Tag Archives: Charlton Lido

June 1st

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

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The first swim of June felt like the last swim of March: damp air, grey skies and a cold headwind. There’s never a bad swim at Charlton Lido but the outdoor spin class and its terrible music does harsh the vibes of a relaxed evening swim a bit; like being in the front room of a really nice pub while a terrible disco goes off in the function room. But still, the swim worked its brain-settling magic eventually.

I saw the biggest flock of parakeets I’ve seen over Hornfair Park from the pool. Usually there are two or three circling around but tonight there were probably a dozen. They’re easily spotted: bright green against a grey sky.

Other things:

Good to hear a new song from Ryley Walker in advance of his new album. It didn’t grab me straightaway, but nor did his last album and that grew on me very quickly after a couple of listens.

 

My friend-from-off-of-The-Twitter, Niall McDiarmid has announced a well-deserved exhibition of his work, and is doing a print sale to support it. Buy yourself one, I say: http://www.niallmcdiarmid.com/exhibitions.php. I’m waiting until payday, though.

This Guardian long read on betting shops was very good and also very depressing.

My heart was cheered by this interview with The Handsome Family on Pete Paphides’ Soho Radio show. I wish I’d got round to booking tickets for their show at the 100 Club, though.

Charlton lido: Spring swimming has arrived

05 Thursday May 2016

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The winter swimming season is over and Spring is here. The first warm evening of the year coincided with a late opening at Charlton Lido and I managed to squeeze in a swim before dinner (fueled – as recommended by all the top sports nutritionists – by a white Magnum, eaten in the garden straight after work). The Good Times Are Here (if we ignore this govt, Trump, climate change, etc, etc).

It’s been an odd winter for swimming: never particularly cold, but it did seem to drag on for a long time. I’d trade any amount of 8 or 9 degrees grey weather for a just-above-freezing frosty and bright swim; there have been many more days of the former than the latter this year.

But we’re here now in May, and Charlton Lido has got through a winter with reasonably decent opening hours and – presumably – enough custom to keep going (despite their almost non-existent efforts at promotion and customer communication). Here’s to Spring and Summer swimming.

September Diversions

30 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Antidotes, Music

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September 2015: a particularly good month for conkers.

 

A month of wet weeks and surprisingly balmy weekends. A day trip to Whitstable saw unexpected high temperatures – ideal for oysters and fish’n’chips on the beach, followed by a walk to Tankerton and back.

 

Closer to home, the people behind the excellent Pelton Arms in Greenwich took over the White Swan in Charlton Village: a dismal pub turned pretty quickly into the best pub in the neighbourhood. I was lucky enough to get an invite to the soft launch evening, which seemed like a great success; there’d have been plenty of sore heads around SE7 the following morning.

After doing what felt like too many gigs with my band in June and July I swore we’d do no more than two a month for the rest of the year…then immediately agreed to three in a row in September. It proved worthwhile, though: a charity gig at my local; an amazing night at the White Swan with Simon Hanson from Squeeze depping on drums, and Glenn Tilbrook joining us for most of the second set on guitar and vocals; finally, a great night at the Pelton with a new sax player onboard.


I managed to spend more time than usual at Charlton Lido, with my daughter having swimming lessons there for the first time allowing me a quick ‘extra’ swim on Saturday mornings. One Sunday morning I achieved a life goal that’s been eluding me since the lido reopened in 2012: first into the pool. Swimming under a blue sky in a quiet, heated pool, with just a hint of a chill in the air: pretty much perfect conditions.

Charlton Lido; March 2015

08 Sunday Mar 2015

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Regular readers (both of them) will know that I’ve been swimming at Charlton Lido most weekends since it re-opened after refurbishment. Over the winter I’ve managed to squeeze in a mid-week, evening swim; a particularly amazing experience when the moon and stars are visible. So I’ve been feeling a bit fitter as a consequence, and while the ambient temperature still isn’t warm, it’s warmer than it was in January.

This morning the whole pool was in direct sunlight at 9.15, and the sky was a mid-blue: not the deep blue of summer, nor the pale washed out winter skies of the last few months. Spring has arrived.

Whether it was the sunshine, or the fact that I hadn’t been out late playing rock’n’roll guitar on Saturday night unlike the previous couple of weeks, I felt inspired to push on from my usual 1km and swim a mile. And in the end it really wasn’t too bad – a reminder that much of the perceived tiredness in my swimming is actually just the process of getting warmed up. I’m not sure I’ll do it every week, but I’m very glad to know I can do it.

Played In London

05 Friday Sep 2014

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I have a photo of a particular architectural detail of Charlton Lido in this new book, published this week. It’s an incredibly comprehensive look at the history of sports venues across London, written by Simon Inglis and published by English Heritage. The entry for Charlton Lido also includes a reference to Greenwich council’s failed attempt to rebrand the lido as ‘Royal Greenwich Lido’ – a timely reminder of last summer’s fun as the outdoor swimming conditions start to turn autumnal.

More info – and online ordering – can be found on the Played In Britain website.