Lido Love No.1 Brockwell

A couple of weeks ago I decided to set myself a smattering of (hopefully achievable) goals. One of the items on my new to-do list is to swim every Lido in London. It struck me that in all my years living in London I have never once visited one, and can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve been swimming since being here. I grew up in a seaside town, if we weren’t in the sea kicking at the bootstrap seaweed wrapping around our legs, we were sneaking in to the holiday camps to use their pools memorizing chalet numbers as we climbed through gaps in hedges in case we were challenged. Once upon a time I was a water baby.

Yesterday I started my Lido mission and visited Brockwell, known as ‘Brixton Beach’. Diving into a moderately chilly pool in this stifling London heat made me happy as a pig in shit. Swimming past a group of teenage girls singing a mocking song which consisted of a chorus made up entirely of repeating Nick Clegg’s name over and over also had Jo & I in laughter. The below feels like a fair way to judge the Lido’s I hope to visit over the next two months.

Temperature:	Chilly but warmed up after one length
People doing serious swimming:	2 (until a triathlon team turned up)
Men grabbing their danglebobbins indecently:	3
Women swimming in sunglasses:	4
Kids doing classic “bombing”:	Lost count
People just dipping their toes with iPhone in hand:	3
Cost:	£3.20

 

Brockwell Lido

On London’s hottest day this year understandably there was a queue to get in and there are limited lockers if you’re not a member but you get to swim in a well-kept olympic size pool (I got carried away with this fact and as a result every bone feels like it’s creaking and screaming at me today) in a Grade II listed art-deco building.

☆☆☆☆☆

November 28th Mixtape – Friendly Fires Frenzoid

Tonight I am full of steely determination. Determined to dry my knickers in time for the morning as I fly out to Istanbul a day earlier that I was expecting. Determined to post my weekly mixtape even though it will be a rushed effort. Determined to catch up on Misfits. I fully expect this post to therefore not be my finest moment, and I suspect I will be wearing damp pants tomorrow morning.

My birthday celebrations this weekend felt like I was at a festival. I’ve been weighing up whether it was the relentless, carnival energy Friendly Fires rocket at you. Or if it was being with all my nearest and dearest, most loved and genius raggedy bunch of friends. Both parties smashed it at Brixton Academy for me on Saturday night. This mixtape is solely dedicated to those on stage and those off it. The ones that poured cocktails down my neck, performed interpretive dances of my birth, trudged around Brixton until the early hours of Sunday morning with me when I craved more G&T. Yet more cherished gig memories as I get older… and older… and older.

If you’re a Spotify user click here to play the mixtape. ♥

1. Lovesick/ 2. Jump In The Pool/ 3. Running away/ 4. Blue Cassette/ 5. True Love/ 6. On Board/ 7. Chimes/ 8. Skeleton Boy/ 9. Show Me The Lights/ 10. In The Hospital/ 11. Pala/ 12. Live Those Days Tonight/ 13. Hurting/ 14. Pull Me Back To Earth/ 15. Paris/ 16. Hawaiian Air/ 17. Kiss Of Life.

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