onionbagblog

To Brockwell Lido! …early on Saturday morning, along with half of South London it seems. These are the Golden Days for lido lovers. An 8am water temperature reading of 22 degrees was greeted with a queue snaking back to the beautiful lido wildlife garden shortly after the gates were opened.

Poolside purists would argue that this is around ten degrees too tepid to appreciate the spiritual lido experience of freezing your nuts off and holistic salvation. I simply slipped into my ball of Edam with the wire cutter up your backside trunks and gracefully dive bombed into the pool.

I was rewarded with the beautiful blue waters of Lake Brockwell illuminating the pool from one end to the other. The South London sun was stretching its early morning rays over the roof of the Lido Cafe and reaching out to the water as part of the morning Pilate routine of Mother Nature.

I had a glint in my eye, and nothing to do with the ball of Edam wire cutter trunks either. Underwater was the real eye opener. Gasps for air up above meant a squint through the goggles to try and escape the grasps of the South London sun and it’s touchy feely approach first thing in the morning.

Long gone are the giggly teenage girls and their comedy poolside profanities upon first diving into the lido. A temperature leap of almost ten degrees in recent weeks has led the lido to become a place for body salvation submersion, rather than a brutal exercise in extreme endurance.

Wet suits strangely still occupied the fast lane. The rubber boys and girls will probably justify the fetish for encasement in terms of cutting a dash through the water. No problems in peeing however when you’re wearing a ball of Edam wire cutter pair of trunks.

Flapping limbs filled the lido from top to bottom. It is a rarity to witness the rush hour bumper-to-bumper Brixton Rec experience at Brockwell. Despite the congestion - or probably because of it - swimmers are incredibly polite at self-policing the shared space. You find your place in the pecking order, always aware of what lies ahead and who is up your arse.

The woes of the working week were soon washed away. Choppy waters may have been present in the pool, but this was nothing to the sharks surfacing come Monday morning. The lido is a constant reminder that sometimes it really is as simple as swim and SMILE.

Picking a poolside spot post-swim in which to procrastinate is the next task. Seasoned South London sun chasers know the drill. Start on the terrace outside the old pump room, relocate to the *shhh* Cannabis Corner for elevenses and then find yourself with the family fodder come teatime for the final sun worshipping session.

The iPod Lido playlist is getting longer as the South London summer days are stretching out with Mother Nature. Five, six and now seven hours of tunes in which to sit back and observe lido life.

Predictably I slept through most of the playlist.

Golden Days I tell you. Golden Days.