GF is this week's guest blogger
Be the guest blogger he said, so here I am, on a beautiful Sunday morning in October, on the back of a Vespa, riding Quadrophenia-style through London in the direction of Charlton in search of adventure. We wave at the tourists as we cross Tower Bridge - we live here you know, I feel like shouting. Finally we are in Blackheath, a mile or so more and we turn into the road which is home to Charlton Lido in the few weeks before it closes for refurbishment.
I don't do the cold swimming, so it is heated to 25 degrees and, even the posh portaloos can't dampen the holiday feeling of the day. Changing rooms at the side of the pool have a welcome plastic roof through which the unexpected sun warms the concrete floor. Water still seems cold to me as I dangle a toe, but once we dive in and start swimming suddenly all seems right with the world and the 50 metre lengths seem to glide by in the serene atmosphere. We eschew the lanes for a freer feeling swim and the excited laughter of the few happy-looking kids in the pool ripples through the clear, clean water. I had decided on 20 (they are double lengths!), however I somehow don't want it to stop and add a couple of extra at the end. The showers are open, so no taking off the cossie, but they are hot and fresh, so it's all fine.
Dressed and ready for Sunday lunch, we catch a last five minutes of rays sitting by the shallow end and contemplate the glistening rectangular oasis, before mounting the motorised steed and heading for home.