#it's not the mixed pond at hampstead heath

[larrylimericks]

27Dec23

Some boys be like, “I know a place...” Then take you to s̶t̶u̶n̶t̶ swim in a lake In water quite frigid And swim trunks quite fitted, Hitties free, beanie locked into place.

[niamflopped]

The latest in the fake Londoners saga - letdown imbeciles are claiming that the Men's Pond on Hampstead Heath is no longer a cruising ground for gay men, and nor is Hampstead Heath itself. The level of ignorance on there is terrifying.

Gay West Heath really is, like much of the gay scene, the most mixed of bags: lawyers get it on with barrow boys, multimillionaires with the unemployed - even celebrities with other celebrities. The male only Bathing Pond Hampstead Heath is in summer the hot spot for London boys to swim and cruise around. The Male Only swimming pond (Highgate Bathing Ponds) is to be found east section of the Hampstead Heath.The closest tube and rail way station is Gospel Oak. To access the pond there is a very cruisy changing area. Left from it you will also find a separate nude sunbathing area. In the fenced enclosure nudity is de rigeur amongst the regulars - the serious swimmers, chess players, weight-lifters, readers and sunbathers for whom this is a sort of club. Out on the springboards and in the water, costumes are required.

https://www.nighttours.com/london/gayguide/hampstead-heath-ponds.html

[taruntravell]

The Prettiest Places In London Every Traveller Needs To Visit

London is a city known for its rich history, stunning architecture, and vibrant culture. There are countless beautiful places to explore, but here are some of the prettiest places in London that every traveler should consider visiting:

Tower Bridge: This iconic drawbridge is not only a marvel of engineering but also a beautiful sight, especially when it's illuminated at night.

The Shard: Head to the Shard's observation deck for breathtaking panoramic views of London, especially at sunset or after dark when the city is lit up.

Buckingham Palace: The official residence of the British monarch, Buckingham Palace, is a stunning building with its famous Changing of the Guard ceremony.

St. Paul's Cathedral: This architectural masterpiece designed by Sir Christopher Wren is not only beautiful from the outside but also offers a remarkable view from its dome.

Notting Hill: Explore the colorful streets and charming houses of Notting Hill, made famous by the movie of the same name.

Kew Gardens: This botanical garden is a peaceful oasis with beautifully landscaped gardens, greenhouses, and treetop walks.

Hampstead Heath: For a natural escape within the city, visit Hampstead Heath, a large park with ponds, meadows, and stunning views of London from Parliament Hill.

The Royal Parks: London boasts several royal parks, including Hyde Park, Regents Park, and Greenwich Park, all of which offer lush greenery and gorgeous landscapes.

Westminster Abbey: This historic church is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture and is renowned for its stunning stained glass windows and intricate stone carvings.

The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben: The neo-Gothic architecture of the Houses of Parliament and the iconic clock tower, Big Ben, make for an iconic and beautiful sight along the River Thames.

The British Museum: While the interior is filled with incredible artifacts, the museum's exterior is an architectural gem, especially the Great Court with its glass roof.

Covent Garden: This lively area is filled with street performers, shops, and restaurants, and its central piazza is a beautiful spot to people-watch.

The Serpentine in Hyde Park: Take a leisurely boat ride on the Serpentine or simply enjoy the view of this picturesque lake.

Richmond Park: Famous for its free-roaming deer, Richmond Park offers stunning views of the city skyline, especially from King Henry's Mound.

Columbia Road Flower Market: On Sundays, this vibrant flower market in East London transforms the street into a colorful oasis.

Leadenhall Market: A covered Victorian market with ornate architecture that has appeared in several films, including the Harry Potter series.

Southbank: The area along the south bank of the River Thames offers great views of the city skyline, and you can enjoy street art, food markets, and cultural events.

Primrose Hill: Climb to the top of this hill in Regent's Park for one of the best panoramic views of London.

Camden Market: Known for its eclectic and alternative vibe, Camden Market is a vibrant place to explore with interesting shops and street art.

Greenwich: The Royal Observatory, the Cutty Sark, and the stunning architecture in this area make Greenwich a must-visit, especially for its maritime history.

