tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-348711852024-03-14T19:51:36.644+11:00SwimmingLet's go swimming together in all sorts of places. We'll also look at swimming in history, art, literature, film, TV in fact any way swimming can be painted, photographed, filmed, written or mused about.Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.comBlogger326125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-5416640717082416712022-01-06T15:44:00.001+11:002022-01-06T15:44:15.671+11:00Blessed - The Breakout Year of Rampaging Roy Slaven by John Doyle. <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEil_wu7KlGjvsu-81NEVw87MNRch7w8oW4MQrQoKhIeIUxf3kqNaP-SfMUKt7lCFEdbuOP4zwltZokjdSo8NG2d823uOw07DwlH3xwtG5U_91qGnKoInT8CxzXt-PUUo6AXwe8P_HnFQCDVnGHgXZ92NbzoQG0M9ltTZOL64HKOQmgbmthfFgo=s278" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="181" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEil_wu7KlGjvsu-81NEVw87MNRch7w8oW4MQrQoKhIeIUxf3kqNaP-SfMUKt7lCFEdbuOP4zwltZokjdSo8NG2d823uOw07DwlH3xwtG5U_91qGnKoInT8CxzXt-PUUo6AXwe8P_HnFQCDVnGHgXZ92NbzoQG0M9ltTZOL64HKOQmgbmthfFgo=w417-h640" width="417" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">A wonderful piece of writing, this is a novel and memoir, narrated by a fictional creation of the author, who is the long-standing comedic alter ego of the author.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Most Australians will be familiar with the comedy genius of John Doyle as 'Rampaging' Roy Slaven and Grieg Pickhaver as HG Nelson. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Doyle as Slaven takes us to Lithgow, their home town west of Sydney, in 1967. Roy and Doyle are classmates at the town's Catholic boys school, de la Salle College. (Lithgow is the finest locale in the world - you wouldn't want to be anywhere else - all other places within the boys' ken are "shit"). </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">It is both a coming-of-age novel and a memoir - a year in which Roy's astounding (fictional) sporting career is emerging, and Doyle's writing, comedic and sports commentating skills, as well as his atheism, are taking shape.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">It is by turns very very funny (I made my partner suffer through readings aloud several times), and very poignant. I developed a tear in my eyes a couple of times. More than anything else, it prefectly evokes an era when Catholics versus Publics was a standard part of small town (and suburban) life , when a woman was blamed for her husband absconding & divorce was a sin, when kids tore around with almost unfettered freedom, and priests and brothers were capricious, sometimes cruel, and sometimes great teachers (often by accident) by turn. It also has great affection for small town community life. It does not discount the darker sides of life such as domestic violence, deserted wives and outrageous pressure brought to bear by the church. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">There's also coal dust, and the local picture theatre and swimming pool. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Doyle has inhabited Roy Slaven for so long that as he says in a short sentence towards the end, they need each other. Roy, who, of course, has been a champion at every sport to which he has turned, is nonetheless a modest chap, even rather surprised at his own prowess. More than </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">anything else, he loves his Mum, who is starting to emerge as an independent woman, mainly due to an economic and social situation which makes her possible to improve circumstances for herself and her son through work opportunities. His observations of life in the Doyle household show us glimpses of John's autobiography, in particular his relationship with his sister who had autism - in the days before there was a ready diagnosis, or educational assistance (this aspect of Doyle's story he has told elsewhere - see the link in Comments).</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span></p><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Doyle, via Roy, tells us two things about himself - he is compassionate and kind, and he is well aware that it is often hard to tell when he is being serious or satirical. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Can't recommend it highly enough. </span><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;">***<br /></span></span><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The evocation of the scene at the local public pool : </span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">" The summer Dad left was dry and hot. Not much to do until the cricket restarted. I spent a lot of time at the pool. It was fairly new. There was a toddlers' pool with a fountain and an Olympic pool. It was set on a slope. Wide concrete paths bordered a luch lawn bordered by a few trees and a ten-feet high wire mesh fence. The cncrete was tesselated - light and dark. We'd lay on the light when it was hot and the dark when it was cool." (p 37)</span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">"Dean and Doyle were interested in lifesaving. Weird. They would time themselves doing laps of freestyle, breaststroke, sidestroke and water sculling. They were planning to do the Bronze Medallion. Most of the time we filled our days by diving in and bobbing about, doing exotic dives and bombing people. Any girl was fair gameAnd we'd swim underwater. Dean and Doyle could do a lap and a half underwater in one breath....</span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">"We'd lie on the concrete in our togs and chat. We all wore Speedos. The pool manager, Mr Mulcahey, put speakers in the pool shop by the entrance and the radio would be broadcast aross the whole area. " (p 38)</span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">"Dean and Doyle were congratulated at assembly for being the first boys at the school to be qualified lifesavers. They'd successfully completed the Bronze medallion, which meant they had swum the distances in the required time and learnt the techniques of rescue and recovery. They bored us all with talk of the Silvester-Brosch method of resuscitation. And they wore a small black-and-white official lifesaving patch on their swimmers. They must have thught it looked 'cool'. It didn't. It made them look like crawlers and dicks.They were already planning to upgrade to the Bronze Cross, which would mean another patch on the Speedos. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span> I never saw them actually rescue anyone." (p 47)</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>"Back at the pool. The grassy area on the slope by the deep end was considered the Catholic area. The flat grass on the other side of the deep end was the Publics'. " (p 65)</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>"Our girls wore modest one-piece swimming costumes, Not so the Publics. We'd often stare across the pool at the bikini-clad girls with names like Vicki and Sharon and Julie." (p 66)</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>"Flynn had a real girlfriend. He said many of the Public girls were just like Vicki Westwood and he began to sit opposite us at the pool, with the Publics, and Dean thought he was probably in a state of mortal sin. Doyle thought it was possible. I wasn't sure. I couldn't see a real problem with it. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>" At one point Flynn and Vicki Westwood kissed. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>'Brazen' said Carmel.</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>Brewer and Brennan applauded. " (p 68)</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>"Ten minutes later, Doyle stands and asks if anyone is interested in wandering over to have a chat to Flynn. I stand. There are no other takers. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>Carmel is incensed. 'You are going to look ridiculous.'</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>Deirdre and Barbara wish us luck. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>We both leave our towels on the slope and head off around the deep end of the pool and enter Public territory. We are not heckled. We are ignored. Self-consciously, we stand over Flynn and Vicki Westwood. Vicki Westwood is talking to a friend called Janet. Flynn is sunbaking with his eyes closed. Vicki Westwood introduces us to Janet. They are friends of Jeff's. Roy and John. This is Janet.'</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>Flynn opens his eyes. 'What's going on?' he says. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>Doyle says, 'We felt like a walk.'</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>Janet asks Doyle about the patch on his costume. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>'It's a lifesaver's patch.'</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>'Are you a lifesaver?'</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>Doyle nods, sheepishly. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>'So, if I'm drowning, what are you going to do?'