Category Archives: Stressbusting

Second November Splash

Posted on by
2


“Dance Ti’ Thy Daddy Come here, maw little Jacky, Now aw’ve smok’d mi backy, Let’s hev a bit o’ cracky, Till the boat comes in.

Dance ti’ thy daddy, sing ti’ thy mammy,
Dance ti’ thy daddy, ti’ thy mammy sing;
Thou shall hev a fishy on a little dishy,
Thou shall hev a fishy when the boat comes in. Here’s thy mother humming, Like a canny woman; Yonder comes thy father, Drunk—he cannot stand…”  (sung by Alex Glasgow)

Isn’t that trumpet beautiful!!

We watched When the Boat Comes in when I was a little kid, though I don’t remember it at all, but I swear my parents sung the theme song on a loop everytime we went anywhere near the sea. It’s pretty damn catchy with the fishy dishy lyric.

Got up ready for some stressbusting and my second splash of the month, November 24. The morning post had brought no good news. Doctor had left cryptic message on my voicemail night before (turned out to be not so serious after all, but still when doctors phone, the imagination can go on a serious bender). My stress antennae these days detect the smallest signal and they like to go full out wing ding crazy. Plus, will my Mancub (new nickname for Monkey 2) always cry when I bring him to crèche in the mornings?

It was 12 degrees out, grey with a biting wind. Seadog was free and so he drove me to Sandycove, parked in what is designated as the icecream van’s casual trading spot, and waited in the car, reading his book. It’s my dad all over again: Have book, will travel.

There were loads of people changing etc and I couldn’t help but spot an unabashed big set of reddened Irish-sea boobs. Glad to see someone else’s nonchalance in the changing process. First off I went around the corner to see Forty Foot as I like to do. Water crashed up against the boulders, all the way up the stairs. There was a fit guy, dark haired, glowing face, very enthusiastic, drying himself up and finishing getting his gear together.

He said he’d just been in on the other side, the safe side and it was really really WARM for this time of year! Lovely water. He looked so refreshed. Hair still gleaming with wet. He had that born again look, like he’d just been baptized. Told me how last year it was the coldest in 20 years. In and out of the water real quick. But today it was warm. I’d never heard anyone use that adjective (in relation to the sea) in all the 8 years I’ve been in Ireland.

Around the corner it was a seniors’ social scene. Robust, full head of white-haired older folks. It felt like I’d gotten off at the 7½ floor in the Being John Malkovich movie and landed in an alternate universe of non-aging seniors. Three men and one woman smiled at me super welcomingly. A grinning Baba with a baboushka wrapped around her head and a thick Slavic accent said encouragingly: “Vind Cold! Vater Varm!!”

This was the first time I was shivering before even getting in the water. It was the damn wind. (I had by the way made sure my stuff wouldn’t blow in the water this time by putting my boots and thermos on top of my bag.)

I shivered my way down the steps. An oldtimer in the water, frowning a bit, cheered me on:  Warmer in than out, he said gruffly.

Meanwhile I could see there were a few dogs having a swim too. So I got in and swam like heck to get warm. Felt like my heart was working harder and I was gasping more because it was colder. I wondered if the water temperature had gone down since my last swim or was I just getting wimpy? It was true though like Baba said, that out of the wind, in the water it was cozier. I swam over to near where Seadog was in the car studying his book. He came out and took a crappy video on his phone. I miss my camera and its zoom.

I couldn’t believe how many older people were in the water without even bathing hats. These were freaky people who had maybe found the secret to eternal vitality/life? I have to say I enjoyed my swim but was the balance between thrill and pleasure now tipping towards thrilling? I was cold!

Speaking of thrilling I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. Was that swimmerman smoking? One of the oldies, the one who had told me it was warmer in than out, recently out of the water, wearing just his red trunks, seemed to have a long white thing sticking out of his mouth, could it actually be a smoke? I’m not sure why this delighted me so profoundly. I guess it was incongruous to this scene and a bit bad boy at the core and my rebellious soul/arrested-adolescent spirit was thrilled to the bone.

I swam hard and couldn’t resist doing three head dunks. Last once froze my forehead.

It was time to get out, I couldn’t keep Seadog waiting forever and I had to investigate if this guy was indeed smoking. I climbed up the stairs onto land and was mildly embarrassed as always by the way the swimsuit insists on clinging to the skin so I tried as I always do to discretely pull some material out from the tummy area which always backfires and creates a goofy vacuum balloon effect.

