Just one look at you And I know it's gonna be A lovely day ..read more

In my latest blog (post 67) I write about taking part in the Fowey Harbour Swim and the importance of community events in bringing together swimmers from different backgrounds. “Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset.” (Hinton, 1967 ..read more

After a seemingly endless.cold and wet winter and spring, my latest blog post celebrates my most recent swimming event in Swanage and an exploration of Old Harry Rocks ..read more

  There’s a break in the rain I’m gonna go outside Stand in the sunshine for a while … And may my love travel with you everywhere (Petty, T. 2020) In South West England, where I live, The Christmas and New Year holiday week was notable for the relentless wind and the rain – and I believe this was the same for much of the rest of the country. Fields and homes were flooded, trees were uprooted and the sea battered away at the coast. We thought it would never stop raining. And for much of the time it didn’t. But, when it did … oh what joy! We could get outside. We could go for a walk. We cou ..read more

Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me You got the power to turn on the light (Amen Corner, 1968) Last month I finally succumbed to the Covid19 virus! I was very disappointed because I have always been so careful and I couldn’t think where I might have caught it. I also felt disappointed to realise I was not, after all, ‘super human’ with an inviolable immune system. However, I was even more disappointed that I had to miss the last opportunities to swim in the glorious late October sunshine and the calm, inviting tides. I felt miserable, knowing that by the time I was able to get back in the w ..read more

Here comes the rain again Falling on my head like a memory Falling on my head like a new emotion I want to walk in the open wind I want to talk like lovers do Want to dive into your ocean Is it raining with you? (Eurythmics, 1983) This was supposed to be a blog post about a swim around Burgh Island; it was supposed to be a blog about my last swimming event of the season, the culmination of the summer and the turn towards a different kind of outdoor swimming as the water starts to cool. I had it all prepared in my head. But then the rain came! And not just any sort of rain. This was “a month ..read more

Closing walls and ticking clocks Gonna come back and take you home I could not stop that you now know Singin’ come out upon my seas (Coldplay, 2002) In the summer of 1936, a young Dylan Thomas, was invited to visit Cornwall and to stay with a friend in Penzance. He enjoyed his time there so much that he returned a year later with his girlfriend, Caitlin Macnamara. Dylan and Caitlin began their visit, in June 1937, staying in a cottage in Lamorna Cove. Soon afterwards, on July 11th, they were married, by special licence, in Penzance Registry Office and spent their honeymoon in a small hotel o ..read more

Shall I just be a lonely stranger on the shore (Acker Bilk, 1961) I recently found myself at a swimming event (The Seahorse Swim, at Studland Bay) without my usual, family support team or swimming buddy. Unusually, everyone was away doing something else and so there I was, on the day of the swim, all alone! Except that, of course, I wasn’t alone because there were a couple of hundred other swimmers there – some taking part in the swim and others supporting us as volunteer marshalls and safety crew. Connected Community Coincidentally, that same week I had been in conversation with someone who ..read more

It’s been a long time coming I said it’s been a long time coming But good things are going to come my way (Tom Jones, 1966) It’s been a long time since I wrote a new blog post. A combination of a long cold, wet and miserable early Spring and an ‘update’ to the platform I use, to write this blog, not being supported by my ageing (but not that old) desk top computer, all rather impacted my mood and motivation to write. It’s not that I haven’t been swimming (I swam all through the long cold winter, wearing just a swimsuit), but there wasn’t really anything new to say about it. Yes, it was cold ..read more

“I’m walking by the sea and the shingle sings for me” (The Who, 1971) In my previous blog post (What a Diff’rence A Day Makes) I wrote about the importance of focusing on the joy, the treasure or the ‘specialness’ that each day offers. I will admit to, at times this winter, having found this challenging. January seemed to go on for an inordinately long time and, while there have indeed been some wonderful signs of Spring, in February, this month (as is often the case) is teasing us, getting our hopes up, only to remind us a day later that winter is not over yet. It is all too easy to feel a b ..read more