Sunday 21st May, 2023

To the Serpentine Swimming Club! …on Sunday morning.

I can’t justify a swimming membership for the bloody Estuary Wilds, AND the lovely Lido right now. But woh, I do miss cold water swimming.

Hurrah then for the £20 annual Serpentine membership. I can swim every day of the year each morning. It’s a lovely ride on the quiet route I managed to map out as well.

Having said that, the stretch that takes you around the stupid Palace and up towards Hyde Park Corner has felt like it has had shitty road closures for the past couple of years.

This Jubilee, that funeral, some shitty Coronation.

Whose streets? OUR streets, etc.

It was a joy to get a clear passage this morning. I arrived outside the Serpentine Cafe with the smell of Sunday morning bacon frying.

To swim or to eat? Maybe both.

The water temperature was at a balmy 15 degrees. I wouldn’t say it was clear, but it was algae free, if a little choppy.

I managed three circuits of the Lido cordoned off area. One day I will feel adventurous enough to swim with the big boys all the way down to the Serpentine bridge.

Sunday morning is quite a social scene at the Serp. I get the impression it’s the coming together of the various Lido tribes. Brockwell, Tooting, Parliament Hill – all roads lead to the Serpentine on a Sunday.

It was also a dog friendly morning. Your social status at the Serpentine seems to increase if you rock up with Bonzo.

I felt chilled doing the outdoor Lido shimmy as I tried to put my Y-Fronts back on with only the back up of a loosely held towel.

Some fella next to me was warming up with some impressive skipping rope action.

I had the perfect ride back down to Sunny Stockwell. There was a green carpet ride with the traffic lights.

Breakfast was taken in the company of Robert Elms. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Routemaster had a great feature on the visit of Jerry Lee Lewis to the UK in 1958.

Lidl pinged, offering up a freebie item from the bakery for my loyalty. That’s my kinda Sunday morning ping. I headed out to snaffle up a pan au chocolat.

A S Ldn Yoof cycled along Lansdowne Way on a Lime bike, and then dumped the machine right in the middle of the pavement. I wasn’t the only person thinking wtf. A helpful local type beat me to it in moving the bike and having a quiet word with S Ldn Yoof.

Some serious progress was made publishing school content. I’ve streamlined the workflow once again. It’s right down to the bone, without compromising much on the front end.

I watched the first half of DIRTY Leeds away at West Ham. I also dipped in and out of Forest Twitter throughout the day. Laughing at a relegation battle when you’re no longer involved is lol funny.

A brief Sunny Stockwell photo walk broke up the school publishing. I wanted to head towards Brixton to buy a bowler hat that A wouldn’t allow me to buy yesterday. She now admits that it rather suits me.

My circuit continued over to Slade Gardens, slightly off the main Stockwell drag radar. To my surprise, the Flute Man of SW8 had made it over here.

full flickr

The eBay mails included a very rare Celebrate the Bullet cassette by Selecter. I’m after a CD version. I’m not sure that it even exists. I tipped off R about the tape.

I binged on the Drum ‘n’ Bass show throughout the evening. The Drop of the Week was a great mix of Blinded by the Lights by Mistress.

I’m back in the bloody Estuary Wilds tomorrow.

Oh dear.

onionbagblog