He was smoking! And it smelled heavenly. I’m ten years off the smokes, but sometimes, sometimes I sure fancy one. I breathed in gulps of the gorgeous tobacco smell as I started the job of getting back into clothes. It almost takes as long to dry up as it does to swim, what with all the awkwardness of leaning on one leg, drying the other, trying to preserve some modesty and stop things from blowing away, all with frozen fingers that don’t work so well and clothes that get stuck trying to rush them up not fully dry legs. Reminds me of when Little Chief (new nickname for Monkey 1) tries to go down the slide with her bare legs and the slide is too dry and she just squeaks her way down in starts and stops instead of the proper swoosh down.

Redtrunks seemed to be in no hurry getting clothes back on. He was going around the place, retrieving his bits and pieces and his plastic bag. And then, still smoking, he started doing his callisthenics.

Callisthenics, in wet red swimming togs with a smoke hanging out of his mouth. I love it!

Seadog says that the Royal Canadian Airforce Exercises were very in vogue in Ireland when he was growing up.

“Lovely tide,” Redtrunks said to me. It was the highest tide I’d swum in here and it’s true it filled up Sandycove like a big bathtub, the big drink.

“You’re better off changing around the corner with this wind,” he advised.

Younger mum-looking women showed up to change for their swims. They asked Redtrunks Smokey if he’s seen their friend Maggie lately. No he hadn’t. She’d been in hospital and they all agreed it’d be hard to get back into the water after that. It really was a scene of regulars here at Sandycove.

“Watch your clothes today ladies,” he told them

“Ah they’re blowing in today are they so…” one woman knowingly replied. I wish I knew about this last week! The wind was mighty and even with my steel water bottle and cocoa thermos my stuff had been blowing around this time. “Expecting gale force winds later today. Got the best of it we did,”  Redtrunks said.

My core didn’t cool down like last time, just my feet and hands were cold. I was literally chilled out, not worrying about anything at all and instead reveling in rediscovering the joy of my wool hat, cashmere cardigan and colourful thermos, thank you Stuart, full of hot chocolate. And Seadog chauffeuring.

Sitting in the car warming up we watched Sandycove waking up; what a great neighbourhood. Lots of dog walkers, dogs, moms, dads, grandparents with babies in buggies and in baby carriers. People stopping to chat with each other. New swimmers showing up, others leaving. The sounds of seagulls above and the odd oystercatcher and purple sandpiper about. I sat in the car all cozy and had a great cup of cocoa. Tried next to drink the hot chocolate from the flask directly instead of refilling the little cup and as warned it spilled all out and burned my chin, not terribly. Seadog said if he’d been filming we could have made millions on Youtube. Damn… 

I read an article about Carrie Fisher and her depression and how she goes for the odd bout of ECT. Not to trivialize the horribleness of serious depression or anything but it did occur to me I should write to her and tell her about dunking her head in the Irish sea, it could be a similar help. I also read recently that Dickens would feel so utterly scorched by the writing process that he needed to plunge his head in a cold pail of water periodically while writing Bleak House. Ten minutes doing this and I feel like I’ve had a major adventure for the day. It’s like riding a bike, it taps right into the inner kid zone. Sometimes I like to make Little Chief laugh when we walk home together and I skip a little in between normal walking to match her joyful style. Why walk when you can skip?

This whole wild swimming jag takes me back to the best part of being a kid, swimming with my parents in the oceans of the world, going ice skating and having frozen toes, and hot chocolate to warm up. All that was missing now was the smell and promise of fish and chips wrapped in newspaper for supper. I said to Seadog that I don’t really get how some swimmers just get in for a minute or two and he said, in typical Seadog wisdom: some people just want an espresso, whereas you want a big cappuccino.

Went home, had a shower and then got deuced: Two of everything, socks, pants, tops, cardigans and cups of tea and then I was sorted for the day.

Winter has finally properly hit and now it’s hovering above zero. Will be heading for my first December dip soon, and wondering if it will be enjoyable or just goofily cold making…

back on track

Posted on by
6

Confessions first: I haven’t started reading Ulysses yet and somehow this blog isn’t shorter as promised. Will try to do better.

The nail-chewing anticipation of getting into the water again after a month grounded, made me feel like a nervous-nelly-wild-swimming virgin. Particularly as the week before last I had just gotten out our family’s winter coats and gloves for the season. That Monday it was frosty and only 3 degrees Celsius on the school run; I had to explain to the monkeys why the grass was crunchy and white. How on earth was I going to do winter swimming? And why?