</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>'Umm...Swim to you, grab your arm and twist you around and take hold of you and sidestroke yu to the wall.' </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>I say, 'That's just for starters. Don't get him onto Silvester-Brosch.' " (p 68-70)</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>....</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span>"We stayed with Flynn and the Publics for about ten minutes before ambling back to our towels and our group. Janet was very chatty and funny. Just like Vicki Westwood. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;">Doyle says, 'What an interesting experience. Janet and Vicki Westwood enjoy smut as much as we do. But to them it's not sinful. Not sinful at all.'</span></span></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;">I nodded. He was right. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;">Our group look at us closely when we resettle. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;">Carmel says, 'Well? What did you talk about?'</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;">Doyle says, 'Sin, Carmel. We talked about sin.'</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px;">'Well you were in the right place.' " (p 70)</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span><br /></span></span></div>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-31565602861370449362022-01-04T23:38:00.003+11:002022-01-04T23:38:41.243+11:00Splash! 10,000 Years of Swimming by Howard Means <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitFLLhoX_AzD-_zb7K8eYg4rTVJ_wDlDnnnpp3m-815TlH953R6Y-bY8HixvTJGLHmzB0OBuFfRHLh0fR_Sx6QiSS2Bf08gglo-fkHFBG-1Nn7Nm4LrBdyfrF5BUkPiPQqot_zy4OerV-DQ2YeIUlurWtJPGVN8pQXoHjCMMYk-D_FHqPAnKQ=s521" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="345" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitFLLhoX_AzD-_zb7K8eYg4rTVJ_wDlDnnnpp3m-815TlH953R6Y-bY8HixvTJGLHmzB0OBuFfRHLh0fR_Sx6QiSS2Bf08gglo-fkHFBG-1Nn7Nm4LrBdyfrF5BUkPiPQqot_zy4OerV-DQ2YeIUlurWtJPGVN8pQXoHjCMMYk-D_FHqPAnKQ=w424-h640" width="424" /></a></div><br />Published by Allen and Unwin, London, 2020. <p></p><p>Covers very similar territory to <i>Strokes of Genius: A History of Swimming </i>by Eric Chaline (Reaktion Books, London, 2017). Means references Chaline. </p><p></p><p>Both cover the theory of "the aquatic ape" - the theory that at some time, human ancestors spent time as water-based mammals, and so swimming has some genetic component. Neither accepts it as it is still open to debate. </p><p>Both books traverse the evidence for swimming in the Ancient World, and through the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the current day. Looks at changes in clothing worn for swimming, bathing boxes, competitive and recreational swimming. </p><p>Means focuses a little more on the United State, Chaline on Europe. </p><p>Neither spend any time considering the role of the public pool in Australia. For that I recommend the ABC TV documentary, <i>The Pool</i>, and <i>Pool</i>, a book which accompanied Australia's official entry at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016. See also <i><a href="https://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2009/01/swimming-australia-one-hundred-years.html" target="_blank">Swimming Australia One Hundred Years </a></i>(University of NSW Press, 2008).</p><div><br /></div>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-79453661437924504122022-01-04T23:27:00.004+11:002022-01-04T23:32:24.323+11:00Stokes of Genius : A History of Swimming by Eric Chaline<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWegGH411_WrTx1OYG65IF3QKUZflqRZ7AdH23u2kKASJZ-N9DqPakszzIj3eIXY4_Mo12Xhc0l71m_dqGDWhk6zTDt-JUEAGPw9jps2dA4mibyGmCDYabCe24m78v3cmnI0CO6_Ts0A0uup70qWg20oo50MxB0SX-H72tYwPLQqyJN8bY5E0=s693" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="442" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWegGH411_WrTx1OYG65IF3QKUZflqRZ7AdH23u2kKASJZ-N9DqPakszzIj3eIXY4_Mo12Xhc0l71m_dqGDWhk6zTDt-JUEAGPw9jps2dA4mibyGmCDYabCe24m78v3cmnI0CO6_Ts0A0uup70qWg20oo50MxB0SX-H72tYwPLQqyJN8bY5E0=w408-h640" width="408" /></a></div><p>Published by Reaktion Books, London, 2017.</p>Covers very similar territory to <i>Splash! 10,000 Years of Swimming</i> by Howard Means (Allen and Unwin, 2020). Means references Chaline. <p></p><p>Both cover the theory of "the aquatic ape" - the theory that at some time, human ancestors spent time as water-based mammals, and so swimming has some genetic component. Neither accepts it as it is still open to debate. </p><p>Both books traverse the evidence for swimming in the Ancient World, and through the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the current day. Looks at changes in clothing worn for swimming, bathing boxes, competitive and recreational swimming. </p><p>Means focuses a little more on the United State, Chaline on Europe. </p><p>Neither spend any time considering the role of the public pool in Australia. For that I recommend the ABC TV documentary, <i>The Pool</i>, and <i>Pool</i>, a book which accompanied Australia's official entry at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016. See also <i><a href="https://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2009/01/swimming-australia-one-hundred-years.html" target="_blank">Swimming Australia One Hundred Years </a></i>(University of NSW Press, 2008).</p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-28622452237959111202021-12-20T20:36:00.001+11:002021-12-20T20:44:12.490+11:00Where We Swim: Explorations of nature, travel and family by Ingrid Horrocks<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh37ulk8QUD-gwp5MuGg8SxVM84XCRjkvyhWfpICQvvqelUDB8MU6VQk045PR4_sNgIRPUGon-FBnUgknbT5I0cMnsCnH0flToN6G0pCQhPB_KLrfYCABfwu_B9kRM26T0Q-zuyKgk4QB8tCToeXzLUhTQVq0PEF9vMoTD2P8RQ0k0GCEBAu-I=s400" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="268" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh37ulk8QUD-gwp5MuGg8SxVM84XCRjkvyhWfpICQvvqelUDB8MU6VQk045PR4_sNgIRPUGon-FBnUgknbT5I0cMnsCnH0flToN6G0pCQhPB_KLrfYCABfwu_B9kRM26T0Q-zuyKgk4QB8tCToeXzLUhTQVq0PEF9vMoTD2P8RQ0k0GCEBAu-I=w428-h640" width="428" /></a></div><p></p><div class="dati1w0a f10w8fjw hv4rvrfc discj3wi" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding: 16px 16px 12px;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="a8nywdso j7796vcc rz4wbd8a l29c1vbm" style="font-family: inherit; padding: 14px 0px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa ht8s03o8 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb d9wwppkn iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: var(--primary-text); display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;"> At its best when talking about family connections and the spaces between us and bonds of love that hold us together. Not "just" a book about swimming. Opens with the author on a solitary journey, and intending to swim alone in various places and keep a Waterlog (like the late author of that wonderful book of that name, Roger Deacon). But it becomes so much more. I like the eclectic swimming places - and even the longing for a swim that cannot happen (in Medellin, Colombia, where someone pooing in the pool at a rented apartment keeps it closed). The "pool" in the Amazon River retreat is simply astounding. <br /><br />Horrocks also takes us deep into the global climate crisis and how we react while being middle class privileged folk. I was living in one of the areas of Australia burning in the summer of 2019, sending clouds of smoke across the Tasman. <br /><br />It finishes with the impact of Covid lockdown in New Zealand and how people gently connect with strangers when allowed back in the water. </span></div></div></div><p> </p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-19069506226304915822021-12-01T15:27:00.002+11:002021-12-01T15:27:34.854+11:00The Lido by Libby Page (Fiction), and some musings about lidos. <p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Win a copy of The Lido by Libby Page — it&#39;s set to make a splash this summer" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/smf15books2-e1523457210332.jpg?strip=all&w=681" style="height: 448px; margin: 0px; width: 317.8px;" /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Books look ahead 2018: What will you be reading this year? - BBC News" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/6DF1/production/_99454182_lidolido.jpg" style="height: 256.0092213114754px; margin: 0px; text-align: start; width: 385px;" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">In British parlance, a lido (pronounced, weirdly, Lie-do, not as it is from the Italian word lee-do, meaning ), meaning shore, as in the Lido in Venice) is an unheated outdoor swimming pool. They are treasured parts of the communities in which they are located, and have come under increasing threat of closure over the past few decades as local governments seek to cut costs. [Another casualty of bean-counting removal of community facilities have been public libraries - which is also touched upon in this book. