Update

I’ve decided (we’ll, 85% decided) to take up swimming once again.

I used to go every day for about five years when I lived in London and worked at a building called The Adelphi, on John Adam Street.

I could get up at 06:00, dress, make it to the Oasis swimming pool for 06:45, swim for an hour and then arrive at work by 08:00, smelling only slightly of chlorine. I kept it up because it was convenient, though I used to tell my doctor that on only four occasions had exercise left me brimming with energy and go-get-it-ness. Four.

Every other of the hundreds of times I went, I left the Oasis with my knuckles dragging on the ground like a pissed off yeti. On extreme occasions I went for a full English breakfast with some of the other women swimmers, which always cheered me up. I never lost an ounce, either, but I gather that’s expected. Exercise will not help you lose weight, though it will make you stronger and more limber.

That’s what I’m hoping for in taking it up again. I have been diagnosed with osteo-arthritis of the knees. Both of them. And my back hurts. So I think I need to make the muscles of my legs and back stronger somehow, and swimming should do that – plus it’s the only exercise I’ve ever enjoyed. Everything else sucks.