Friday 12 April 2019 splendour in the sea

The morning was grey and highlighted the pink caps beautifully. Still low tide. i started swimming when my feet hit the seaweed at the point. The water is still warm. A harrowing work week for me was made good by immersion in the sea.

Rob clocked up his 1000km and got his badge at the dinner this week. I was glad to see him swimming today

A family outing

Getting ready to go

Whale sleeves

A few minutes to go

Here are some swimmers who left warm clothes removal to the last minute

I got three in a row

Lovely swimmers with badge jackets. I have not sewn mine on yet.

The early swimmers reassure me that the water condition is just as splendid as it looks

The shower scene

Happy birthday Gabbi

here is Gabbi with sister Jen and brother in law Paul – a great way to start a birthday

What is a birthday if you don’t get a hug from Ian

Gabbi with nephew Patrick

On the ramp

I got to Shelly but only because everyone waited – Gabbi had a second birthday waiting for me. But I got there and really enjoyed my swim

Jane clocked up 1000km and got to do the let’s go. I don’t know what is more appealing – saying let’s go or the badge. Both are pretty good

it’s true this tunnel was staged but isn’t it lovely

Did you lose your fitbit? Ian has it

Rob and Jane have both earned 1000km badges and urged Jim on to do the same. I can’t check the Pacific Challenge page as it does not load on any device so maybe he already has. Who knows!

Happy Friday

Management notices

Temperature

Newbies: 7

Swimmer numbers: 250

What I have been reading: 

Sebastian Faulks Paris Echo

This great book uses the technique of two different narrators (one an Moroccan youth with no interest in history whose mother was from Paris but who lives in Morocco with his dad and who goes to Paris to search for information about his mother. The other an American history academic looking at the lives of women in the second world war in Paris for a book who can’t help but see connections to the past everywhere). Rather than sticking out as a literary technique for its own sake, it works well and the very different characters lead us around Paris while also touching on the metro, the devious ways of the Nazi occupation and the wartime Vichy government, of anti-Semitism, of negative attitudes to the British for fighting the Germans and prolonging the war, of the Algerian war of the 1960s, of massacres of Algerians in Paris following that war, as well as the modern day Paris experience for illegal muslim migrants from Morocco and more of Africa. All the characters are complex and interesting and nothing is as it seems at first. Very engaging.