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Libby Page is a journalist, and keen swimmer. This is her debut novel. It tells the story of two women who form an indelible friendship over the fight to save the un-fictitious Brockwell Lido. One is a lacking-in-confidence young journalist named Kate, whose physical appearance seems to be rather akin to that of Kate in the pic above! She is new to the Brixton area of London. She suffers panic attacks. Kate is living a lonely life in a dire share-house where no-one has any contact with anyone else. Kate meets Rosemary, an older woman in her late eighties, recently widowed, who has lived all her life in Brixton, and has been swimming at the lido for 80 years. The lido played a large part in the love story between Rosemary and her late husband, George. </p><p style="text-align: left;">I enjoyed the book, especially since I share many of the author's interests - swimming, saving swimming pools, libraries, cooking. </p><p style="text-align: left;">I especially liked the depiction of the coming together to a diverse community and the tactics they used to save their pool....see my entries on Bexley Swimming Pool (linked below), which we managed to save. Like in the book, we had some great support from the local newspaper. Not QUITE so fortunate at <a href="https://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2017/11/pack-pool-at-batemans-bay.html" target="_blank">Batemans Bay</a>, where, despite some vigorous campaigning (see link) we lost the outdoor 50m pool and are acquiring an indoor 25 metre pool....a regressive step in my opinion. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2010/12/bexley-pool-battle.html" target="_blank">Bexley pool battle</a> ; </p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2011/02/fight-to-save-bexley-pool-continued.html" target="_blank">The fight to save Bexley pool part 2</a> ;</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2011/12/bexley-pool-update.html" target="_blank">2011 update</a> ;</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2014/02/bexley-pool-open-house-8-feb-2014.html" target="_blank">Open House Feb 2014</a> ;</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2014/02/bexley-pool-development-application.html" target="_blank">Making submissions to Council</a> ;</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2014/05/last-laps-at-bexley-pool.html" target="_blank">Last laps at the old pool</a> ;</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2015/07/arise-rockdale-aquatic-centre.html" target="_blank">After seven years of fighting, a commencement of construction ceremony</a>; </p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-new-bexley-swimming-centre-aerial.html" target="_blank">Aerial shots of the development</a> ;</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/2017/02/we-won-new-bexley-pool-reopened-26.html" target="_blank">We won! Bexley pool reopened</a>; </p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com/search/label/Bexley" target="_blank">All my posts on Bexley Pool.</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">One of my favourite passages from the book describes the importance to community of such assets. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>" 'When the old library closed down no one realised the importance of what we were losing until it had gone. It was a place for learning and also a centre of our community. And it's the same with the lid. We all take it for granted and that is why it is so important. We rely on it being there for us. It is somewhere you can go for a moment to yourself, whatever your reason may be for needing that moment....</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>'The lido holds so many memories for us all. For children who have never been to the seaside it is their summers and their freedom. For parents it is the memory of seeing their child swim for the first time - that moment when you just have to let go and let them fly. And for me, well it is my life."</i></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">I do have to admire the cold-water swimmers of the UK. Such water temperatures as those described here, and in At The Pond which I recently read, would see me balk - possibly even in the "warm" months! I guess we are blessed in Australia. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Another way we are blessed is that municipal pools here are plentiful. Sydney is blessed not only with dozens of 50 metre outdoor pools, but ocean and harbour pools as well. Our pools also most usually have plentiful grassed areas and facilities like barbecues are common. A friend visiting from the UK whom I took to Bexley Pool (pre-redevelopment) declared it "like a resort". Another woman I met swimming there, who migrated from China, said that her family spends thousands of dollars visiting resorts on their holidays, whereas she spends $5 going to the local pool! </p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://libbypage.wordpress.com" target="_blank">Libby Page's page. Author / Swimmer/ Optimist</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">In researching this post, I found this gorgeous art print of Brockwell Lido by Jenni Murphy. You can <a href="https://www.jennimurphy.com/product/brockwell-lido/" target="_blank">buy it from this page. </a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="wp-post-image wp-post-image" data-caption="" data-large_image="https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result.jpg" data-large_image_height="2000" data-large_image_width="2000" data-src="https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result-600x600.jpg" height="400" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" src="https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result.jpg" srcset="https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result.jpg 2000w, https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result-300x300.jpg 300w, https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result-110x110.jpg 110w, https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result-600x600.jpg 600w, https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result-768x768.jpg 768w, https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://www.jennimurphy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Brockwell-Lido_result-100x100.jpg 100w" title="Brockwell-Lido_result" width="400" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Read more: </p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.brockwelllido.com" target="_blank">BLU - Brockwell Lido Users</a> group</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://londonist.com/2010/06/love_your_lido_brockwell_lido" target="_blank">A blog about swimming at the Brockwell Lido (Londonist)</a></p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.brockwellswimmers.com/a-swimming-club-for-brockwell-lido/" target="_blank">Brockwell Swimmers</a> - a swimming club </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzV09k3DaqE/Yab4y8kfRBI/AAAAAAAAhT0/0xw_H7hqj2su1ndVwlqVTGVKjgSvKRQ9gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/IMG_6771.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzV09k3DaqE/Yab4y8kfRBI/AAAAAAAAhT0/0xw_H7hqj2su1ndVwlqVTGVKjgSvKRQ9gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/IMG_6771.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-19977962818169391202021-11-27T16:52:00.002+11:002021-11-27T16:52:51.676+11:00At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pool (Daunt Books, 2019)<div class="separator"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="attachment-theissue-full-x2 size-theissue-full-x2 thb-lazyload wp-post-image lazyautosizes ls-is-cached lazyloaded" data-sizes="auto" data-src="https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover.jpg" data-srcset="https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover.jpg 900w, https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover-600x333.jpg 600w, https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover-300x167.jpg 300w, https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover-768x427.jpg 768w, https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover-500x278.jpg 500w" height="356" loading="lazy" sizes="795px" src="https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover.jpg" srcset="https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover.jpg 900w, https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover-600x333.jpg 600w, https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover-300x167.jpg 300w, https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover-768x427.jpg 768w, https://culturefly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/at-the-pond-cover-500x278.jpg 500w" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from <a href="http://CultureFly.co.uk">CultureFly.co.uk</a> </td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"> </p></div><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I found this small volume of 14 essays utterly intriguing. