There's something about water, and swimming in it, that makes for more than one kind of reflection.So I thought to write down some of the times I go for a swim. 

It will be a nice record of exhilarating times (to come) and if it gives you fun to see what happened then it's an extra bonus! 

Read away!

 

 

MY LAKE

I usually swim in my own local lake in the summer. 

Well, it's not actually mine but for a while as I climb over the fence, past the terrifying signs saying danger 'Deep Cold Water' and walk over to the miniature beach that I keep clear of reeds, it's mine. Behind the dunes of gravel no.one can see me. So it's mine for a time.

Only the swan occasionally casts a censorious eye at me as I slip into the shallow, warm, water. 

There were two swans last year. One, this year, with a baby but they have now gone. There's a moorhen swimming back and forth as if it's lost,  and geese in flight high overhead in uncontrolled airspace. Lower down the flight levels, terns are racing around. Lower still, bright iridescent blue dragonflies are dodging around, some connected at their tails and so one must presumably be flying backwards.. 

Today it was 27C a new record-high temperature for the water, as measured by my thermometer. I throw it in, so I cannot back out from going in. Leaning backwards into the water with a gasp. I have found that the simple act of entering backwards makes all the difference! The whole entry process is much nicer. It's like sitting down relaxing into a comfy armchair.

It's 27C sure enough but four inches below the surface it's another matter..and my toes are colder. I find that by swimming fast one floats higher and so remains in the warm gulf stream. 

I didn't go very far. There's the 'First life buoy', the 'second post' and 'the dead tree'. The lake is 400m long and 50m wide so a circuit  is getting on for 1km. I like the silence and solitude so I'm not a vigorous swimmer churning up a foamy wake like these types at the swimming pools, charging up and down the lengths. I just like the sensations. And a bit of stretching. 

Today I looked over to the far end bank and saw the flat surface of the water disappear as if curving away. And I thought again to do the calculation to estimate how far below level flat the far end would be, it being curved on the earth. LIke ships disappearing over the horizon.

It's actually the distance squared, divided by twice the radius of the earth. I know this from university. But doing it in  your head is a brain tease as you have to keep two sets of numbers in your head at the same time and it's difficult. 

A friend of mine can multiply two figured numbers in his head. Which is pretty good. So I set out as I swam, working out the diameter of the earth which is about 12,000 Kms, and then also working out the length of the lake in the same units of millimetres. Getting 300m x 10x10x10 and whilst I squared this and then not forgetting the answer, tried to divide that by 12x 10 to the power of 9. By which time I had forgotten everything and had to start again. Sometimes I get to the end and find an answer of around 8mm but not often. 

If the lake was 1km long the curvature of the earth would start to increase noticeably and you would get 120mm. I like to think that this is exercising my mind as much as my body. And as it can take me 10 minutes or more of careful thought it's a pretty good brain workout. It prevents brain deterioration, though my wife will deny this.

It was flat calm and the sun was still hot even at 7pm. I got out and sat down, and was dry from the fresh clean water in just a few minutes. 

It's a lovely place and I have watched it  change from a clear hole in the gravel seams, to a reed-rimmed lake that year on year holds more life around it. I pull out  a handful of reed stems each time and have made the only section where one can still walk into the water on the gravel. I don't think anyone has noticed this.