Saturday, January 01, 2011

Swimming with polar bears

It was a balmy 12 C with intermittent rain in Hamilton today-- perfect swimming weather--and so your intrepid correspondent sallies forth!
(That is not fat. What looks to the casual observer like a beer gut is actually layer upon layer of thermal padding and floatation modules - safety first! That's my story and I'm sticking to it)

Going,


going,


gone!


In the immortal words of George Castanza: "There was shrinkage"


In all honesty, while it was chilly and the water bracing, it was not, as Tom Waits describes it "colder than a gut-shot bitch wolf dog with nine sucking pups pulling a number-four trap up a hill in the dead of winter in the middle of a snowstorm with a mouth full of porcupine quills" but it was definitely in banker's smile/witch's tit/welldigger's ass territory once you got wet, though not as cold as the year in the early 90s I did it in Picton harbour through a hole in the ice in a January snowstorm.


Apologies to my wife, son and daughter who, when I said "let's go to the polar bear swim this morning," we honestly-to-god expecting this:



My daughter, who is seven, was quite concerned when I said I was going to take part in the polar bear swim on New Year's Day because she thought I might get eaten by bears.

crossposted from the Woodshed


http://www.wikio.com

8 comments:

Dave said...

And the best part is AFTER! Warm rum.

Cathie from Canada said...

Congratulations -- an achievement to start the year!

chris said...

Happy New Year to all!

You're brave man, well done! I think my heart would stop.

And such a snappy dresser, Rev! I had no idea that you could still get those red suits.

chris said...

PS - Any word on Alison? An anonymous comment at Creekside says that she is very ill.

thwap said...

I was hoping Alison (one of the best bloggers in Canada) was simply busy for the holidays.

I hope she'll be okay.

Rev. - didn't you used to be in Japan? What part of Hamilton do you live in?

Lorne said...

A very brave venture. I was sorry, however, that CHCH chose to cover the dip in Oakville rather than Hamilton's.

Boris said...

Nice one Rev. I bet the kids were surprised as all get out when you turned out to be the bear!

Beijing York said...

Well done, Rev.

Someone was in touch with Alison's partner and she is on the road to recovery. Pneumonia but should be better in a week.