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I thought it was strange that Dave was insisting that we swam the Serpentine this morning. Somehow it had to be this morning. Sally had rung ahead and made all the arrangements (we were going to swim there a few weeks earlier but the Tour de France had got in the way). All became clear when we arrived to be greeted by Pippa who managed the lido. Between them they had tried to arrange for Rosemary George to meet me. Rosemary, a channel swimmer herself, had regularly swum at the Serpentine and I had won the Rosemary George Trophy for the most meritorious swim of the year under CSA rules in 1992. Unfortunately she could not make it that morning but we were still to enjoy a simply wonderful experience. We were allowed to swim with the club and share its changing room. Pippa explained that if we completed 4 circuits between buoys at each end of the pond, we would complete our mile. This we did in the gorgeous morning sun (we had arrived at 8am). There were a number of other people swimming but somehow we managed to avoid collision. However, Dave did manage to overshoot some marker buoys on his first circuit. When we got out, a cup of tea was made for us by one of the members and we enjoyed a very pleasant chat with Doug who had attempted the channel at the age of 68 and also some guys who had played water polo for Isleworth. These were all enthusiastic outdoor swimmers, our kind of people! As we were leaving Pippa thrust a very generous donation for Save the Children into my hand. She also pointed out Lord Anthony and Lady Jennifer in fluorescent garments who had just swum and were cycling away on their bikes. It was all so very slightly eccentrically English. A wonderful moment to treasure!