So on the Tuesday, I went on a reconnaissance mission at 9:20 in the morning. It was 11 degrees and grey, much warmer than the day before, but not tropical that’s for sure. I headed to the Forty Foot. I had heard that in the winter there were more swimmers there than at Seapoint. I think my favourite bit of Dublin so far is the stretch from Dún Laoghaire pier all along the seafront walk, the promenade, Teddy’s ice-cream parlour, towards the mini Stanley Park and right around the corner to Sandycove, Forty Foot and on. It reminds me of my childhood summers in Worthing, the big Albertan sky too, and a dash of dreamy Vancouver. Geography is funny that way. When I was little I thought Alberta was the only place with big mountains and that the beef had to be the best in the world because everyone said it was and the rivers the prettiest. The obvious only hit me in adulthood, amazing geographical features occur all over the planet, they even have mountains in other countries. No wonder I botched my geography class….

I did a nice little walk up the park, looked at the old red brick club building, saw Mr. Heron on a rock. Went up to look at a flora and fauna tourist sign. Was surprised to see a picture of a common harbour porpoise (the dolphin’s cousin?/my totem animal perhaps?) and me and Monkey admired the pictures of whelks and seabirds, cormorants and sterns.

I went to look at Forty Foot proper. It was ferocious. No one was there and I wasn’t even sure if I should go down the steps and leave my monkey in his buggy what with the waves and water splashing about. You hear a lot about rogue waves sweeping you away in this part of the world.

I parked Monkey for a quick minute and walked down the first set of stairs only as far as I could keep him in view. The water was raging! Crashing up the stairs. Was it flooding? Surely no one goes in from here when it’s like this, you’d get smashed up against the boulder and jagged rocks, forget Smashing Pumpkins, Smashing Sophie!? I walked back up the stairs and went left down the hill to look at the James Joyce museum. Another time on this road, funny-man Father Jack from Father Ted had to screech to a halt as our monkey on a scooter careened too close to the curb. And just the other day I saw sexy/grumpy-looking Neil Jordan riding his bicycle down the road. Dead or alive this seemed to be a rich zone for celebrity spotting if that’s your thing. Bono and Enya live further down this coastal road. And let’s not forget my childhood hero Bob Geldof hails not far from here.

Went back to the right where it was much less blustery and gusty. There were people milling about. Were any of them the women I’d heard about who swam after the school run, the so-called Mermaid Mums? A blond woman with a salty look, carrying a towel walked towards me.

I asked if she was going in, she said she was and that everybody swam on this side when it was rough like today. I asked if she went in yesterday when the grass was frosty and it was only 3 degrees. Yes she did. Said it was a strange atmosphere and she felt as if she’d just had her legs waxed. You know what I mean she said. I thought about it. Yes I knew what she meant. The scorched earth/burnt feeling after a wax. Was it a good thing or a bad thing in this context? She was smiling. Wouldn’t wear a wetsuit, that’s not swimming she told me. I wish I had had my legs done she said and chuckled. Said last year she’d swum all year. I said that was what I was hoping to do. Told me where to get in the water. And then she introduced herself as we said bye! Of all the people I have talked to on my swims, no one had volunteered their names. Hurrah, would she be my first swim buddy?

Once back in my car, I looked over and there were now five in the water and four changing on the wall. It was a party. Not a wetsuit in sight. And it wiped out all my accumulated misgivings about winter swimming. Of course 11 degrees is a lot warmer than 3. In my time away from swimming I was pretty convinced that I had to go and get a wetsuit, but back in the scene I was reassured I didn’t have to go spend that cash I didn’t actually have. Gloves and booties though could be a good thing and Christmas is coming… Most importantly I was now looking forward to getting back in the water!

On Wednesday morning it was rainy and 12 degrees. I needed my stressbusting hydrotherapy more than ever. Our house sale was in the process of collapsing. School highlights: a lice outbreak. And on the school run I had a scraped a BMW 4×4 with the car and then when we were walking Monkey number 2 had grabbed a Mercedes hood ornament and bent it 360 degrees. You’d swear every third car in Ireland was a Mercedes or BMW or Jaguar.

My mood improved instantly when I got to the seaside. I saw a guy in the distance in full black gear with a snorkel, looking like a secret operative in a James Bond film coming in from  the open sea, back from a secret Welsh mission. Mr. Heron was there again, on the same rock, must be a local.

I’ve always loved the rain and find it kind of romantic which is a good thing living here in this rainy island. Growing up in the prairies there just wasn’t that much of it.

