One day one photo - 12: Open water swimming gear

A couple of years ago I hired a Zone 3 wetsuit and really enjoyed using it, so this year I decided to invest in my own, and have had made good use of it. As there are lots of places to go open water swimming these days it is worth having one. This is quite a contrast to 15 years ago when I had a wetsuit for triathlons. Back then there weren't many official outdoor places to swim, and it was a case of going to covert places. (I remember going to Rydal water in the Lake District while on a trip up there once, following a recommendation from a guy in a sports shop in Ambleside. It was all a bit clandestine!)

Hampstead Ponds has been a popular venue for a long time, though that is the wrong end of London for me. There was also Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, but the swimming club banned wetsuits!

Nowadays there are loads of places. With my wetsuit I have been to Royal Victoria Docks, Shepperton and Serpentine Lido. There are other places I have not got round to going to yet, but would like to - Diver's Cove near Merstham, and West Reservoir at Stoke Newington.

The only thing is that at this time of year, as I found when I swam last Wednesday in the Docks, the water is that bit colder. That means that my body uses more energy to stay warm, and given that I am not a great swimmer I would rather use that energy to swim. So last Wednesday when I swam I got really tired, and even ended up wheezing for the rest of the evening and the following day.

In an effort to avoid getting the same problem at Swim Serpentine I have ordered a a neoprene vest to wear under my wetsuit, and a neoprene hat to go underneath the official event swimming hat. It's not cheap - the vest cost around £45, and the hat cost £15. But I think it will be worthwhile for the next week, and it will even be useful for doing open water swimming during the winter months - something that I might be mad enough to do!

One day one photo - 11: New phone!

I hadn't actually planned to get a new phone, even though I had been due for an upgrade for many months. Unfortunately I lost my beloved Sony Xperia Z3 Compact at Peterborough motorway service station yesterday on my way back to London.

It was the classic, getting my hands full carrying McDonald's and then putting the phone down and forgetting to pick it up. I am not sure if someone stole it, because not long after I realised it was lost I borrowed a phone to ring my number and it went straight to voicemail even though the phone was fully charged. So I like to think that a do-gooder picked it up and handed it in somewhere, and switched it off in the process. Trying to know where it was handed in makes me think of a needle and a haystack!

So good old EE sorted me out with a new device, not before I almost left them for another network! But in the end my 20-year loyalty to (what was previously known as Orange) has counted for something. So now I have a rather nice looking Samsung Galaxy S7, and a matching Samsung tablet - an S2 - at a reasonable tariff.

I hope the phones are good. Reviews have been positive. It's ironic that I get this phone just as lots of noise is being made about the latest iPhone X being released. I must say, I really can't bring myself to get an iPhone. I just don't understand what is supposed to be good about Apple products. I really think that when so many people have an iPhone, it must surely be for the poser value rather than it's actual functionality. I am quite happy to be "untrendy"! No doubt the iPhone phones work well enough, but if someone can convince me of why I would need to spend four times the amount that I have just spent on my latest phone, or show me that the iPhone has four times more functionality and quality than my phone then I just might give the Apple offerings a little consideration!

One day one photo - 10: Ride with Yorkshire Lass CC

Photo: Andy Jones

Today was a whistle-stop trip up to North Yorkshire, where I met with a club to do a Ride With feature for Cycling Weekly magazine. Today I was up with the Yorkshire Lass Cycling Club. I have been in touch with the founder members of the club for about a year now, for different quotes for articles I've done, as well as to do a feature on their women-only charity cyclosportive.

It was great to finally meet Judith and Kate, plus a number of the other women in the club. The club only formed in 2015, but they have a very good membership base, and are a well-known club in the area.

I found their club run to be very well organised. The roads that we went on around Wetherby and the Vale of York, were pleasant and quiet. Also they weren't too challenging for me given that I was feeling a little tired after my 5am start from London!

