Swim Club, Saunas And Why This Roman Emperor Says We Should Smile More

Bobbing Along #2

It's been another raucous month for our social swim club here in London as we wind down the autumn / winter Social Swim Series and gear up for spring. Yes you may have caught me posting hopium on the socials about spring already being here, but I'm not going to pretend I regret it. In fact, I think I might be onto something.

We had a fantastic social swim at the beginning of Feb with some brand new faces, including a magnificent little pup who is currently plastered all over our Instagram. It is genuinely such a joy when new peeps come down for a swim or any of our other events — the vibe is always so so good and it's just super cool to watch our lil swim club grow. Thanks as always to West Reservoir for hosting us and to Brewed for dealing with the uninhibited chaos we bring to their cafe during swim club afters.

I feel like I'm incessantly waxing lyrical about the Community Sauna Baths in Hackney Wick, and trust me, that ain't gonna stop any time soon. It's by far my favourite sauna in London and was once again the perfect spot for our evening social sauna side quest (oof that rolls nicely off the tongue) last week. It's a real testament to the open and welcoming vibe we give off as a crew that we managed to secure two new recruits whilst sauna-brained out of our minds around the fire pit at the end of the session. Grapes were shared, hot tea was flowing and the chinwags were exceptional — even by our lofty standards.

Swim Club — Upcoming Swims And Side Quests

We've got our next social swim at West Res coming up on Sunday, 9 March and I can promise you the water temp will be considerably warmer than it has been recently. A great time to dip your toes in if you are feeling frisky.

Another big date for your diary is Sunday, 6 April  for a London day hike led by the casual explorer-in-chief Archie — A.K.A. the mastermind behind Wintergreen — who some of you will have met at our social swim in Feb. A top man who I know has a top plan, so you should def get involved. Drop him a message on Insta @wintergreen.earth if you are keen to join.

As always please share this with anyone who you think might be interested in coming along to one of our swims or side quests etc etc. All are welcome, just DM me at @lewatermelonuk or @saxrippa.

Swim club pup. Welcome to the Res. Post-sauna fireside chinwags.

The Emperor Has No Frown?

I've officially entered my classics era and am currently reading the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher of the second century AD. I'm not sure how much I agree with his overall philosophy — it's all a bit rational / front-brain-y for my tastes — but there have been a few bits that really leapt off the page at me. In particular:

"A deep scowl on the face is contrary to nature, and when it becomes habitual expressiveness begins to die or is even finally extinguished beyond rekindling."

We can probably all admit, especially those of us who live in London, that at one time or another we've left the house with the scowliest of scowls pasted across our face. It's something I've been thinking about a lot recently, particularly on the tube where more often than not you are surrounded by people whose faces are screaming bloody murder. If there was an Olympic medal for unhappy facial expressions the fine citizens of London would have it 100% locked up.

No frowns detected at our social swim club.

For me this all comes back to one underlying theme — connection. How do we connect with each other? How can we break down the social barriers that, in the modern world, and especially in big cities like London, sometimes feel totally impenetrable? 

Truth is there is nothing more powerful than a smile. It makes us feel more open to the world and it makes people feel more open to us. There are loads of studies about this but we don't really need any of that — we can just feel it. And the one thing I've learnt from living in London is that, whilst people may often outwardly present a closed-off visage, they are almost always open for a chat. You just need to get behind the barrier and a smile is great way to do it.

Anyways the fact that a Roman Emperor reigning nearly 2,000 years ago was thinking about similar stuff to what I think about while hurtling underground on the Northern Line kinda blows my mind. It's almost as though there are some universal human truths of which we are all fundamentally aware.

This is starting to get long so I'll leave you now with a few more quotes from Marcus that really grabbed my attention — until next time!!

Sax

"Love only what falls your way and is fated for you. What could suit you more than that?"

"Dig inside yourself. Inside there is a spring of goodness ready to gush at any moment, if you keep digging."

"Accept humbly: let go easily."

"The external things whose pursuit or avoidance troubles you do not force themselves on you, but in a way you yourself go out to them."

"The good, honest, kindly man has it in his eyes, and you cannot mistake him."

"...a gentle calm is both more human and therefore more virile. It is the gentle who have strength, sinew, and courage—not the indignant and complaining."