NONDON ON THE RUN, SUMMER 2010: REUNITED WITH AN OLD FLAME FROM A PREVIOUS LIFE AT THE NONDON FIELDS LIDO. of 3rdlifekaidie - 5.83 miles - round trip print

Nondon has been acting up. We (and our MacBook Pro) are temperamental, but gosh, Nondon beats any body, hands down. True to her spirit, Nondon has been threatening to replace Summer, or the concept of Summer, with greyness, wetness, misery, bloody-mindedness, as she did last week. Afterall, sunniness does not fit the popular imagination of Nondon. In case Fall arrives prematurely, we rushed to the Lido today, our first ever this summer, or 'summer'.

Although 50m in length, the Lido was tiny. Once we went in (£4.15, plus 20p locker), we felt happy, as we were reunited with a great love from a previous life, chlorine. No thing beats the simple joy of doing 1.6km of laps up and down, under the sun, in the thick of chlorine. With chlorine, the endorphins kick in quick. Although they come more often now with running, it can still be a hit and miss. Swimming is easy; running is getting easy too, but running is rough. We left the pool, skin lathered in a comforting layer of chemical that we wish would never come off, our hair bleached more than ever before. At the exit, we saw photographs of swimmers during winter, in the snow. We have been in outdoor onsens in winter, but this is different. We must give this a go when it snows in Nondon next. It must feel exhilirating.

The trip there, via Upper Street-Essex Road-Middleton Road, was rather pleasant. A fat tabby cat came up to say hello, his tail in the air. The trip back, via Hackney Road - Kingsland Road- Old Street - City Road, was a little tragic. We adore cities because of crowds and noise, but today's pollution, visual and aural noise just did not work for us. We hadn't liked these areas before (THAT BLOODY OLD STREET ROUNDABOUT!!), and we still did not today. We will try again an other time.

Serpentine and Parliament Pill, here we come next. We must act, quick, before Fall befalls. Watch this space.