Swimming in the Dee

I’ve been a bit grumpy this past week because sometimes it feels like the world is conspiring against me. Earlier in the year I planted lots of sweet pea seeds. Only one of them germinated and when it had grown to about 10cm tall I planted it at the base of the tree on the footpath outside our house. A week later my neighbour thought it was a weed and pulled it out. He was very apologetic about it. So then I gave up on the sweet peas and planted lots of other things at the base of the tree. A few weeks later someone parked their car on the pavement and on top of the flower bed, squashing the plants. Then last week the council contractors came round and sprayed all the plants and they died. In addition to this I had some server troubles last week with a website I’m managing for the Aberdeen Cycle Forum (thankfully that is sorted now), then there’s the pandemic, the economy, the uncertainty over when we will see our families again, and worst of all, my favourite charity shop is shut for the foresseeable future. Plus we haven’t been Newton Dee since March.

Fortunately I have my hobby which is crochet and I have been burying myself in it lately. This weekend I finished a pair of sneaker slippers.

I used a crochet pattern created by this amazing Norwegian lady living in Italy. I’ve got a few other of her patterns that I’m also making stuff with. I highly recommend them.

Victoria keeps me company.

Today was a good day. We went out on our bikes and found a perfect little spot by the River Dee. A friend told me about a nice place for wild swimming which we went in search of. I’m not going to disclose where this is except to say it’s the River Dee and in Aberdeen. We’re still confined to 5 miles from our home.

Isn’t this beautiful? I sometimes have to remind myself that I’m living in the third largest city in Scotland because at times it feels gloriously rural and remote.

I ventured in.

It was deeper here than where we went last time and so I was able to have a proper swim this time. I am a reasonably good swimmer. You can’t grow up in Australia and not be but I’m still pretty cautious and avoid the visible currents.

It’s so refreshing and wonderful. I couldn’t convince the kids to join me but they were happy enough talking to some ducks.

They both enjoyed the bike ride too.