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Hampstead Heath in London contains three swimming ponds (and others for angling, model-boating etc; created when the Fleet River was damned in the 17th and 18th centuries as reservoirs for water supply to Hampstead and Highgate). The swimming ponds are one for women, one for men and one mixed. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The writers who contributed include some well-knon, Like Margaret Drabble and Esther Freud, some not so well-known. It is divided into 4 sections, Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. Some swim year-round, some are summer-only. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The Pond as it is known is legendary amongst certain Londoners. It is "wild swimming" in a huge city ... many describe the wildlife and the vegetation...moorhens, ducks, snakes, reeds and grasses etc. The temperature is never what I would call warm, and in winter there can be ice, and of course snow on the ground. There seems to be several hundred hearty souls who do swim year round. However, there also seems to be a sort of reverence, an elitist aura around them. One writer says "they know the lifeguards". </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Also intriguing are some of the "rules" and customs ... eg there can only be a certain ratio of swimmers to lifeguards, so on a hot summer's day you may have to wait to drop in down the metal railing. Imagine trying to impose that at one of Sydney's (un-lifeguarded) ocean pools!) </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Hampstead and Highgate are high-end London suburbs, nowadays often populated by the very wealthy, though they weren't always - they were arty and bohemian in the past. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I couldn't help comparing the Pond's mores with those at Sydney's McIvers Baths - the Ladies' Pool at Coogee. Some seem similar - the older coterie of "gatekeepers", sticking within your own groups, the basic changerooms, topless sunbaking, but the convivility in the water, and the style of swimming seems a little more open at McIvers. As well, apart from a couple of essayists with southeast Asian heritage, there is know mention of it as a refuge for diverse cultural groups like Muslim women or nuns or others who want to swim in a women-only environment. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">There was a major controversy a couple of years ago, when the London Corporation, which manages the Pond said it was ok for transitioning or transitioned male to female Transgender users to officially use the pool (they had been anyway), with backlash from some. That seems to have settled down now. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">It probably helps to be a swimmer to enjoy the book, but I think it's also interesting in broader cultural terms as a slice of London life.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Here's the page of the <a href="https://www.klpa.uk">Kenwood Ladies Pond Association</a>, a voluntary group of women which cares about the Pond. There's new and info about current campaigns. There is a video called <a href="http://www.klpa.uk/gallery-4/" target="_blank">"City Swimmers"</a> in the Gallery.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/hampstead-heath-ponds-protests-continue-3672558" target="_blank">A story about closure</a> due to sewerage leaks, and a protest against compulsory charges.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Here's some reviews of the book: </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">By Natalie Xenos - <a href="https://culturefly.co.uk/book-review-at-the-pond-swimming-at-the-hampstead-ladies-pond/" target="_blank">click here.</a></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">By Rebecca Armstrong - <a href="https://inews.co.uk/culture/books/at-the-pond-book-hampstead-swimming-review-310849" target="_blank">click here.</a></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">You can easily search for more online. </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div><p><br /></p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-35625921984949548162021-11-27T13:41:00.004+11:002021-11-27T13:42:02.766+11:00Film: Cloro (Italy, 2015)<div class="separator"><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Chlorine (2015 film) poster.jpg" class="thumbborder" data-file-height="365" data-file-width="255" decoding="async" height="640" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/63/Chlorine_%282015_film%29_poster.jpg/220px-Chlorine_%282015_film%29_poster.jpg" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/63/Chlorine_%282015_film%29_poster.jpg 1.5x" width="447" /></p></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">When seventeen year old Jenny's mother dies suddenly, with her father being ill and a nine year old brother to care for, she must move to a mountain village away from the coast, where she is an aspiring synchronised swimmer. </span>She feels isolated and embittered, but is determined to return to the life she longs for, and practices in the pool in the hotel where she works. </p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A coming of age film from Italy; directed by Lamberto Sanfelice, starring Sara Serraiocco as Jenny. </span></p><p style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">I saw this at the Italian Film Festival in Sydney 10 August 2015. </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-83748899940624175522021-11-27T13:15:00.004+11:002021-11-27T13:15:35.891+11:00Britannia Park, near Warburton, Victoria<div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9XLvy7fDUKU/SUSbXuddnpI/AAAAAAAAK70/2HIfiIRRN14/s1600-h/Britannia+park+Jan+1977.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="511" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279515495095967378" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9XLvy7fDUKU/SUSbXuddnpI/AAAAAAAAK70/2HIfiIRRN14/w640-h511/Britannia+park+Jan+1977.jpg" style="display: block; height: 253px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 317px;" width="640" /></a><br />
Britannia Park in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, is a Girl Guides owned property. I went to some camps there when I was in Brownies, when we lived in Melbourne in the 1960s. Several years later (about 1976) I visited and discovered that they had built a pretty nifty swimming pool. </div><div><br /></div><div>I did a search today and found it referred to as "an old swimming pool full of goldfish....not for people to swim in any more."</div><div><div></div></div>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-59790420619392817292021-11-24T23:45:00.001+11:002021-11-24T23:45:22.300+11:00The Invisible Image: The Tomb of the Diver on the fiftieth anniversary of its discovery (Exhibition)<p style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="the invisible image. the tomb of the diver" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://artem.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/COP-limmagine-invisibile-mostra-ING-.jpg" style="height: 448px; margin: 0px; width: 298.66666666666663px;" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">In 2018, we were fortunate to visit Paestum, in southern Italy, while this exhibition was on. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The Tomb of the Diver dates back to 470 BCE, when this was part of Magna Graecia, so it is an Ancient Greek creation. The most famous image was found on the underside of the top slab of the tomb. It seemingly depicts as young man diving from a wall or tower into waves. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JafHNwCO-Yw/YZ4zX3IkrCI/AAAAAAAAhTk/N8_zK5Ocn8ccEH4NW53CnQpOP5dTAAI1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_6966.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JafHNwCO-Yw/YZ4zX3IkrCI/AAAAAAAAhTk/N8_zK5Ocn8ccEH4NW53CnQpOP5dTAAI1wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_6966.