These are just a few of the prettiest places in London that offer a mix of natural beauty, architectural wonders, and cultural richness, making your trip to the city an unforgettable experience.

[wellthatwasaletdown]

Hampstead Heath have three ponds; the male, the female and the mixed ponds. He’s probably at the mare one because he’s probably not going to be harassed anywhere near as much as the mixed one. It’s got nothing to do with sexuality

I literally just said this. Ending this discussion because it's pointless and going in circles.

[bayswaterinn]

7 Unusual Tourist Attractions in London

There is so much to see in London beyond the London Eye and Buckingham Palace. Naturally, London’s most popular spots are worthy of a visit and should not be overlooked. But, when staying in Hyde Park Corner hotels you can look forward to exploring some of London’s unusual tourist attractions.  

London’s Smallest Police Station

London’s Smallest Police Station is located in the corner of Trafalgar Square near the Strand. It’s around the size of a phone box with an old-fashioned large lamp on top of the unit and narrow slits for windows. There is just enough space for one police officer to stand inside; it’s usually locked but you can peek inside.

Italian Gardens

 Hyde Park is always popular but few tourists know about the Italian Gardens. These are located in the northern part of the park, far from the boating lake. Conceived as a gift from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria, the plot consists of fountains and statues. Grab an early breakfast in Bayswater London and then swing by first thing when the park is tranquil and the light is perfect for photography.

London’s urban farms

There are several little farms dotted around London where you will meet livestock and learn about modern-day agriculture. Farms are free to visit but donations are always appreciated and you can dine at the complex cafes or pick up a small souvenir. London’s urban farms include Vauxhall City Farm, Spitalfields City Farm, Stepney City Farm, and Surrey Docks City Farm.

Westminster Cathedral 

Not to be confused with Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral is a Byzantine-style house of worship that sought inspiration from the mosques of Istanbul. You can visit the nave for free to ogle the splendid marble and mosaics. Do not miss this cathedral while staying at a hotel near Buckingham Palace.

River or canal kayaking

You can kayak either on the River Thames or on the Regent’s Canal. London Kayak Company conducts guided river tours in Central London with their night kayak being particularly special. On the other hand, Moo Canoes operate from Limehouse Basin and Hackney Wick from where you can self-paddle the canal ways.

Filming locations of London

Countless films and TV series have been filmed in London. One of the kookiest free things to do in London is to track down the spots where your favourite films were shot. Find William and Spike’s flat at 280 Westbourne Park Road from Notting Hill. Visit the Old Naval College at Greenwich and see where the finale of Thor: The Dark World was made. If you’re travelling with kids, lure them out of Central London hotels with triple rooms with the promise of seeing as many Harry Potter filming locations as possible.

Hampstead Ponds

Head to Hampstead Heath on a hot afternoon and you can plunge into natural ponds for a spot of wild swimming. There is a small fee to pay and you’re best booking a slot in advance. Take your pick from the women’s pond, men’s pond, or mixed pond. The water is deep so novice swimmers and children must take extra care.

[heathrowhotel]

6 Unique Date Ideas in London

As one of the largest cities in the world, there’s no shortage of beautiful and romantic places in London for a date. But every so often, you might want to break from convention and plan an unusual date. During your next stay at Grand Park Hotel Heathrow, take inspiration from this guide to the most unique date ideas in London.

Swim at Hampstead Ponds

Wild swimming in a major metropolis might sound peculiar but this is a possibility while in London. Besides its sprawl of woodlands and meadows, Hampstead Heath features three open-air bathing pools where you can savour the experience of swimming in natural water!. These are divided into the women’s pond, the men’s pond, and the mixed pond. You can visit the ponds for a small fee which makes this one of the most economical date ideas for those staying at a budget hotel near Heathrow Airport.

Visit a museum after hours

One of the best things to do in London is to visit some of the several hundred museums and art galleries. However, you can make the experience more unusual when you visit as part of the Museum Lates scheme. Many of the museums host monthly or ad hoc Lates events where the doors remain open until late. As well as seeing the permanent galleries and special exhibitions, the events often feature talks, interactive activities, silent discos, and the option to buy food or drink. Some museums are open exclusively to an 18+ audience. 

