Kenwood Ladies' Pond is a natural bathing pond and one of London's best open air swimming spots. Facilities Throughout these stories (essays may be more apt?) there is a lot of mention of how silky and smooth the water is, and this way really interesting to me. The concept of ‘wild’ swimming is something I find kind of baffling though, the explanations of carp and god knows what else swimming in the pond clears that up. This pond seems to have taken a hold on these writers and the subject matter lends itself to reflection as water calls for similarity and movement. This collection perfectly encapsulates that.

The final domino to fall was the Guardian. To many trans people and trans allies, the one progressive broadsheet in the UK posting its editorial view on trans rights in October 2018 was almost as striking a landmark moment as the overall response to the GRA. Rather than support the fairly minor reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, the Guardian highlighted the differing rights of trans people and women. It concluded with something no one on either side would disagree with: “Social media have unhelpfully amplified the voices at both extremes of this argument. The current divisions are troubling.” Trans activists and allies noted that the editorial was fence-sitting: it didn’t entirely invalidate trans rights, but it did dodge the issue.

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see raamat on esseekogumik inimestelt, kellel daamide tiigis ujumise kogemus olemas. paljud on tõelised veteranid - mäletavad, kuidas see kõik 60ndatel oli ja/või elavad naabermajas ja/või töötavad vabatahtliku vetelpäästjana. nende lood olidki mu jaoks kõige nauditavamad. nooremate kirjutajate esseed rääkisid ehk minu maitse jaoks veidi liiga palju neist endist ja vähe ujumisest. samas, seal räägiti ära need lood, mis ju ka asjasse puutusid ja rääkimist tahtsid... näiteks abordist ja transseksuaalsusest. Lots of people have stopped going so their memories of the place aren’t sullied,” says activist Alix Lemkin, who co-convenes the Save Our Ponds campaign run by Forum ‘71, which has held protests against the charges all year. She swam in the ponds every day for 30 years and refuses to under the new regime, in solidarity with friends who have struggled during the pandemic and can’t afford to pay. Instead, I’d recommend choosing a nice grassy area before you head in for a swim. This way, you can relax and get super toasty, go for a dip, and then return to your spot to sunbathe. Although, please be careful of your belongings! 5. Expect a Bit of Nudity

Ladies' Pond on... mingis mõttes kõige tavalisem metsajärveke. minu jaoks lihtsalt üks jadas Vasula järv-Nikerjärv-Vahejärv-Palojärv - kohad läbi mu elu, kus olen enim armastanud ujumas käia. (Tartust pärit ja Aegviidus suvitanud lapsena pole ma meres- ega jõesujumist kunagi nii kõrgelt hindama õppinud kui üht korralikku järve, aga samas, mis iganes parajasti käepärast on, eks ole. pole mulle võõras ükski Tallinna mererand ega Pirita jõe erinevad sopid. basseinis ujutakse kui üldse, siis talvel.) If you’re bringing little ones with you, please note that you are allowed to supervise a maximum of two children per adult. The kids will also be asked to complete a swim test to show their competency in the water – safety first! Things You Need to Know Before Visiting the Ponds in Hampstead 1. Book During Summer, and Visit on a Weekday/Early MorningFor more information on the opening times of the Hampstead Heath Swimming Ponds have a look here! 6. Keep an Open Mind! In her teens my daughter became a much stronger swimmer than I ever was, and she often went to the pond with her friends, but I usually went alone, with a book and sometimes a sandwich. In the 70s, some of us sunbathed topless, which was officially frowned upon, though the lifeguards usually turned a blind eye. I went once or twice with an older lesbian friend who had once been a Cistercian nun, and, briefly, a nudist: I don’t think she liked swimming but she liked the ambience, with its strange mixture of permissiveness and purity. But I loved to lower myself down the rungs of the ladder and launch myself into the silky waters of the pond. There was something magical about the unplumbed depths, the moorhens, the dragonflies, the waterlilies, the willows, the floating rings and rafts. The ponds on the Heath were created to provide drinking water for the growing villages of Hampstead and Highgate. The mineral-rich water became known for its health-giving qualities in the late-18th century, but before that, they were primarily reservoirs, and are still supposed to be maintained at drinking quality, something that any head-above-the-water swimmer in their murky, weedy green will be surprised to hear. In those Hampstead days of my youth I hadn’t realised that the ponds, although they look so natural, were created centuries ago (possibly as early as 1692) by the damming of two streams that arose in the Heath. The streams, according to Taking the Waters: A Swim Around Hampstead Heath (2012) by Caitlin Davies and Ruth Corney, “then join in Camden Town to form the River Fleet, which in turn flows through London and joins the Thames”. The Fleet is one of those great London rivers that has been almost wholly buried below ground in sewer systems, and I’ve never been quite sure of its original course: it seemed, in wet weather, to flow through our cellar on its way to join what I guess must have been its main current beneath Fleet Road, before it went on its way through Camden and Kentish Town to Fleet Street. Growing up on the edge of the northern suburbs of the city, the Heath marked a geographical watershed: the beginning of the sanctum that was central London. It did not mark the wild fringes – wild in both bohemian and arboreal senses – but instead a passport to pagan poetry and a larger secular cultural life. Here be myths and monsters marking my map of the Heath. We were greeted, sunbathing topless, by our headmistress. Where’s a plague pit to open up beneath you when you need one?

In my novel The Pure Gold Baby, I set a scene of perfect happiness at the Ladies’ Pond. Anna, the protagonist’s daughter, now a young woman, is an eager swimmer, and Jessica, reading Proust, keeps half an eye on her as she lies on the grassy bank. “She sees the fringe of sallows and elders, she hears the slow strokes of an elderly stout swimmer, the ripple of water, the faint hum of hoverflies, the murmurs of conversation. But the experience has changed fundamentally in the last year. Many said the new regime had eliminated spontaneity and ruined the ambience and inclusive ethos of the ponds where everybody was equal. There’s a deep sense of a loss to the community.

During high season, in the warmer months, the council advises users to book online before coming in. Whereas during winter, pre-booking is unnecessary, as the ponds are relatively quiet. Created centuries ago, the Heath's chain of ponds are one of the sources of the River Fleet that runs subterraneously through London. Swimming in the Ladies' Pond's green, silty, silky waters, it's hard to avoid the feeling that you are moving through history and outside of time.