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">The tomb of the diver is on permanent display at the museum; this exhibition told the story of 300 years of archaeological exploration into the mystery of the meaning of this particular depiction - a meaning which remains a mystery. </p><p style="text-align: left;">It also included the display of ancient and modern works, "designed to illustrate the scientific, cultural, artistic and ideological knowledge which has ensured that, fifty years after the discovery of the tomb, the question of its meaning still remains wide open." </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="File:Bathing girls MNE Villa Giulia 106463.jpg" data-file-height="2014" data-file-width="2667" decoding="async" height="302" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Bathing_girls_MNE_Villa_Giulia_106463.jpg/794px-Bathing_girls_MNE_Villa_Giulia_106463.jpg" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Bathing_girls_MNE_Villa_Giulia_106463.jpg/1191px-Bathing_girls_MNE_Villa_Giulia_106463.jpg 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Bathing_girls_MNE_Villa_Giulia_106463.jpg/1588px-Bathing_girls_MNE_Villa_Giulia_106463.jpg 2x" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attic black-figure amphora attributed to the Priam painter 530-500BCE Side A - female bathers. National Archaeological Museum, Villa Giulia, Rome Source: Wikimedia</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Nino Migliori&#39;s best photograph: a gravity-defying Italian diver | Photography | The Guardian" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" height="309" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f4ebd22c36dc2c0f132df011b7082bd8dccb82e1/0_0_4285_3307/master/4285.jpg?width=700&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=b658b0108aa19c13fcd02e36a6a4a92b" style="height: 297px; margin: 0px auto; text-align: left; width: 385.00000000000006px;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nino Migliori The Diver, 1951. Photographic print, made 17 years before the discovery of the Tomb of The Diver</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-12862996250345147492021-11-24T19:06:00.000+11:002021-11-24T19:06:48.883+11:00Vintage Swimwear: A History of Twentieth Century Fashions by Sarah Kennedy<p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Vintage Swimwear By Sarah Kennedy" src="https://productimages.worldofbooks.com/1847325521.jpg" /></p><p><br /></p><p>A really interesting book, beautifully illustrated. Traces the history of women's swimwear from the early 20th to early 21st century. As someone who was a teenager in the 1970s, I just had to laugh at the crotchet bikinis! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RUAeRDldMsk/YZ3YG8gFwqI/AAAAAAAAhTc/qZO6aZDknfoRgkjbbOFNTCcaG5aYKMSpACLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/IMG_6665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RUAeRDldMsk/YZ3YG8gFwqI/AAAAAAAAhTc/qZO6aZDknfoRgkjbbOFNTCcaG5aYKMSpACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/IMG_6665.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>The book begins with a timeline.</p><p>The chapters are:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>From Brighton to Biarritz</i> - the era of woollen costumes, bathing machines, and the birth of the swimsuit, from the late Victorian era through to the 1910s. Due respect is paid to Annette Kellerman and the sensation she caused when first appearing in a "unitard".</li><li><i>The St Tropez Set </i>-the 1920s - the divergence in American and European styles; the emergence of Jantzen as the company whose slogan was "The suit that changed bathing to swimming."The French fashion houses - eg Chanel - become involved, Cubism and Modern Art influences and the emergence of public swimming pools (Lidos).</li><li><i>Star Quality</i> - the 1930s, which brought the fabric revolution which brought the end of the knotted swimsuit; Hollywood and stars in swimsuits, as well as beach and other sporting leisure wear emerge; the emergence of the beauty pageant.</li><li><i>The Return of the Hourglass </i>- The war years (which saw the wthdrawal of nylon for parachute-making) Glamorous pin-up stars like Ava Gardner, Esther Williams, the birth of the two-piece suit (fabric saving!) and after the war, the development of more fabrics like Lastex, and the birth of the bikini.</li><li><i>The Fabulous Fifties</i> - hourglass figures and idealised body shapes, curvaceous and voluptuousness; swimsuits with lots of structure, glamour girls like Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe, and 'sexy innocence' eg Sandra Dee. </li><li><i>Far Out Grooves</i> - The 'Swinging Sixties', the California scene, lots of stretch, and Bri-Nylon, the emergence of the crotchet bikini, and the glitz of the 'jet set'.</li><li><i>The Beach Babe Revolution</i> - everything was shrinking during the 1970s, the fabrics evolved towards those used today, big curvaceous bodies were out, the suntan essential. Lots of cutouts in swimsuits, disco influences, developments in racing swimsuits.</li><li><i>Let's Get Physical</i> - the fitness boom of the 1980s, muscular bodies, bigger breasts, higher cuts to make legs look longer.</li><li><i>New Luxe Nineties</i> - ethnic fashion, world music, ostentatious luxury and clean lines and cruise collections, retro surf styles, and new Australian labels like Jets and Zimmerman, Watersun and Speedo going glam.</li><li><i>Post-Millenium Trends</i> - swimsuits that 'slim', designer resortwear, retro and Brazilian styling, celebrity trends</li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-79098769457812546372021-11-24T16:25:00.002+11:002021-11-24T16:25:22.046+11:00Beaches of Batemans Bay and the Eurobodalla Coast<p style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Amazon.com: Beaches of Batemans Bay and the Eurobodalla Coast eBook : Henry, Peter, Henry, Manuela: Kindle Store" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51wB-rKhAkL.jpg" style="height: 448px; margin: 0px; width: 315.392px;" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">A very useful guide to every beach from Durras, in Murramarang National Park in the north, to Wallaga Beach in the south of the shire.It includes street maps of each village and town. Fabulous colour photos and information about flora, fauna, geology of beaches, and much more. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Published and distributed by Hyams Publishing, Huskisson, 2007.</p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-30878305901848816662021-11-24T16:09:00.002+11:002021-11-24T16:12:43.514+11:00The Swim Club by Anne de Lisle<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="3186786" height="400" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1207883199l/3186786.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="261" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><p> Five women swim and talk their way through relationships with each other and the men in their lives. They inevitably find their physical and psychological strength. </p><p>See also <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/34871185/7693656462912561061" target="_blank">The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle</a>, which has a very similar theme. </p><p>Published by Random House, 2008.</p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-76936564629125610612021-11-24T16:02:00.005+11:002021-11-24T16:12:01.127+11:00The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle by Sophie Green<p style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="44776000. sy475" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554287689l/44776000._SY475_.jpg" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">I felt like I'd read this book before, then realised a couple of years ago I read <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/34871185/3087830590184881666" target="_blank">The Swim Club by Anne de Lisle</a>. It too was about a group of women swim and talk their way through relationships with each other and the men in their lives. And inevitably find their physical and psychological strength. This is similar. Light and frothy as a meringue. I wondered why it was set in 1982-84: perhaps because the social mores of the time were more “stereotypical” than they are now?</p><p style="text-align: left;">Still, it's always good to find a book with a swimming backdrop. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Published by Hachette Australia 2020</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-90926430932189410982021-11-24T15:54:00.009+11:002022-01-06T16:24:41.556+11:00Australian Survivor: Champions vs Contenders - Meet Shane Gould<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/pariNZHU5Vs" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pariNZHU5Vs/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>To read more about Shane Gould, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/34871185/1439476628149925104" target="_blank">see this blog entry</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In this <a href="https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/2020s-vision-dr-shane-gould-on-swimming-culture-after-a-lifetime-of-learning/" target="_blank">online article in Swimming World</a>, Ms Gould told the author, Craig Lord that </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">"<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(55, 55, 55); color: #373737; font-size: 16px;">She made sure she could cover all the basics, like lighting a fire with a flint; working out the kind of games she would be good at, the kind she would not. While some felt a need to win at every turn, Gould identified the things she was not the best at, did what was required not to fail but wasted no more energy than necessary in pursuit of what could not be won."</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(55, 55, 55); color: #373737; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(55, 55, 55); color: #373737; font-size: 16px;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505;">Anyone who has doubts about “how she did it” needs to read her autobiography, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/34871185/1439476628149925104" target="_blank">Tumble Turns</a>! Talk about a story of resilience and the acquisition of the mental and physical skills needed to weave your way through a communal experience and emerge a champion once again!