Kayak on the River Thames

Adventurous couples can tackle the River Thames via kayak as an exciting date activity! Kayaking tours typically run between Battersea and Greenwich or Poplar and Tower Bridge. London Kayak Company schedules guided kayak trips during the day as well as at night for an even more memorable experience. 

Relax at Osterley Park and House

This neoclassical house and landscaped garden is a charming destination for couples who appreciate architecture and green space. As well as touring the interiors of the mansion, you can wander around the woodlands and lake while having a heart-to-heart. Pack a picnic or stop for lunch at the property cafe. Osterley Park and House is convenient for guests of hotels near London Heathrow.

Join a workshop

Brush up on your skills by enrolling in a workshop or short course in London. You can find such activities as pottery making, live drawing, cheese making, and terrarium making. Most of these courses last a couple of hours, a half day, or a full day. Which means that you can coincide it with a spot of sightseeing and be back at hotels near Osterley Tube Station for dinner. 

Visit a pop-up cinema 

Revamp cinema date nights when you stay at Grand Park Hotel Heathrow over the summer. London erupts with pop-up cinema screens where you can watch recent releases and classic films beneath the stars. Check what’s on with Pop Up Screens, the Luna Cinema, and the Rooftop Film Club. Remember to take a blanket and plenty of popcorn. 

[oldgooddaysoldgooddays]

78

“Did you ever hook up with anybody here?”, I ask J as we tread water in the Hampstead mixed ponds, pushing away the algae. “No, never”, he says. Quiet. “Actually once I saw someone I’d already been messaging with on Grindr and we gave each other handjobs in a bush”. So that’s a yes, I say, and as I laugh the pond water gets in my mouth I haven’t been swimming here in years and once I decided I was going to swim with J on Thursday, I fixated on the idea. The pond Twitter account put the water temperature at 21 degrees Celsius, but I believe this to be a lie, it was cold as hell. I revel in the agony of it like a bargain basement Wim Hof. J says he “saw some anchovies” in the water the previous week and I tell him I think you only call them anchovies once they’re a culinary item. “It’s like saying you saw some beefs in a field, with their little veals”, I say, grabbing onto a buoy. We cackle. But later it will turn out J was right, they’re just called anchovies all the time We walk to warm up after the cold water, our skin brackish. I tell J I feel so fucking good and want to go back in. He tells me about the double blind DMT trial he took part in last month, to determine its effects on depression. Told me it was brutal, that it began as 2D shapes dancing on his vision, and then a whole alternate world revealed itself. “But this other world had a seriousness to it”, J says, “it was as though that world was always there and will always be there, lurking”. He cried a lot as the trip came to a close. I say, “holy shit, can you imagine if this was the placebo the whole time”. I know, right. A fat bristly dog is walked past us. I remember the views at the top of the Heath actually never get old Over lunch - soup and strawberry juice - J seems hell bent on coming to New York in September and even goes so far as to ask whether the gallery would pay for his hotel. Hell no, I say, and change the subject. I forget the madness of being broke, and the brazen requests it brings out. I am sympathetic but thoroughly turned off. I usher the conversation to when we went to Moscow together in 2015 and a friend hailed us a “taxi” that was just a man who happened to be driving down the freeway at the right time, and whose car was missing most of its floor. This same friend, a young girl with a jowly millionaire sugar daddy, told us she shaved her arms. J had wrapped a blanket with a Campari logo on it around me as I shuddered at the arm shaving. We reminisce about the quality of the Russian breakfast buffet at our hotel, the tiny Eggs Benedict and the many colours of roe and the radicchio I drive J home and realise too late I drove through a road I wasn’t allowed to drive through. I’ll wait for the fine to land in my accountant’s mailbox. I get home and itch for things to do before L and I are interviewed over Zoom. She’s in Vienna ordering sausage-based snacks to her hotel room. K says she’s jealous of the availability of ponds in London, but that she still hates London. She knew a man here ten years ago called Heathcote who she claims had too many names to fit on a credit card

[cynicalclassicist]

TURN BACK

Written by Chris Newton

This isn’t mine but was done by another of the Lockdown writers who very kindly sent it to me.

