this sunday

Today I am one week past 30.
Last week I met Siniša [more about him later on]. This morning he took me for a dip on one of the Hampstead Heath ponds.

Yes, I went for a dip. Yes, the water temperature was 4 degrees. Yes, that is very cold.

What a great experience.
Got there by bike so had to cool down for about 15 minutes before taking my clothes off in the cold of the morning (well 11am), put my swimming trunks on and go for a cold shower to get my body used to the temperature. My body was releasing steam when I left the shower.

Then, it was time for the dip. Since it was the first time, Siniša suggested I'd get in the water but only to my waist level. And so I did and it was painful on my feet and legs but thoroughly energetic.

A few people in London go there every day at 6am throughout Winter before going to work.

This is a text I found on the Hampstead Heath community website about the ponds.

Hampstead pond swimmers triumph
Hard-core Hampstead Heath swimmers have won the right to keep a century old tradition alive and swim unsupervised during the winter.

In a battle that reached the high court, the Corporation of London ruled swimmers were not permitted to use the pools when lifeguards were not on duty. However, lifeguard hours had been cut back, meaning many swimmers could not go for swims before work - a tradition that goes back to the 1860s.

Swimmers report it's deeply therapeutic to get up at 6am, make your way to the ponds, plunge into the icy water in total darkness, and then get to your city desk by 9am. They extol the virtues of this revitalising, healthy regime.

Hampstead Heath's three ponds have their own unique cultures, with hard-core regulars swimming even when the pond edges are iced over, rain or shine. In summer, the single-sex ponds attract gays in search of talent.

Originally Hampstead's ponds were dug out as reservoirs for London's water supply in the 17th and 18th centuries. Three of them are used for bathing, one mixed, one for the ladies, and one for the men. Boaters and fishers also regularly use the ponds.

["the gays in search of talent"... Who wrote this? Queen Victoria?]