</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505;"> </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(55, 55, 55); color: #373737; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(55, 55, 55); color: #373737; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></span></div>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-14394766281499251042021-11-24T15:13:00.005+11:002021-11-24T15:48:04.162+11:00Tumble Turns (1st edition and revised edition) by Shane Gould<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6j4YwQy4zyg/YZ240-KbprI/AAAAAAAAhTE/2XtPfDVNJ8M2nIRVxRGt2NI0uzrBFr-mQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/IMG_6635.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6j4YwQy4zyg/YZ240-KbprI/AAAAAAAAhTE/2XtPfDVNJ8M2nIRVxRGt2NI0uzrBFr-mQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/IMG_6635.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit;">At the time of writing the first edition (published 1999), Shane was preparing for her involvement in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The revised edition (2003) has an additional section Part 6 -Reformation, which includes chapters on the Sydney Olympics, Learning to Swim Again and New Life New Love.</span></p><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shane Gould was somewhat a childhood hero to me (though I hate the word ‘hero’ when applied to sportspeople! To me heros rescue people from burning buildings....) . </span>When Shane was winning her Olympic medals in Munich, I was on my way to a Girl Guide camp in Perth - crossing the continent on the Indian-Pacific Railway. I remember the excitement in the train as they turned the radio on in the passenger lounges. </div></div><div dir="auto"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--KHmy8jkkXA/YZ26y2p1jbI/AAAAAAAAhTM/GFtgxK4TRlAu8IHSm6111wVAntVQsnlmACLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/IMG_6649.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--KHmy8jkkXA/YZ26y2p1jbI/AAAAAAAAhTM/GFtgxK4TRlAu8IHSm6111wVAntVQsnlmACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/IMG_6649.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olympic champion, Munich 1972</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div dir="auto"><br /></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I had followed her brief swimming career as a teenager (she is one year older than me) and in recent years took a keen interest in her contribution to cultural history through a shared passion for the role public swimming pools play in Australian culture. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then Shane appeared on, and won, the third season of TV game show <i>Australian Survivor.</i> Anyone who has doubts about “how she did it” needs to read this book! Talk about a story of resilience and the acquisition of the mental and physical skills needed to weave your way through a communal experience and emerge a champion once again!</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jzqDvMDYHk/YZ27L7xMFeI/AAAAAAAAhTU/2dO3aFTLncEJVACldXVLcecNS1HgPND4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/IMG_6650.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jzqDvMDYHk/YZ27L7xMFeI/AAAAAAAAhTU/2dO3aFTLncEJVACldXVLcecNS1HgPND4QCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/IMG_6650.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Australian Survivor </i>winner, 2018 </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div dir="auto">The chapter in the revised edition of her book, about "re-learning" how to swim, in response to changing body physiology as one ages, and the need to be able to swim without injury when not a teenager in intensive training makes interesting reading. Shane says: "To me my new style feels easier and more graceful, and the less I do the more energetic my movements are. 'Letting go' of muscle strain and tension is a mantra I repeat. It feels light lively, harmonic and very powerful". </div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">That was evident when watching Shane tear up the water in any swimming challenge in Survivor. It was beautiful to watch. </div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-30622812420425148862021-11-24T14:27:00.002+11:002021-11-24T14:27:52.241+11:00The Million Dollar Mermaid by Esther Williams with Digby Diehl<div class="separator"><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"> <img alt="The Million Dollar Mermaid" height="640" id="coverImage" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387702312l/847106.jpg" width="408" /></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; text-align: left;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">I saw a few Esther Williams films on TV as a kid and remember the excerpts in the <i>That's Entertainment</i> films. Williams was a national champion swimmer who was denied the opportunity to compete at the Olympics when it was called off due to World War Two. </p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">She grew up in a working class area of Los Angeles, was raped in her home for two years as a young teen; had an unsuitable teenage marriage, her second marriage was to an alcoholic gambler who used all her money; husband number three was a narcissistic controller to whom she thetheres herself and all but erased her own identity - he also wouldn't have anything to do with her children. It's a wonder Williams was the strong and assertive professional woman she became. </p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit;">In the era of</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit;"> </span><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl oo9gr5id gpro0wi8 lrazzd5p" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/metoo?__eep__=6&__tn__=R*F" role="link" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0">#metoo</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit;">, William’s story dishes the facts on the casting couch and the sexual harassment of men of her generation (Johnny Weissmuller, Victor Mature, Fernando Lamas, MGM execs), as well as the playing along with it of women.</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit;">Williams has a lot of tell-all tales about her contemporary stars: Victor Mature and Jeff Chandler, with whom she had torrid affairs; Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, complementary about - one is Shirley Maclaine.</span></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit;">There's also all the behind the scenes stuff about how those swimming musicals were made. </span></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit;">Williams died aged 91 in 2013. Her latter career, as a swimming pool and swimsuit business operator and her role in promoting synchronised swimming as a Olympic sport, as well as her final marriage is dealt with in one chapter. </span></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit;">This book is a rollicking read. Some doubt has been case by some reviewers and friends of some of the people mentioned about the veracity of it all - especially, was Jeff Chandler a cross-dresser? Whatever the truth, she hardly comes out terribly well. I was also flabbergasted about her clams to have swanned around with the Spanish dictator Franco's crowd. This included a story of a drunken Duke of Windsor and his snarky wife. </span></p><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33);">On of the best aspects is the goings-on at MGM. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I2tDuwqhLsQ/YZ2xByD27XI/AAAAAAAAhS8/kYTFhNdNStQsEmfihfzuFblQ2Fsr9ouhQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/IMG_6632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I2tDuwqhLsQ/YZ2xByD27XI/AAAAAAAAhS8/kYTFhNdNStQsEmfihfzuFblQ2Fsr9ouhQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/IMG_6632.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></div></div>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-67544120358155514472021-11-23T14:52:00.002+11:002021-11-23T14:52:56.124+11:00Ancient Assyria<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Assyrians</span></b></div><div><br /></div>Cecil Colwin writes in <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ikv9cLfBsNMC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=ancient+greeks+swimming&source=web&ots=HcoZ1x-i-W&sig=hw-msaLmA5zO8KK8DBUIebLD5uk#PPP1,M1">Breakthrough Swimming</a> (Human Kinetics, 2002 (available on Google Books as per link) : <div><br /></div><div>"In the ancient world, diverting rivers to protect city-states led to swimming for military purposes. Bas-reliefs housed in the British museum show a river-crossing by Assurnasir-pal, King of Assyria, and his army. When these reliefs were found in the ruins of the royal palace at Nimroud, students of swimming techniques were excited because here, at last, they expected to find evidence of swimming skills used in ancient times.