Today was a wet one. A gentle rain. Not lashing. But soggy making. I walked around the place, casing the joint. I took photos of Mr. Heron. Worried about the zoom lens on my camera getting wet, I put it snugly back in my pocket.

No one was in the water. There was a tubby man maybe in his fifties with gappy teeth and ruddy cheeks, heading away, having just been in.

Wild, he said.

Here?

No, around the corner. He gestured to the Forty Foot.

Was it cold?

Uh…well…he paused and then said: Yes!  (He wasn’t gonna bullshit me.)

I decided not to change around the corner with the proper changing stalls and to just leave my stuff on the wall like the man did. I struggled out of my clothes, mooned Sandycove neighbourhood behind me and got into my swimsuit. I stuffed my socks deep into my cozy Blundstone boots and cleverly placed my lime green raincoat over top of my bag to keep my towel and clothes from getting too wet in the drizzle. As usual I had my camera and phone and car key in the pockets. I worried a little bit about my clothes being stolen as I always did. And then I climbed down the steps, holding onto the rusted ladder railing. Not so inviting with no one in sight. Where were the other swimmers? My buddy from yesterday: nowhere to be seen.

I took my time on the rocky steps. It was cold but not terrible. Alone in the drizzle and wind with just my suit on, I felt foolish, eccentric even, self-conscious of my self.  What to do, but get in? I plunged in and swam around the corner. A little nervous being solo. The water was deep and full and I tried to remember what riptides were and what to do in one, perhaps being melodramatic imagining currents that weren’t there. I was amazed at how it wasn’t that shockingly cold really. I think maybe my body had stored up a good quota of cold shock and it was so vivid in my memory as to be familiar and therefore somehow okay.

Around the side I saw two people approaching in matching, floor-length, bulky, bright white coats and a black dog. Doctors was my first thought. Serious doctors in serious, floor length puffy white lab coats.

They walked over to the wall where I’d left my stuff and then surprisingly they disrobed (took off their bathrobes!) to their togs and jumped in with no fuss, one after another with their dog. A black lassie-ish type with a tennis ball in his mouth swam around the bend to the sandy shore. The man did the crawl right away, zooming past me and the woman noodled and swam near me.

We chatted. Said I was nervous. She said this was totally a fine spot for swimming in this little bay and around the bend in the sandy cove itself. Around the corner the other way, though,  you could have issues…. But Nothing ever happened here she emphasized.

What part of America are you from?

Canada I said.

Most people say something like: “Oh my God, I’m so so so sorry!” at this point, assuming major offense. Luckily she didn’t. I don’t mind being thought of as American anyway (though being Canadian can obviously be groovier.)  I’m so used to being culturally displaced with my immigrant parents and being an immigrant myself now I don’t know what nationality to cling to anymore. And truthfully I find it a bit tired how Canadians are so anxious to distinguish themselves from Americans, sure vive la différence and all but let’s not go nationalistic nutso. Though Irish people don’t like to be confused with English people either, but maybe they have more reason. Belgians with French etc. I’m sure to an African person, the differences between Canadians and Americans are barely noticeable. Just like Depeche Mode sang:  People Are People

All the way from Canada to swim here? Why?

I love it I say.

They do too and swim everyday with the dog, before it gets busy with people (they’ve had complainers apparently). Doesn’t use a wetsuit. She reckons the temperature is not that bad, except in January, but she still goes in then. Just in and then out. This happy trio didn’t stay in much longer this time either. Got out, put on their bathrobes again and walked away. Must live in the neighbourhood.

I think maybe there’s a superstitious element at work for some. I love how it seems to be a bit of an eccentric’s game. Maybe a little trainspotting-y… All this talk of temperatures and water quality. And the magic effect of it on the soul’s well-being.

I didn’t want to get out yet. It was my stress therapy and I was now feeling great. The woman had put me at ease and I could just enjoy frolicking in the beautifully refreshing water. Had wanted to cry before getting in, over stressful house-sale disaster, but now I was doing vigorous somersaults in the salty sea, profoundly exhilarated. What could be better?

Smiling and swimming along I thought I spotted some rubbish, a green sack floating by the wall?

I swam closer. Was it a bag, or a tarp?

Aw F************k!  it’s….MY COAT!

My coat, with my CAR KEYS, CAMERA, and PHONE and my kleenex in it. And my cheerful stainless steel water bottle bobbing along beside it, keeping it company.

