There's water and then there's water

I hit a wall this morning at swim squad.  Metaphorically, you understand.  I started three weeks ago, to remedy my God-awful swim pace in open water events.

A mate suggested I join a squad as he'd found it had been very effective in increasing both fitness and pace.

The first lesson was mortifying.  Beached whale hardly does it justice.  But I've got to the point where I'm not entirely embarrassing myself, until today.  Not sure what caused it but I just felt spent from the moment I got in the water.

I got to thinking about comparing pool swimming to open water swimming and I'm convinced sea water has curative properties.  The cold (here in Cape Town the temperature is somewhere between 8 deg C, or 46 F and a max, on a really balmy day, of 16 deg C, or 60 F.) also does something to you.

Whenever I've done a good swim in the ocean I feel invigorated, energised, and positive about life.

The pool with its black line and walls just can't hold a candle to cold water swimming.  In the ocean, for me, it's never about speed.  It's about drifting over kelp beds, encountering the odd seal or dolphin and even having the odd argument with a cloud of jellies.  It's not exaggerating to say I'd rather endure their stings than swim in a chlorinated puddle of engineered water.

But I do have to admit it's making a difference to my pace, so I will put up with it.  Thank you Brian and the squad at Green Point Gym!

That's the thing about swimmers.  Whether they're pool fish or wild fish or do a bit of both, swimmers are some of the coolest, most unassuming, authentic people you can meet.  And that makes all the difference!

I'm swimming Robben Island in April ,and I need to be ready for that!!

Fortis in arduis!

"It ain't natural!" Really?

Ghanaian televangelist, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills in a recent sermon in Soweto, South Africa, takes a dig at same-sex relationships and seems to also endorse polygamous marriages.

I'm concerned that a pastor appears to think that if an antelope can have lots of wives it's cool for humans to do the same, but that because the antelope only mates with female antelopes, its not cool for humans to have same sex relationships.

So Dag appears to claim that because 'homosexuality is 'not found in nature' it's wrong, but polygamy is fine.

Really?

Are these websites lying?
Homsexual Behavior in Animals
Are there any Homosexual Animals?
Ten Animals that practice Homosexuality

Animals, like humans, also have sex for pleasure, not just procreation. Animals, like humans, also have a need for long-term relationships with a significant other. If some find these needs are met in a relationship with a mate of the same gender, then that's what happens. In nature.

So Bishop Dag, you talk horseshit. Homosexuality occurs in many species other than humans. If the term 'its natural' means that it occurs in nature, then fuck it, yes, it's natural.

I don't know if I should even be saying this but just so no-one thinks I'm driving my own agenda: I am a straight male.

But I have many friends and relatives who are gay and in same sex relationships. As someone who grew up in the theatre and television worlds, I've had many years to observe relationships in both hetero and homosexual relationships.

My view is that at the end of the day, whatever relationship you choose to have, with whatever gender, the same dynamics always come into play:

1) do you feed one another's souls?
2) are you secure and comfortable with your partner?
3) does your partner accept you for who you are and are they a positive influence in your life?
3) does your partner care for your well-being and make you feel loved and wanted?
4) can you trust one another?
5) can you satisfy one another emotionally, materially and sexually?
6) are you both law-abiding citizens and not a threat to any person's safety or to their constitutionally protected rights?

If you can answer yes to the above, then IT DOESN'T MATTER that you're Adam and Eve, Adam and Steve or Janet and Eve: you're doing GREAT and have an awesome relationship and should be a role model for others. You are amazing.

In fact, many same-sex couples I know provide a much more stable home life than a lot of straight couples I know.

So no church and no so called Bishop has any right to spout such crap from any pulpit.