Nineteenth-century observers thought the reliefs showed soldiers swimming either sidestroke or the trudgeon stroke, while 20th-century observers concluded that the Assyrians were actually swimming the crawl stroke! And so, as always, conclusions are drawn from one’s own vantage point. <div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="wall panel; relief | British Museum" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" height="446" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://media.britishmuseum.org/media/Repository/Documents/2014_10/5_7/45886361_ee97_41f5_a2a3_a3bb0083b1d5/mid_00317020_001.jpg" style="height: 303.195px; margin: 0px; width: 435px;" width="640" /></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">Above: Bas Relief of Assyrian army crossing river, from the <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1848-1104-8" target="_blank">British Museum.</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div></div>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-76293119356630160422021-11-23T14:44:00.000+11:002021-11-23T14:44:06.733+11:00Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro, Indus Valley<p> </p><p><em><br /></em></p><p><img class="LazyImage_LazyImage__1YDAV LazyImage_isLoaded__3JO-C" height="426" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/55/167755-050-FE2D053F/Great-Bath-Mohenjo-daro-Sindh-Pakistan-province.jpg" width="640" /></p><p>Photo credit: <span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); color: #999999; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic;">Copyright J.M. Kenoyer/Harappa.com; Courtesy Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Pakistan from </span>https://www.britannica.com/place/Mohenjo-daro</p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Mohenjo-Daro is located in Sindh province, in modern day Pakistan. It means "Mound of the Dead Men". It was built around 2500 BCE, contemporaneous with the Ancient Egyptian, Mespopotamian and Minoan Crete civilisations. It was abandoned in the</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">19th century BCE as the Indus Valley Civilizsation declined, and the site was not rediscovered until the 1920s.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">From Stokes of Genius: A History of Swimming, by Eric Chaline (Reaktion Books, 2017):</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">" The world's oldest purpose-built, in-ground, enclosed swimming pool is the 'Great Bath' of Mohenjo-daro (2,500 - 1.800 BCE), one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley Cizilization (IVC). The pool, which was part of a larger complex, measures 12 x 7 m (29 x 23 ft) and 2.4m (8 ft) at its deepest. The superbly crafted structure made from close-fitting bricks held together with gypsum plaster, was coated with a layer of natural tar to make it completely water-tight. Bathers entered the water via two wide staircases at either end. Although the pool is just about long enough to do lengths, and deep enough to accommodate springboard diving, water polo and synchronized swimming, it is unlikely that it was ever used by the matrons of the city for lenghts of 'old-lady breaststroke' or for any other kind of recreational swimming activity. Based on later Indian religious practice, one theory holds that the complex that housed the pool was a college for the city's priesthood and that the Great Bath was reserved for their purification.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"....we know little of the daily lives, social and political organization, customs and beliefs of the residents of IVC cities...and much of what archaeologists think they know, such as how they imagine the Great Bath was used, is inferred from later Hindu practice. Because the pool was part of an important complex in the centre of the city, it is presumed that it was used by its elite - most likely its priestly class. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"....the one thing that strikes me about the pool, as a swimmer, apart from its rather modest length (as such it is not unlike many small hotel pools), is that it is quite deep. Whoever used it would have needed to have some competence in the water." </span></p><p><a href="http://www.appiusforum.com/images/greatbath.jpg"></a></p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-33917289008471317202021-11-21T03:02:00.000+11:002021-11-21T17:02:44.197+11:00The airport with a pool - Changi Airport, Singapore<p> Friday 25 March, 2005: stopover on the way to Paris. </p><p>I don't know any other airports which have swimming pools in the terminal. On a reasonably long stopover, this was the perfect place for a relaxing swim and massage. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8tuP-E1ST4E/YZkbRR_4koI/AAAAAAAAhSU/OS6-L8aUcWEJtTg255vO67V7UXEpSM7rgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/caption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8tuP-E1ST4E/YZkbRR_4koI/AAAAAAAAhSU/OS6-L8aUcWEJtTg255vO67V7UXEpSM7rgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/caption.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-80985224776435216472021-04-08T14:00:00.015+10:002021-11-21T17:08:15.583+11:00Bathing Machine<div class="separator"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="mw-mmv-final-image jpg mw-mmv-dialog-is-open" crossorigin="anonymous" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/BathingMachineGals.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="293" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Public Domain, <br />https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1261810</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p>I was reading <i><a href="https://www.tchevalier.com/remarkablecreatures/story/index.html" target="_blank">Remarkable Creatures</a></i> by Tracy Chevalier, about Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, renowned nineteenth century fossil-finders / palaentologists from Lyme Regis. </p><p>There is a scene where Elizabeth's younger sister, Margaret, uses a bathing machine to swim in the ocean. </p><p><i>"The bathing machine, a little closet on a cart, had been pulled far out into the water to give her privacy, and Margaret swam with it between her and the shore, preserving her modesty. Once or twice we caught a glimpse of an arm or a plume of water as she kicked." </i>(page 48)</p><p>That got me wondering about any other references to these modesty-preserving contraptions, and their history. There's a pretty good write-up in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathing_machine" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>. </p><p><br /></p><p><img alt="" class="mw-mmv-final-image jpg mw-mmv-dialog-is-open" crossorigin="anonymous" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/MermaidsAtBrighton.jpg" /></p><p>Above: <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif;">Mermaids at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Brighton">Brighton</a></i><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122;"> swim behind their bathing machines in this engraving by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Heath_(artist)" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; text-decoration: none;" title="William Heath (artist)">William Heath</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122;">, c. 1829. </span></span></p><p><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122;">Queen Victoria used a bathing machine at Osborne Beach on the Isle of Wight, where it can be viewed. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Queen_Victoria's_Bathing_Machine._-_panoramio.jpg/1920px-Queen_Victoria's_Bathing_Machine._-_panoramio.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="324" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Queen_Victoria's_Bathing_Machine._-_panoramio.jpg/1920px-Queen_Victoria's_Bathing_Machine._-_panoramio.jpg" width="380" /></a></span></div><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122;"><p style="font-size: small;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122; font-size: small;"><br /></span></p>There is even a children's picture book entitled </span><i style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif;">Queen Victoria's Bathing Machine</i><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122;">. <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/queen-victoria-s-bathing-machine-gloria-whelan/book/9781416927532.html?source=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsLWDBhCmARIsAPSL3_1-zJhMnKm7kMgkaJVaQmV2cGPMiZytmutg_yyzhsUV-B6w2AHTxssaAkdkEALw_wcB" target="_blank">Read more about it here.