It was good to catch up with Andy Jones, the photographer, a Yorkshireman himself - and someone who I have worked with for a few years now, on many projects. As ever, he was very efficient at getting us organised and taking candid photos that showed the riders in a good light. I am a bit embarrassed to have been on the front in this picture he took. The journalist is not meant to be so prominent. Sorry for photo-bombing, Andy! But hey, it does look good if you don't mind me saying!

One day one photo - 9: Brexit Shexit!

It's been over a year since the UK voted to leave the EU, and we are 18 months out from officially leaving this historic establishment. However, it doesn't look like the UK Government has got its act together on what is meant to be going on, and how we will exit. Some of the fundamentals such as remaining part of the customs union, and allowing freedom of movement of EU citizens is not finalised. However, the UK still wants to negotiate trade deals even though the other important matters, including the Irish question - have yet to be decided!

Meanwhile, there's a massive swathe of people, including the UK Government who hadn't actually wanted to leave in the first place. How do you effect something that you don't actually want to happen, and that you hadn't expected to be doing!

This is all borne out by the regular protests that take place on Parliament Square, or on Millbank, opposite the Palace of Westminster. I regularly pass them on my ride home from work. I get used to hearing what they have to say and it is now just a regular feature along the way, like the traffic, the road furniture and the hundreds of tourists.

But the protest that was on today, was particularly noteworthy as it was a mass rally that took up all the space on Parliament Square. It was organised by the Liberal Democrat Party, and there were various speakers including Bob Geldof (of Live Aid fame) and a local Member of Parliament, Tom Brake.

I don't know how effective these protests will be, but it certainly shows that Britain is not overwhelmingly ready to leave the EU. I hope somebody hears that, and officials act accordingly.

One day one photo - 8: Helping people with blood cancer

For Swim Serpentine I am raising money for Anthony Nolan, a charity that supports people with different blood cancers, including leukaemia.

I take part in many sports events over the course of a year, and I generally do so because I love doing sport and it also gives my keep fit regimes a bit more meaning. I also like to push myself out of my comfort zone (which will definitely be the case when swimming one mile in Swim Serpentine!).

However, at a couple of events each year I link what I'm doing to charity. I usually enter the event myself and then choose a charity to raise money for, and just raise whatever I raise. I would rather not put myself under the pressure of having the charity buy the place only for me to have to raise £2,000!

So this time I will be raising money for Anthony Nolan. It is a charity that has more meaning for me. They are always appealing for bone marrow donors for those suffering from blood diseases, and in particular people of black and asian origin as it is particularly difficult to find a match in our patient group.

As well as that a family friend died from leukaemia suddenly a year ago. It was really shocking how the diagnosis came from out of the blue and she deteriorated so quickly. They called it adult T-cell lymphoma, a very aggressive form of the disease. Within a couple of weeks of the diagnosis she had passed away, just at the age of 50, leaving behind two teenage boys. I also remember the big campaign that was on during the late nineties to find a donor for a young black boy in London called Daniel De Gale. He luckily found a donor and lived for a number of years following the transplant, but he passed away aged 21 due to other blood complications.

My mum, who died suddenly from a blood disease three years ago, also struggled with problems with her white blood cells and had to regularly have bone marrow assessments.

So for me, doing something to help in the fight against blood cancer and other blood diseases is particularly meaningful. And as I battle to get through the 1-mile (1600m) swim in the Serpentine lake I know that this will be nothing compared to the suffering and anguish that people with blood diseases and their families will go through. If you want to make a donation, however small, you can do so via my Anthony Nolan fundraising page. Thanks.

One day one photo - 7: Swim Serpentine

I have decided to take the plunge, literally! Earlier on this summer I took part in the Great London Swim in Royal Victoria docks. It was a well organised event, and I quite enjoyed the experience. There was a choice of distances and I opted to do 800m (half a mile), as that was a distance I knew I'd be able to get through without too much difficulty. My main issue would be how long I would take. In the end I took around 22 minutes, and I wasn't last - a big improvement on what I did at the Crystal Palace triathlon, where I took almost half an hour to do 750m and I had the slowest swim split out of all 1,000 competitors in the race!

