Fear not, tales of The Urban Swimmer's demise have been greatly exaggerated. He has been swimming, but hasn't got around to writing it up yet.
He posts this simply because while flicking around the telly the other night he was lucky enough to catch a reshowing of Wild Swimming, the BBC documentary about Roger Deakin's seminal book Waterlog. TUS's UK readers can watch it free on the BBC iplayer here. To be honest it's more of reflection on the popularity of what has become termed Wild Swimming but it's interesting enough. Move fast because it's only available for another day or so.
Even better, read the book, for although The Urban Swimmer takes his name from the John Cheever short story, the spiritual origins of this blog must come from Waterlog.
I'm interested in your comment "...what has been termed wild swimming..."
ReplyDeleteWild Swimming is a funny phrase, that seems to have been adopted into the public lexicon.
I always used to call swimming in lakes and rivers "swimming", there was nothing specifically "wild" or "outdoor" or "open water" about it - it was just swimming.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts as an "urban swimmer".
Indeed Dan, swimming is swimming: river, pool or for that matter bath tub. Still if calling it wild or outdoor makes people want to do it, more's the merrier. Whatever floats your boat...or in this case, enhances your buoyancy.
Delete