that's better!

Jonathan contemplating his options

the fountain was back on today

I like the way the bars around the fountain match

with the division of the doors (in the background)

really? no climbing on the roof of the cubicles then ?!

Jane's daughter came looking for her mum ...

evidence that she is here ... but where?

in the sauna ... where else (after her 1st swim, 2 lengths in 6 weeks!)

sadly it's impossible to prefocus with the phone camera ...

so although I was ready for Alex's mini dive (from a sitting position at the edge of the pool)

I only got his splash and under water glide!

He went on to swim (yet again) 12 lengths

his blog of today isn't up presently - I'm sure it will be up soon though

Vince coming all the way back by his side with is arm

Two Outings

A very murky looking pool, with lots of strange looking objects ... the water temperature dropped from 7C to just over 6C - however this decline came with a bonus: less wind which was truly a welcomed addition to this morning's swim! Alex thought it felt much colder than yesterday and he got out after 12 lengths (in contrast to his 18 from yesterday!) Vince did 2 less - and swam 6 ... I had 4lengths in mind before even thinking about the possible drop in temperature ... I was happy about the lack of wind and felt really good this morning!

when arriving at the Lido this morning,

all I could see was a solitary swimming cap floating amongst dead leaves ...

no... wait... there was also a sheet of paper floating around ...

what could that evidence possibly point to??

taking a closer look at the sheet of paper it read "deep end"

yes, I was at the deep end of the pool alright ...

and the water looked terribly murky this morning ..

could there possibly be another unidentified body floating around?

wait ... I can spot one ... here ... fortunately this one is alive!

It's Jonathan - what a relief!!

but why is the water as murky as it is? why the green cap?

and why are there so many leaves floating around?

would they be concealing something?!

I dropped my camera back in the water do see what else I could capture ...

just that sheet of paper ... clearly one that belongs to the lifeguards

Suddenly Angus popped up in the deep end ...

I hadn't seen him approach - he was all smiles .. possibly because he was about to get out ?!

"One length is enough.."

and out he climbed ...

choosing the long way down the entire length of the pool ...

all I could hear him say (to himself) was :

"that's a bit of a long way to the sauna ..! or maybe I won't have a sauna today ..?!"

My investigation continued ...

I was still looking for a floating body ...

Along came Alex making his way through the leaves

I concluded that there was (fortunately) no missing body ...

and I could finally make my way down to the shallow end, following Alex

meeting Vince on his way up to the deep end .

I always find it hard to resist taking pictures of Vince,

gliding along, eyes closed, fully ensconsed in a blissful moment

I missed Alex's tumble turn in the deep end

as I had this other picture amongst the leaves (see above) in mind ...

I've taken similar shots of Alex before ...

yet, it still makes me chuckle to catch Alex's 2 legs up in the air

in this shot it shows how well Alex finishes the stroke with his pulling arm ...

it's all the way down by his side

When finishing my 4th lengths, Hilary came up behind me,

touched the edge of the shallow end only to push off for another 2 lengths in murky looking water.

Hilary's costume made it into the pool twice today ... Margy had forgotten her cosy and had no other choice but to step into Hilary's warm (from the sauna) yet (still) wet cosy for a quick swim!

Reappearing

After a wet and rather miserable sunday, the sun made a welcomed appearance - the water seemed and felt colder to me - it was however still at 7C ... same as the previous 2 days.

Peter Ra. in exuberant mood after his 10 lengths and

before heading off to meet some colleagues

After my swim and sauna I didn't feel like getting back in again ...

however, I spotted Pip taking off so I jumped back in to take a shot of him

Nadine was back for her training - 1st length breaststroke,

catching her breath before heading back up to the deep end - this time

... head under

and reaching the deep end before ...

heading back down the pool

well focused on getting there!

On seeing Nadine in the pool, "Big Daddy Nando" decided to take a running dive (which I missed !)

What I did catch, though, was the big splash which (fortunately) just missed Nadine!

Nando resurfaced and was on his way to catch Nadine - they then swam a few lengths together

good work out guys!

Fruits Of Labour

The 1st saturday of the month means breakfast time ... at least for some ... while others (in particular Stephanie) just have their eyes, minds and bodies well focused on swimming!

when leaping for joy and for the camera pays of !

quite a few SLSC members made it into the South London Press

courtesy of leap year day

Wendy and Catherine identifying who's who

breakfast will be served ... in just a minute or two

Another superb "Kate Creation"

... which Batch can't wait to get his teeth stuck into :)

Gail brought a "yummieee" baguette which is just about to get a special treatment:

cream cheese and smoked salmon ...

the sight of which brought on a huge smile

on Veronique's face who was more than ready for some food after her invigorating swim

Stephanie (and I) gave breakfast a miss ...

some serious swimming was in order (for Steph)

Steph swam just short of a mile (she did 16 lengths) before getting dressed (no sauna!)

fully dressed she did grab a hot drink then ran around the green to warm up before getting back in the pool for a mile ... Steph's gruelling training, all in preparation for her upcoming channel swim (in 4 months time) is in full swing !!

After my swim, sauna and jump back in to get pictures of Steph,

I headed straight for a well deserved shower

17 Points

A hazy morning with lots of pool activities

Leap year day or not .... Egg is always keen to leap - crocks and all:

"what's the point of taking them off, they are made to resist water..."

quite right Egg, specially as you are not swimming these days .... just llllleaping :)

sitting at the edge of the pool,

Alex, Pip and Jonathan are scoring Egg's performance

9 from Alex, Pip's scratching her head and not sure how many points Egg's leap deserves

and Jonathan giving it 8 points ) "17 in total!"

Alex is off ... no more hanging around -

he's got 12 lengths ahead of him

Pip and Jonathan choosing a gentler entry

9 out of 10 for synchronicity!

level pegging on their first length

Alex way ahead of "the pack"

quick tumble turn and off again

in true Mr. Bubbles style

Pip and Jonathan reaching the deep end

Jonathan out of breath -

ready to swim back down again

I ran back down too to get an under water shot of Alex swimming ...

as I was lining up my shot, Alex stopped ....

... to take a shot of on coming Pip and Jonathan -

before resuming his swim- check out his shot

Pip swam another 2 lengths alone -

Jonathan was out and off to work ... via the sauna!

next in was Nick - swimming a width

" just have to wait until this "old man" swims past"

yes, why don't you dunk him while you are at it, Nick ...

Vince wasn't very pleased ...

"you really put me off ..." was Vince's reaction -

(he did muster a little smile, mind you ... lucky for Nick)

all clear - Nick's off on his 20 second burst!

splashing all over the show!