LXVSWIM

Sep 51 min read

SWIMMINGPOD - STANLEY ULIJASZEK, MEMORIES LIKE WATER AND THE FIRST OF 65 SWIMS

Five years ago I undertook 65 swims in different places at the age of 65 years. I have written a book about it, entitled ‘Memories like...

SWIMMING, LEPTOSPIROSIS, AND ME, BY STANLEY ULIJASZEK

LXVswim

Oct 8, 20211 min read

SWIMMING, LEPTOSPIROSIS, AND ME, BY STANLEY ULIJASZEK

If you are an outdoor or open water swimmer you probably don’t want to know too much about leptospirosis, or its more extreme form,...

LXVswim

Oct 12, 20203 min read

POSTSCRIPT TO 65@65

So in the end, the 65 swims at 65 years of age started with breakfast and finished with lunch, with burrata in both cases. This...

LXVswim

Oct 1, 20209 min read

65@65 THE LAST SWIM – ON CHESIL BEACH

Heisenberg was OK with uncertainty, and Schrodinger had a cat. That is how I remember high-school physics - it is a good job my physics...

65@65 SWIM #64 – FARLEIGH AND DISTRICT RIVER SWIMMING CLUB

LXVswim

Sep 20, 20208 min read

65@65 SWIM #64 – FARLEIGH AND DISTRICT RIVER SWIMMING CLUB

“Are we nearly there yet?” – so spoke the look on Pauline’s face as we were getting closer, but not quite there, in rural Somerset, with...

LXVswim

Sep 13, 20204 min read

65@65 SWIM #63 - COOKHAM, RIVER THAMES

When I took part in Swim the Thames, Cookham featured twice – the kilometer or so from Bourne End to Cookham, then a kilometer or so...

65@65 SWIM #62 - CLEVEDON MARINE LAKE, NEAR BRISTOL

LXVswim

Sep 8, 20206 min read

65@65 SWIM #62 - CLEVEDON MARINE LAKE, NEAR BRISTOL

‘I am the walrus… I am the walrus…’ kept circling in my mind on the way to Clevedon Marine Lake, across the other side of Bristol, on the...

65@65 SWIM #61 - KEW BRIDGE TO HAMMERSMITH, THE RIVER THAMES IN LONDON

LXVswim

Sep 3, 20208 min read

65@65 SWIM #61 - KEW BRIDGE TO HAMMERSMITH, THE RIVER THAMES IN LONDON

That’s life. C’est la vie. So das ist das leben. It amounts to the same thing, which Scottish poet Robert Burns summarised as “the best...

65@65 SWIM #60 - HAMPTON COURT, THE RIVER THAMES

LXVswim

Sep 1, 20205 min read

65@65 SWIM #60 - HAMPTON COURT, THE RIVER THAMES

“As long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset, I am in paradise” – this Kinks song from my early adolescence, was running through my head. David...

65@65 SWIM #59 – CHIPPING NORTON LIDO, THE COTSWOLDS

LXVswim

Aug 26, 20206 min read

65@65 SWIM #59 – CHIPPING NORTON LIDO, THE COTSWOLDS

There is a little London glamour attached to the modest, beautifully proportioned and very lovely lido at Chipping Norton. It was...

65@65 SWIM #58 - ROYAL VICTORIA DOCKS, LONDON

LXVswim

Aug 22, 20205 min read

65@65 SWIM #58 - ROYAL VICTORIA DOCKS, LONDON

This is the closest I will get to swimming in Paris this year –standing next to Seurat’s painting ‘The Bathers as Asnieres’. There are...

65@65 SWIM #57 – NEWNHAM RIVERSIDE CLUB, CAMBRIDGE

LXVswim

Aug 14, 20204 min read

65@65 SWIM #57 – NEWNHAM RIVERSIDE CLUB, CAMBRIDGE

It felt like entering Narnia, the magical world created by C.S. Lewis. I was in Cambridge but brought Oxfordshire with me, such is the...

65@65 SWIM #56 – RIVER EVENLODE AT CHARLBURY, OXFORDSHIRE

LXVswim

Aug 11, 20204 min read

65@65 SWIM #56 – RIVER EVENLODE AT CHARLBURY, OXFORDSHIRE

Remember when? This question came to mind over and over, on the way to, during, and after the swim in the River Evenlode at Charlbury....

65@65 SWIM #55 - THE THAMES AT MURDER CENTRAL (WALLINGFORD)

LXVswim

Jul 16, 20205 min read

65@65 SWIM #55 - THE THAMES AT MURDER CENTRAL (WALLINGFORD)

The weather was hot enough to want to murder someone. Early summer 2020 was the hottest on record for the UK, and after a day inside of...

LXVswim

Jul 3, 20204 min read

65@65 #54 - TWO LAKES WOSC

Of the most regular, everyday swimming places for me, ever since I realised that I didn’t need to drive hours to the coast to get a ‘good...

65@65 UNLOCKED – MID-SUMMER MORNING SWIM #53, DEVIL’S QUOITS, OXFORDSHIRE

LXVswim

Jun 21, 20204 min read

65@65 UNLOCKED – MID-SUMMER MORNING SWIM #53, DEVIL’S QUOITS, OXFORDSHIRE

As with lock down, there is not a right time to unlock. An epidemiologist at Harvard recently compared epidemics with house fires –the...

65@65 LOCK-DOWN SWIM – GODSTOW LOCK WITH ABBA

LXVswim

May 23, 20206 min read

65@65 LOCK-DOWN SWIM – GODSTOW LOCK WITH ABBA

Abba is the happy-music that pops up when I am happy. Life somehow is less than surreal, but it could go from stage two back to stage one...

65@65 LOCK-DOWN SWIM – MAY DAY, MAGDALEN BRIDGE OXFORD

LXVswim

May 6, 20208 min read

65@65 LOCK-DOWN SWIM – MAY DAY, MAGDALEN BRIDGE OXFORD

“First of May! First of May, Outdoor ****ing starts today”. Rumpole of the Bailey, a fictional lawyer, a character in every sense of the...

65@65 LOCK-DOWN SWIM - FIGURES OF EIGHT AT SWINFORD BRIDGE

LXVswim

Apr 27, 20205 min read

65@65 LOCK-DOWN SWIM - FIGURES OF EIGHT AT SWINFORD BRIDGE

I woke up this morning with the number 888 in my head. On Sunday 19th April, Pauline woke me with a cup of tea and “888”. I like numbers,...

65@65 LOCK-DOWN SWIM – MY DEAR PORT MEADOW

LXVswim

Apr 22, 20204 min read

65@65 LOCK-DOWN SWIM – MY DEAR PORT MEADOW

If I were writing a letter to my beloved outdoor swimming, it might start ‘My dear Port Meadow…’. It would be written long-hand, with...