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Nov 7, 2026 · 6 min read
The first swim after the storm
The sea was the colour of slate and I went in anyway, and this is what I found there.
Nov 2, 2026 · 6 min read
Skin and the first minute
What the cold does to the body in sixty seconds, and what I have learned to do about it.
Nov 1, 2026 · 5 min read
Writing with cold hands
Why my best sentences come in the car park, before my fingers are working again.
Oct 31, 2026 · 5 min read
Twelve steps down to the sea
How a short walk to a slipway became the part of the day I think about most.
Oct 24, 2026 · 4 min read
What the flask is for
A small thing that has nothing to do with swimming and everything to do with afterwards.
Oct 24, 2026 · 5 min read
The long drive to the water
Forty minutes of fields in the half dark, and how the road becomes part of the swim.

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Cold Water Letters
An essay every Saturday: one swim, one thought and one small thing to notice in your own week.