I managed to retrieve it without banging too much on the boulders. It was way heavier sopping wet. I brought it back up to the bench, and once I made sure the pockets were zipped up and my car key was still there, I thought what the hell I still want to swim so I did, I got back in.

Two more oddballs were getting in when I eventually got out. I got dressed in a hurry, not bothering with underwear or my bra. It was still drizzling. I needed to blow my nose and so I used my towel; going all feral felt good and liberating. What else you gonna do when you’ve just blown 300 plus bucks in electronics on your swimming hobby? That is why there are no photos yet of Mr. Heron here.

I got in the car and cranked the heat. As I drove home I had the strangest feeling of my core, my chest, and abs and tummy, burning with cold even though I hadn’t felt that cold getting out of the water. Instead of warming up, I seemed to be cooling down. Would this lead to death? Worried about that for a while, while still revelling in the wonderful refreshingness of the swim until it started to sink in that my mobile and camera were pretty debauched looking and that holding them up against the heat vent was probably not so wise.

I relished my hot shower, 2 blueberry muffins and a cup of chamomile tea before the stress of more house angst resumed and the realization that rice was not going to save my electronics. (Sometimes submerging waterlogged electronics in rice can save the day; saltwater though I learned was the real killer). Goofily for the next day and a half I kept thinking my water bottle tasted peculiar until Seadog, my husband, pointed out it had been in the ocean. Had forgot to wash it! But it all could have been so much worse if I had managed to lose the car keys in the big wide open sea.

I have decided after all that 12 degrees is not too hardcore. Speaking of hardcore and reckless…

Breaking up and all, glorious R.E.M. have been on in my mind. Here’s a song they sing about the recklessness of water:  Nightswimming

PS:  Seadog has pointed out that many readers may ignore my blue song links (which is obviously fair enough). I told him though that it is endlessly pleasing for me to dj whenever possible, and that surely some readers may enjoy the tunes if so inclined.

More piscean rhapsody

Posted on by
2

Since that last Forty Foot dip and before I started coughing for Ireland I had four more swims at Seapoint. This catch-up chronicle will be the last post before the real-time, big freezing November plunge which I have to say I’m a little queasy about. November can be the time when people sensibly hang up their togs. I’ve been googling health risks associated with cold water swimming and the good news is if you’re acclimatized it’s not a problem usually… My only preparation though this month is that moment or two before the hot water of the shower kicks in. And I’ve been dodging that cold spray bigtime.

Short version:

These are the highlights of my September morning splashes.

Sounds, Sights, Smells: seagulls, cormorants, pigeons, the smell of decomposing autumn leaves, the green DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) train whizzing by, jack hammer hammering on the street above, water splashing, the morning dog walking brigade.

Didn’t think I would go in each time, but each time I saw the other swimmers and that did it. Arriving hot with stress beforehand, afterwards leaving delirious with my new porpoising purpose.

Longer Version:

Swim Number 1:

The sky was bruising as Monty says in Withnail and I and it was chilly out. But I felt charged up with my mantra: I am brave. I am brave. I am brave I chanted as I walked down the ramp, just barely avoiding sliding in a tidy little pile of dog crap. Good thing the singing council man bleaches the steps everyday. A few people were swimming. An older lady with very muscular arms and short boyish hair. I swam about, got a slurpee headache from the cold and instinctively found it helpful to bark through the first minutes of swimming. Wooof woooof woof. (Later on I found out this makes sense, according to the internet you are meant to exhale when you first get in to cold water.) After the cold passed I frolicked gladly about and managed to crash into the Hillier, scraped my knee but not badly. When I got out of the water the woman with the good pipes was busy drying herself off. She said she was turning white from the cold and I said better than blue. She said she has bad circulation. I thought that was supposed to be one of the benefits of cold water swimming. Ha, she said she’d been swimming forever and hers hadn’t gotten any better. Maybe though it would be worse without doing it… I asked how often she swam and she said she used to go everyday for two years but she had to quit because she was getting obsessed with it. So now she stops in November.

I got dressed and decided I would add speed walking après-swim on the seafront as part of the ritual. Helped enormously to warm up.

