Postcards from the pool

Honestly, I need a lobotomy.

In all honesty, It’s been a bit of a rubbish week. First of all, I had to pull out of a long swim I’ve been really looking forward to…

I am exhausted, humiliated, full of rage and regret. I am full of self doubt and self loathing. I do not understand why things have come to…

Jesus Christ, Mick! It’s October! Mick is wearing — as far as I can tell from where I am, in the middle of the middle lane- just shorts…

I left home in Fife at 17, before I was a Proper Swimmer, who craved swimming adventure.

I tell you, this place is like Centerparcs for hipsters. There is a cinema room with gaily striped but hideously uncomfortable deckchairs…

“It’s raining” you said, but I still want to go for a walk. “I’m not made of sugar,” you exclaimed. I chuckled. A man after my own heart.

Saturday mornings. 9:20am. We assemble. We are physicists and teachers, anaesthatists and civil servants, occupational therapists and…

Walpole Bay Tidal Pool. As if playing a mischievous game of hide and seek, every day it slips quietly away under the water —  if you…

Tomorrow morning I won’t be waking up at 5am cursing the darkness and the alarm clock. I won’t be squinting into the dark to make out the…

I spend ten minutes, eyes narrowed, scrutinizing the women swimming in the ‘slow’ lane. They look so serene, gliding up and down with…

Friday night down the pub. Zak, a runner, asked me excitedly if I get ‘in flow’ when swimming. Zak crackles with energy. It’s like he has…

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful reservoir, and it’s been my lifeline swimming here these past weeks. Here you’ll find swifts diving…

“Don’t forget about us” you said, worried that when the announcement came we would desert you, rushing back to the safety of rules and…

No matter where you swim around the world, pools of all sizes are divided into lanes and swimmers are expected to conform to the rules of…

This is not a destination, yet here I am. In a scruffy dead end road that, surprisingly for London, has no markings whatsoever. I wonder…

The road winds through a nondescript housing estate and turns into a country lane. Nestling in a hedgerow beside an open gate is a large…

Help me. I am washed up on a beach, flapping, and gasping for breath.

“Are you still swimming at all, Sally?!” asked Helen, searching for the reason that she hasn’t seen me swimming at my masters club this…

Friday morning. The facilitator suggests we practice ‘mindfulness’ to relieve our stresses. Talking to us in a calm, measured tone, they…

Swimming in cold water — it’s not always euphoria and joy

I tell you, here, there is a tiny lion that sits atop the craggy rock, looking out to sea from the highest vantage point. I watched him…

The edges of any lake are to be avoided: swans lurk, gliding under the drooping willows, watching, ready to pick an argument if need be.

Swimming-wise you’d probably call me stubborn. What I lack in speed I make up for in dedication and doggedness. I don’t find it hard to…