Ladies pond visit

Since news of our invite to swim with the ladies first broke, it's been the main topic of conversation most mornings down at the men's pond. "Are you going?"...."What time are will you get there?" "7.29!" As it turned out, I was my usual 10-15 minutes late, but thankfully we were graciously granted an extra half an hour than was previously advertised. We were also treated to coffee, croissants and a very friendly atmosphere. It was quite busy when I arrived, with some very happy men milling around chatting and plenty already in the pond. I'm pleased to say that there were some women there as well, I wouldn't like to think we'd put too many off!

The fantastic pics below are from Terry at the men's pond, thanks very much for letting me have them. I'll put some of my own pics up from today when I've had a chance to go through them properly. If anyone has some they would like to me put up I'd be happy to do so, pics from ladies welcome as well, the blog can be unisex! Let me know in the comments or via email: benmenashe*at*hotmail*dot*com

Lastly, a big thank you to everyone at the ladies pond for inviting us over. It's a very special place, we all had a good swim and a great start to the day.

Summer

This week at the pond has been a real treat, after what seemed like a mercifully short and mild winter, summer has arrived early, albeit briefly. Sunny and warm every morning, especially in the micro climate of the changing area, the mood has been very upbeat and friendly, not that it isn't normally, but the sunny end has been an especially chatty and jovial place to be. Sadly this means my timekeeping at work has suffered somewhat.

Waterproof camera pics

I got myself a waterproof camera a couple of months ago, and here are the fruits of it so far. I've been waiting to post some for a while now, but one of the problems has been that if I have my normal swim and then take pictures I get a bit chilly, so it's taken a little while to get some photos that I'm happy with. Hopefully that's behind us now though, as the temperature seems to be going up daily. Surely the ropes will be out soon? 

Thanks to Oliver and Gavin for modeling for me. And lastly, big congratulations to Gavin for the arrival of his baby girl. We'll be losing him to the mixed pond in few years time then...

Misty moisty morning

I know moisty isn't a word, it's just something my mum used to say on mornings like today. Who'd have thought it was going to turn out so sunny and gorgeous later on? And by the look of the board, someone obviously thinks the water's getting too warm.

Empty pond on Monday

A beautiful sunny day on Monday, last week that is, I've been a bit slow to post these. I arrived later than usual around 11-ish to find a completely empty changing area. Quite surprising really, considering how sunny it was, but once I stepped out of the sheltered micro climate, into the open air by the pond I could see why the wind might put people off! It was beautiful though and of course always worth it, especially when the view is as good as the bottom photo.

Spring is in the air

What a beautiful morning at the pond today. The water has warmed up a little bit, and the general consensus is that it's no bitter anymore, which is nice! You can almost feel that perfect spring like freshness when the water gets up closer to 10c. I had the waterproof camera out today (pics to follow soon), so I spent a bit longer in than normal. I had a bit of shiver on for a while, but it was good to feel like spring is on the way. Longer swims just round the corner!