Swim Number 2:

Another cold morning, but it was sunny! I wasn’t sure if you could swim at Seapoint at low tide. I went down there and hung up my stuff and sure enough when I looked out to sea I did a double take and saw a woman walking on the water like Jesus far in the distance. She must have been out 200 yards into the open sea, walking on a sand bar. I got in and swam in the shallow water, getting up to stand when it was too shallow and my knees were grazing the bottom. It was uneven, there were deeper bits here and there. I followed the Jesus woman, assuming she must be following the depth. A few others got in. A dark-curly-haired man who I had often noticed sunbathing and reading his book was in the water. I basked in the sunshine and icy water. It was a welcome relief to the gong show at home. Monkey number 2 had turned a corner in toddlerhood, he was now being more adventurous and smashing plates like he was at a Greek wedding and frisbeeing bowls. I was in a different time zone out here in the middle of the sea on an ordinary September morning. Temporarily unavailable. In my own Atlantis universe I could do handstands, a low-tide bonus.

After the other swimmers got out I followed suit. I headed back to the ramp and thought I was on it, but stumbled on a rock. Nothing serious, I was able to grab the railing. The seaweed made the ramp a little slippy.

Drying off, the curly-haired man said to me, “You nearly went!”

“What?”

“You nearly went!”

Hmm, what does he mean? “I did get in!”

“No, you nearly went! If you miss the ramp, you can twist your ankle badly there, it’s full of rocks, you need to get on the ramp.”

Seadog told me later went meant died (or something really terrible) in this Dub-speak exchange.

I think this guy fancies himself a guardian of the place. One time when I was there with the family having a look-see he was going around the place telling everyone that he’d found something, never mind what it was, but if you’d lost something, come talk to him.

After I had done my little speed-walking strut I saw him reading his book, in his shorts, sunbathing. It wasn’t hot out that’s for sure. Still, a great way to spend your mornings if you’re not working. He was definitely getting his vitamin D.

Swim Number 3:

I was filled with no way am I gonna do this. I did it, all the while fantasizing about wetsuits wetsuit wetsuits. There were two youngins in them and they said they were toasty. The super skinny green-hatted woman I’d seen before arrived and walked in, dipped her toe and then went back to put on black sea gloves. Another oldtimer was doing jumping jacks beside the martello tower.

In the mornings I always wonder will I do this? I give myself permission not to. I put on mascara and perfume to confirm that I won’t. But I put the swimming bag in the car just in case, and sure enough the school run mania and other people swimming make it happen. Fear and a kind of positive masochism are a part of this. At night in my bed with my fuzzy socks and flannel bed sheets, I shiver thinking of the cold water. I think no way am I getting in again tomorrow. No way.

Swim Number 4: It was low tide again and a super sunny, blue sky Indian summer day: 18 degrees. There was the Jesus woman again swimming far out to sea, some big-bellied Sopranoes-looking guys standing in the shallow surf talking business. I was surprised given the temperature outside how cold the water still was when my toes hit the ramp.

A young guy with tattoos was getting in near me.

“Oof,” I said.

“Yes,”

“Amazing how cold it is!”

“Yes, imagine for me especially, I am a Spanish”

“Oh,” I said stupidly, “Is it much warmer in Spain?”

But he was off doing his determined crawl to the horizon. I got in and I felt the usual resistance. Why bother my body thought, just get out! But watching the Spaniard crawl and the Jesus woman swimming in the distance I knew that if I persisted, if I in fact surrendered to the cold something amazing would happen. I keep re-learning you have to surrender to the cold. Let go. Give in and then the bliss happens, your body relaxes. Break the cold barrier = bliss. Would rubber speed this process up?  And then suddenly the ecstasy happened and I was communing with nature first thing in the morning, in the middle of the city. And I’d tapped into the wonderful stillness of the morning before too much of the day’s hustle and bustle has kicked off. I imagined I was a synchronised swimmer, I swam on my back and splashed my feet vigorously, making delightful arcs of water spray up in the air. The drops almost in slow motion. This has got to be the most refreshing, zesty way to start the day.

Later I got out and I saw the muscular old woman showering topless and the sunbathing guardian ..guy reading his book, oblivious two feet from her. It’s great how jiggy it is here.

Song that sums up my general feeling of well-being following swims: The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)

I have been leaving my two pairs of goggles and bathing cap around the house to dry, on the radiator or counter or wherever. I especially like the aesthetic of the goggles. It gives me a thrill to see them out of the corner of my eye especially when I’m miles away from writing or adventuring and am elbow deep in the mind-numbing mountain of housework four humans can generate.

I was cheered to see two swimmers out in the bay at 10:30am on a rainy Halloween morning. Next blog update: prairie dolphin goes Hardcore in November…

PS I’m sure from now on, I promise, my updates are gonna be shorter!

PPS You know that game where people decide which vegetable they are? If I was a foodstuff after my swim, I’m pretty sure I would be a few scoops of lemon sorbet.