</a></span><p></p><p></p><p><img alt="Queen Victoria's Bathing Machine | Book by Gloria Whelan, Nancy Carpenter | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster AU" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781416927532/queen-victorias-bathing-machine-9781416927532_hr.jpg" style="height: 339.4116006692694px; margin: 0px; width: 435px;" /></p><span face="sans-serif" style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34);">Howard Means, in his 2020 book Splash! : 10,000 Years of Swinning (Allen and Unwin, Loondon, 2020) devotes several pages to the onset and development of the bathing machine, whereby men and women (separately) were towed into the ocean in these horse-drawn contraptions. I have made a separate entry on Means' excellent book...here.<br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 34); color: #202122;"><br /></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-49731996853100293962018-04-05T00:03:00.000+10:002021-11-21T17:08:52.512+11:00Swimming with Menieres Disease<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You may have noticed in my latest blogs that I have a pink earband around my head. That's because I have developed Menieres Disease, which without getting too boring about it, is a condition of the inner ear affecting balance and causing vertigo and all sorts of horrid stuff. One treatment which seems to be successful is the insertion of an ear grommet (just like the little kids have when they suffer 'glue ear' etc).<br />
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The upshot is that I can't risk getting water in my grommet-ear. So, to help keep an ear plug in place, I use the neoprene headband.<br />
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It's not perfect though, and so, reluctantly, I have had to adapt my swimming to head-out-of-water style. I really really miss gliding along doing freestyle, water slipping over my body, caressing it. But, needs must!<br />
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I also found I was getting an ear infection most times I swam at the public pool <insert -="" emoji="" face="" here="" i="" love="" pools="" public="" really="" sad="">.</insert><br />
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This year I used part of my retirement savings to install an 'Endless Pool' - one with a swim jet. It works really well, and is a decent substitute for lap swimming. Keeping up exercise is also really important with Menieres, and for general health. As anyone reading my blog knows, swimming is just something I have to do!<br />
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So, I have devised a routine involving a retro 'ladylike' head out breaststroke (while trying not to strain my neck!), side-stroke, which I've always loved, and an on-the-back kicking and 'scooping' motion, or beating with my arms like a Pilates "Hundreds" move.<br />
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Fortunately I can also still enjoy trips to calm conditions beaches, and have even risked snorkelling in Fiji, with all the headgear in place. And some antibiotic drops in case of infection!<br />
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So far, it's all going well!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The getting in end. The water is pushed through the grille at the end and returned via the channels located under the side benches.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The swim jet and filter at the one end. The jet can be adjusted to your swimming pace. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">I do a bit of step pool-robics too. I put music on and go for it! </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Still love a bit of sea baths (or beach as long as it's gentle - no diving through waves!) swimming. Here at Newcastle baths.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">And a dip this summer in the Tuross River.</span></td></tr>
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<br />Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-10412006835091814282018-01-27T16:43:00.000+11:002021-11-21T17:09:12.388+11:00Mahon Pool with Darelle and SallyToday we returned to one of our favourite pools, Mahon at Maroubra.<br />
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What's good about it:<br />
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<ul>
<li>there is a change area (though it desperately needs updating), so you don't have to travel home with that clammy "swamp-butt" feeling</li>
<li>the water is lovely, and because the seas get high at Maroubra, it does get regularly flushed</li>
<li>there is a great cafe just across the road. Plus they were able to serve me a delicious salad without any salt! RARE!</li>
<li>there is soap available in the toilets</li>
<li>it isn't too much of a "scene". No yummy mummies with oversized "look-at-me" strollers, just a great mix of people of all ages and ethnicities</li>
<li>parking is relatively easy to find, even on a Saturday of a long weekend, in the school hols</li>
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The downsides:</div>
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<li>not much shade</li>
<li>the steps are getting a bit slimy with algae and are a bit precarious for those of us with some balance issues</li>
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Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-68777182059953187282018-01-08T22:26:00.004+11:002021-11-21T17:09:29.658+11:00Sally and Darelle's Swimming Adventures - Guerilla BayAn overcast and humid day for a final swimming adventure. The northern end of Guerilla Bay where there is a shallow cove.<br />
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<br />Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-46022928059885026052018-01-07T22:17:00.001+11:002021-11-21T17:09:52.201+11:00Darelle and Sally's Wild Swimming Adventure. 7 Jan 2018, Part 2. Happiness restored!Between fish and chips at Bermagui, and scone and coffee at Bodalla, we had a refreshing "wild swim" immersion in the Tuross River at Eurobodalla. The river passes under the bridge at the turn off to Nerrigundah.<br />
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The older wooden bridge is still in operation while the new, higher concrete model is being constructed.<br />
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Trolls under the bridge waiting for billy-goats wanting to cross</div>
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We reckon under the new concrete bridge are the remains of a first, lower wooden bridge. Possibly swept away in a long ago flood?<br />
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Planking in the river!</div>
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Sandy bank</div>
<br />Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34871185.post-8480551686264926732018-01-07T21:32:00.000+11:002021-11-21T17:10:10.997+11:00Sally and Darelle's (non) Swimming Adventure - Blue Pool, Bermagui. 7 Jan 2018 Part OneWe set off with such high hopes, fuelled by fond memories Sally had of the two previous times she had swum at Bermagui's Blue Pool. Its setting down the clifftop, with a backdrop of the sapphire-blue sea is quite stunning.<br />
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The first view from the clifftop was non-too promising. For a start it wasn't looking blue, and second, noone was in it. Also, though the car park was busy, people seemed to be coming and going in quick succession.<br />
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Disappointment was our name:</div>
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The reason had been posted: CAUTION Algae Bloom. Due to insufficient swell the Blue Pool hasn't been able to flush itself out which has allowed Algae to grow. </div>
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After admiring the view, and spotting some seals in the ocean, we retreated into town for fish and chips for lunch.</div>
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<br />Sallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06459567597804197579noreply@blogger.com0