After that I decided to do more open water swimming events. So the Swim Serpentine at Hyde Park, London was the next on my list. (I had hoped to do the Great Scottish Swim in Loch Lomond, but I was actually in France at that time.) I would have like to have done the 800m category at Swim Serpentine, but I was a bit late getting my entry in, so I am doing the one-mile option. It's going to be a challenge. I swam 1200m last Wednesday at the open water swim session in Victoria Docks a few days ago.



It was in the early evening and initially the sun was shining and I felt good. But later on, the sun went down and I had difficulty sighting the buoys in the water. There weren't many people left swimming as many had finished and gone home, so I had no reference. Then I got quite cold, it became windy and I could feel myself being tossed around in the wind. My lungs were just rasping as I was breathing and although I made a lot of effort to stay calm, I was subconsciously panicking. In the end I found my way back to the start/finish gantry, and a life-guard in a boat was there to help with the sighting in the semi-darkness. It was only after I got out of the water that I was aware of how difficult I had found the experience. In fact I was quite chesty when I got out and had to use my asthma inhaler - the first time I've had to do so in a long time.

I like to think that the conditions in the Serpentine will be a lot more clement - at least it will be daylight! I will also wear an extra hat and gilet just to protect against the cold.

Some may say I'm mad for doing this, but I just love the challenge - and hey, the Serpentine is just around the corner from where I work. It would be rude not to do it!

One day one photo - 6: Wanton Furious Cycling

We are now "back to school" after the summer break, and the roads are busy again with the school runs, and my commute by bike is no longer a smooth cruise through the streets of London. Often when I cycle around the streets of London I wonder what other road users think of me as a cyclist - particularly when there have been high profile incidents involving cyclists.

Over the summer the Charlie Alliston case dominated the headlines. In fact, today it was even raised as a question in Parliament during Prime Minister's questions.

Charlie Alliston

For those who don't know, 20-year-old Charlie Alliston (who was 18 at the time of the incident) collided with a pedestrian while he was cycling along Old Street, in the City of London. Sadly, the pedestrian, 44-year old Kim Briggs, died from injuries she sustained in the collision a week later. My thoughts go to her family.

Alliston was riding a track bike with no brakes and was cruising along at around 18 miles per hour at the time of the impact. Kim Briggs, who was out walking during her lunch hour, stepped out into the road while looking down at her mobile phone. Unfortunately Alliston was unable to take evasive action in time when the mother of two crossed, his path. Also, at the time of the accident (and before Kim Briggs died) Alliston was very angry with the pedestrian and took to social media ranting about her, saying that she had "learned a lesson"

This case was high profile because it is unheard of for a cyclist to knock down and kill a pedestrian, so such a case has never been to court before. The charge against him, "causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving" is part of a very old law, the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. Alliston's sentence has not yet been delivered, but the Act says that a prison sentence would not exceed two years - which is pretty lenient considering that he killed someone. That must be heartbreaking for the family of Kim Briggs.

Kim Briggs

I think the process against Charlie Alliston has been fair because he was riding a bike that was not legal for the roads in this country. He was even known to practice riding "Alleycats", a type of bike discipline in which cyclists get from A to B as quickly as possible with no regard for the Highway Code.

It also seems, as was raised during Prime Minister's Questions, and also the campaign led by Kim Briggs' widower, that there is no law against cyclists who cause harm or death by dangerous cycling. This does need to be reviewed (and that was Prime Minister Theresa May's response).

What has been concerning is the bile poured on cyclists as a whole. This case has been reported as would be expected, but it has led to a lot of negative review articles and comments being made about cyclists who ride around London. Sure, there are reckless cyclists and they should be punished. Most cyclists are not like that, though. Just like there are reckless motorists too, and they should be punished. But it is a shame that people use cases like the Charlie Alliston/Kim Briggs incident as a way to beat other cyclists with. I hope, in the fullness of time people will come to realise that there are cyclists, and there are just reckless people on bikes.  

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