There it was again: that fluttering, rattling, scuttling noise. It sounded like grasping pincers, snapping mandibles and probing antennae. It felt like something was on her back. For some reason, it was an oddly familiar sensation. 

Donna Temple-Noble knew that things had not been right for a while. 

Things were fine in her life. After a decade of marriage, both she and Shaun were still very happy and very much in love. They had been determined that their big lottery win wouldn’t change them and, for the most part, it hadn’t. They lived in a ten bedroom mansion Highgate with two acres of land, owned a holiday villa in Spain, and had been able to afford to send Joshua and Ella to an incredibly expensive private school – but otherwise, they still went to watch West Ham every Saturday (albeit in their own executive box), still kept in touch with all their old friends (even Nerys), and eschewed fancy restaurants and glitzy parties in favour of Friday nights in on the sofa watching Love Island and eating Pringles. 

But something was wrong with the world. Her high school boyfriend, Mathew Richards, had always been going on about global warming back in the 90s, but as far as Donna had been concerned somebody was always banging on about the end of the world, whether it was the Millennium Bug, or Mayan calendars or Hadron Colliders… But what did that have to do with her life? She could hardly see which type of milk she put in her tea affected the wider world. 

But things began to get so bad that even Donna noticed. On her eighty-inch TV, she saw bush fires in Australia, David Attenborough showing the ice caps melting and an ocean filled with plastic. And then the Sontaran virus came – the lockdowns, the curfews, and the restrictions. But not even a global pandemic could prevent the USA from imploding in a civil war. The Zygon president had attempted to form a dictatorship when he lost the election and all hell had broken loose. 

Donna knew they were lucky, they were far away from the fighting and they could afford regular deliveries of fresh food, and had a huge garden with their own private swimming pool to occupy them in quarantine. The first lockdown had almost been like a holiday for the Temple-Nobles; the kids cannon balling into the water, Donna and Shaun sunning themselves on loungers, barbeques, cocktails. Their autumn lockdown consisted of bonfires and marshmallows, thick jumpers and flasks of hot chocolate as they told ghost stories on Halloween and twirled sparklers on Bonfire Night. It was almost perfect.

Almost… But not. Because for all the comfort their money could buy them, there was one problem wealth could not solve. 

Donna’s Grandfather, Wilf, was now ninety-one. A few years ago, after a fall, had moved into a care home. Donna made sure he received the best care possible, and paid for him to go to a lovely facility just near Hampstead Heath, that way they were practically neighbours. Before the virus, she had visited him every day without fail. His memory had been growing steadily worse; sometimes he called her Sylvia, and occasionally Louise, for some reason, but he never forgot that she was his granddaughter, and more than not greeted her by saying ‘Wahey, here she is! The Little General!’ which had been his nickname for her when she was little. 

But since lockdown, she had been unable to visit him. She knew it was for the best, for the safety of her grandfather and for the other residents in the home, but it didn’t change the fact that it felt as though a huge part of her had been ripped away. His dementia had worsened, the staff had told her over the phone, and he had been repeatedly talking about a spaceman in a flying blue box. 

She had managed to arrange a videocall with her grandfather, a favour from one of the nurses at the home. She sat waiting for him to answer, full of fear and trepidation. Always wondering which visit would be the one where he failed to recognise her entirely. 

“Wahey, here she is! The Little General!” Wilf’s face filled the screen of her phone. 

“Hiya Gramps!” Donna’s eyes welled with tears of joy at the sight of her grandfather. 

“Blimey, how’d you get inside this little tablet thingy?” he chuckled.  “Must be bigger on the inside,” he muttered with a strange, faraway look in his rheumy eyes, as though he were trying to remember something. 

“You don’t half come out with some rubbish!” she laughed. “We had a bonfire in the garden on the 5th. You know, jacket potatoes in tin foil, passing round a thermos of tea. Reminded me of the old days, up the hill at your allotment, remember?”

