New Years Day Swim 2009 (...or not...)

Above: Jesus Green Lido, Cambridge, UK - Friday January 01, 2009. A view through the fence.

On December 28, 2008, I sent an e-mail to the Channel Swimmers Google Group, which is a group we have to impart information to each other. The e-mail asked if there was any New Years Day swims in East Anglia. I received two responses as follows:-

-----Original Message-----
From: Bryn Dymott
Sent: 28 December 2008 17:39
To: Paul Hopfensperger (Hoffy)
Subject: Re: [Channel Group] New Years Day Dips?

Hoffy,
£10 (includes a hot drink !!) at Jesus Green Lido, Cambridge. If you decide on somewhere else please ket me know.
Cheers. Bryn

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Enyon
Sent: 29 December 2008 15:56
To: Channel Swimmers
Subject: [Channel Group] Re: New Years Day Dips?

Hi Hoffy,
I believe there is a New Years Day dip at Jesus Green Lido (91m long!!) in Cambridge. The outdoor swimming society has a list of festive dips on there website:
http://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/index.php?p=events&s=&id=24
The lido is not that hard to get to and is a really nice place to swim!
Hope this helps,
Chris.

I checked on the Outdoor Swimming Society website, and sure enough it confirmed the swim with the following information:-

"CAMBRIDGE

Jesus Green Lido, Cambridge. Britain's longest outdoor (unheated) pool will be open on New Years Day for the first time from 12 noon to 2pm for all those (over 16) who would like a swim. Entrance is £10 (including hot drink) and all swimmers will receive a 5% discount voucher for a 2008 season ticket."

Excellent news we thought, so off we trekked to Cambridge arriving at 11.30am after a relatively alcohol free New Years Eve ready for the swim. Bryn and Chris said that they might turn up, so we parked the car and walked to the pool. Another girl from Cambridge, Sarah, was was there who had also seen it on the outdoor swimming society web site. The front door was a roller shutter and was firmly locked. I walked to a hole in the fence and saw thick ice on top of the water:-

Above: Thick ice on top of the water and the place was entirely desolate!

We walked around the entire perimeter of the pool, looking through the fence wherever we could and took some photos. There was no one to be seen.

Above: All ready for a swim in the icy waters, but no way in!

I resorted to phoning Chris Enyon to see if he was coming, but he didn't answer his phone (hangover probably!). I telephoned Nick Adams to see if he knew anything about it but he didn't. Eventually, at about 12.30pm, getting really cold from hanging around in the arctic air conditions, we decided to call it a day, and headed to Cafe Uno for a beer and some food to make up for what we didn't have the night before.

Above: Having lunch in Cafe Uno, Cambridge due to not being able to swim.

When we got back home, I was going to e-mail Bryn and Chris to ask them why they weren't there, because they had probably found out previously it wasn't on but hadn't told me! But first, I read the outdoor swimming society website again just to check I wasn't going mad. The answer was in the last three words:-

"CAMBRIDGE

Jesus Green Lido, Cambridge. Britain's longest outdoor (unheated) pool will be open on New Years Day for the first time from 12 noon to 2pm for all those (over 16) who would like a swim. Entrance is £10 (including hot drink) and all swimmers will receive a 5% discount voucher for a 2008 season ticket."

If you turned up for the swim, you would qualify for a 5% discount voucher for a 2008 season ticket (i.e. last year). Therefore, I was in fact exactly 365 days too late for this swim - It was on January 01, 2008!

Happy New Year!