Like a drawn-out, lazy suicide attempt

I think I have decided what I will be doing to commemorate my birthday this year. I’m not talking about how I will celebrate, I’m talking about doing something specific that I’ve never done before that will make this particular birthday memorable and will be something I can always look back on in years to come.

I’ve been reading so much about winter open-water swimming that I think I might give it a go. Now I’m not gonna go mad and swim the length of the Suffolk coastline in some skimpy Speedos, and I’m not going to commit to making this a weekly or daily life-enhancing habit, but I am going to plunge into the sea on the afternoon of my birthday, just to see what it’s like, and just to say I have done it.

I shall be armed with large towels, a very warm dressing gown and a flask of hot coffee, I shall change back into warm things as quickly as is humanly possible, and then I shall enjoy an indulgent meal of some kind with my wife (possibly even fish and chips while still at the beach). The weekend will be the time for proper drinks and movies and snacks and family and friends, but the birthday itself, I have decided, will be about ‘The Plunge’.

It will either be the worst decision ever or a life-changing experience, I can’t see anything in between… 

RC 14-1-22