“Mmmm,” he smiled distantly, before his face crumpled in confusion. “’Ere, where’s the Doctor?”

“You’ve already seen the doctor, Gramps. Remember? He put you on those new pills.”

“No, not him. The skinny one. Isn’t he with you? He usually is.”

“Why would he be with me you daft old thing? I’m fit and healthy, thank you very much. Touch wood,” she tapped her head. “Don’t need a doctor.”

“I think you do,” Wilf mumbled. “I think we all do. He’d sort out this bleedin’ virus.”

“They’ll have a vaccine before you know it, Gramps. You’ll be round ours for Christmas dinner, just you wait and see.”

“That’ll be nice,” he grinned. “How’s Lance, then? He alright?”

“Shaun, granddad, I’m married to Shaun. Lance… had to go away.”

“Oh. Well, it’s probably for the best. I never did like him much.” 

Donna couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“The kids want these flippin’ animatronic Baby Yoda dolls for Christmas,” she changed the subject. “Honestly, it’s Star Wars this, Star Trek that… and that other one. You know, the time travel one? No idea where they get it from, I was never into any of that sci-fi rubbish.” 

“Donna…” Wilf cried, a sudden urgency in his voice.

“Yes, Gramps?” she swallowed nervously, it had been a long time since he had called her by her name. “What is it?”

“There’s something on your back.”

The words chilled her, although she had no idea what they meant. She felt her right hand darting involuntarily over her shoulder expecting to feel… what, exactly? Something creeping, crawling, insectoid… she shivered. 

“There’s nothing there. Honestly, what are you on about?”

“He was only trying to help, but it’s gone wrong again. It wasn’t a fixed point, you see? It was one of those… Temporal wotsits.”

Donna took a deep breath.

“I think you’re getting mixed up again, Gramps.”

“Hmm?” he looked at her, his eyes full of warmth, kindness and confusion. “So how’s Lance, then? He alright?”

“Yes, Gramps. Lance is fine.”

“Oh, that’s good. I always liked him. Oh, I’ve got to go. The nurse wants her tablet back. When are you coming to see me?”

“As soon as I can, Gramps. I promise. As soon as I can.”

“Well, I’ll look forward to it. Ta-da sweetheart.”

“Bye,” she stifled a tear as the screen became blurry, before Wilf’s face was replaced by a blonde-haired woman.

“Donna Noble!” the stranger grinned irrepressibly 

“Oh, hi,” Donna swiftly composed herself. “Are you the nurse? Thanks so much for letting me speak to him…”

“Yeah. Well, I’m a Doctor, actually. Although a lot of people assume I’m a nurse these days. Bit annoying, really. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a nurse, mind! If it’s good enough for Rory Pond, it’s good enough for me.”

The blonde woman was still grinning.

“Oh my god,” Donna’s mouth fell open. “I know you!”

“No! No – that’s not possible!” The Doctor’s face paled.

“I knew I recognised you.”

“Listen to me – you cannot know who I am…”

“You’re Leanne Battersby. From Corrie!”

“What?”

“Ha! Just wait ’til I tell Nerys, she’ll be well jealous.” Donna snorted.

The Doctor harrumphed. 

“Leane Batt… Actually, you know what? If it stops your neural receptors from combusting then fine. Fine! Yeah. Leanne Battersby at your service. If you think I’m just an actress from Coronation Street then it’s safe for us to talk. Well, I say safe… safe-ish. By which I mean not very dangerous. Okay, maybe it’s a little bit dangerous. Put it this way: your mind won’t burn, but you might end up forgetting your old mate Susie Mair.”

“Susie Who?”

“Exactly. Anyway, we don’t have long… I need to get back in Wilf’s wardrobe before the Sontarans triangulate my signal. I’m telling you, this has been a long eight months. But your grandfather’s right: there is something on your back. Again. Or maybe for the first time – it all gets a bit wibbley with alternate dimensions. But there’s something on your back, and I’m really sorry, but it hitched a ride on a lottery ticket.”

“What on Earth are you on about?”

