The Council here get a bit stroppy every year about Christmas Day swimming.
They tried to ban it a few years ago and got taken to court by Brighton Swimming Club who have been swimming every day since the dawn of time (or since they were formed in the 19thC).
The Daily Fail got involved about the nanny state etc.
Of course in the sea it is not just the temperature and people die every winter.
In the end people need some freedom of choice. They climb up hills and come to harm. They go running and have heart attacks. We have to let them.
If the council wants stuff to worry about then it could spend its resources looking after old folks who die lonely and neglected. They arenāt volunteers.
VB
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Some of the problem is the current popularity, anyone can jump into the sea or river, getting outs the issue with cold shock.
People die in the summer, a sweeping statement but a majority are young men whoāve been drinking.
Weāre often confronted by people who think river swimming is illegal, yet talk to older generations , 70+ and they learnt to swim in the rivers. Weāve lost so much connection to the environment.
I believe education and experience is the answer, I take comfort in our local sea scouts playing in the river. Its far better than putting up a sign saying No Swimming.
(is swimming part of the curriculum for every child?)
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xmas day morning Southwold full of loons dipping in sea
20191225_103133 by uh_simon, on Flickr
we of course did our own dipping in our sumptuous hotel bathroom
The school I went to fund raised for ages and built a swimming pool.
I think it opened when I was in the 2nd year after Xmas.
At the speech day that summer the Headmaster said that of all the achievements in the school he was most proud that since the opening of the pool every boy could swim at least 25 metres.
Swimming was a compulsory once a week lesson, they must have taught thousands of kids to swim since it opened (1970)
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For those that donāt know it, this is a fantastic book.
Amongst others thereās a great chapter on swimming the Corryvreckan whirlpool. I didnāt even know the UK had a permanent whirlpool that is actually marked on maps.
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Charts
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Hit paradeā¦
Itās an amazing sight when the tide is right
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When I was in the Army Apprenticeship College, Harrogate in January 1971 I went on a canoe day. We had to break the ice on the river to put the canoes in and then a swim to a regular in his canoe in the middle of the river to prove we could swim back if we went over. So in I dived in just a pair of budgie smugglers and thought my heart was about to stop.
I still became a BSAC diving instructor and notched up an awful lot of dives.
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Didnāt realise you went to Harrogate, I was 88c Scott squadron.
We did the January canoe swim and heart attack as well 
I was particularly fucked as Iād only just got back from Nigeria the day before.
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Phillips 70c for me.
Sorting through 25 yearās worth of accumulated belongings into 3 piles:
- Stuff for the new houseā¦
- Stuff to go to Flo and Alās new (unfurnished) flat.
- Stuff for the skip.
Unsurprisingly, pile 3 is massive, pile 2 is pretty big and pile 1 fairly small. (I fear the wallet is in for a bashing 
)
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We did this prior to moving from Straya (save for pile 2 was stuff for friends and relatives). We did it again when we moved from the rental to the current house. I was still filtering stuff from Oz last year (I found some missing LPs in what was allegedly a box of cushions). Keep throwing shite out @Jim or youāll be doing this again in the boonies in six months.
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Before Christmas the wife was looking for a lost kitchen utensil, and sadly she strayed into Designated Glassware Overspill Areas 5 and 6 before I could intercept her.
I had tried to say that we had a bit of an āissueā, but I fear she has now witnessed the full enormity of it.
Naturally her first reaction was to say āweāre never moving houseā.
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On the upside, I did find my LPs.
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