“Not on Earth, actually, Shan Shen,” the Doctor said, and then winced. “Oops! Shouldn’t have said that. Might have deleted another scene. Remember that time you were one the phone to Veena in the kitchen and you heard that strange wheezing, groaning sound coming from outside?”

“No?”

“Probably for the best.”

“What’s going on? And why are you in my Granddad’s wardrobe? Do I need to call social services, ’cause don’t think I won’t, blondie!”

“I need you to trust me. What was the name of that TV show where the kid in the blindfold had to be guided through the dungeon by their mates?”

“Knightmare?” 

“Yes! That’s the one. I need you to be my Dungoneer. I don’t have a Helmet of Justice so you’ll just have to close your eyes.”

“Close my eyes??” 

“I know I’m asking a lot, Donna, but Wilf trusts me, and that’s all I can tell you. But be honest – you know something’s wrong, don’t you? You can feel something digging into your shoulders, can’t you?”

Donna nodded. There was no denying it, and for some inexplicable reason, she felt she could trust this woman, even though the reason seemed distant and out of reach. Donna closed her eyes. 

The strange woman on the phone guided her out of the house, past a row of trees and to the telephone box at the end of the road. Funny, Donna thought, she didn’t remember there being a telephone box there. She hadn’t seen a proper one for years. 

Following the Doctor’s instructions, Donna pulled the handle and the door creaked open as she stepped inside. Instinctively, she reached out for the mounted payphone, but her fingers met only empty air. Perhaps it wasn’t an operating phone box anymore? It probably housed a defibrillator instead. She was tempted to have a peek and find out.

“Don’t even think about opening your eyes,” the Doctor snapped, somehow reading her thoughts, “if you open your eyes, your brain will hyperpodulate.”

“Hyer-what-you-what? I want you to know I’m taking a lot on faith here, Battersby! And if this is a wind-up, then so help me god...” 

Donna’s threat was drowned out the VROOP-VROOPING of ancient engines that at once sounded utterly alien and distantly familiar to her, like hearing a half-remembered nursery rhyme from childhood. 

She heard the telephone box door creak open again, and a rush of cold air from outside. Strange, it didn’t feel like the smoky air of the November street she had come from. It felt crisper, fresher. She could hear the merry peal of church bells. There isn’t a church that close to my house, she thought, puzzled.

“You can come out now. Walk forwards but keep your eyes closed for a moment.”

Donna did as she was told. She felt grass beneath her feet as the VROOP-VROOPING resumed and then faded, drowned out by the sound of the bells. 

“You can open you eyes now,” the woman on the phone was now stood in front of her, but that was the least surprising thing to Donna. 

“But, how…” Donna looked down at herself. “I’m in my wedding dress. I don’t understand?” The two of them were stood by an old lychgate. Donna looked ahead – there was the church where she had married Shaun. Discarded confetti swirled about her ankles. There were guests milling about ahead – there was her grandfather’s friend Minnie Hooper. Minnie the Menace he used to call her! Although Donna was sure she’d heard that Minnie had died recently. Nevertheless, there she was, full of joy and life. And there was Nerys in her hideous peach dress! 

“What year is this?” asked Donna.

“2010,” said the Doctor.

“This is my wedding day. How is this even possible?”

“The time differential’s trying to reconcile there being two of you here at the same time. Hence the dress. It’s tricky with parallel universes. Anyway, ‘how’ isn’t important right now. What’s important is that somebody just gave you a lottery ticket as a wedding present.”

“I know, cheapskate.” 

“You’re about to win a triple rollover.” 

“Yeah, well…” 

“The thing is, Donna – the man gave you that ticket – he meant well, but he was meddling with things that shouldn’t have been meddled with. He was young – still in his Time Lord Victorious phase.”

“I don’t understand a single word you’re saying.”

“You know that theory that a butterfly fluttering its wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world? Well, time’s like that. Small, trivial things can cause ripples which alter the course of history. The truth is: you didn’t win that money. At least, not originally. You took one look at that ticket and ripped it up. Remember? The first dance at your wedding reception was Can’t Buy Me Love.”

“No… that’s not right,” said Donna. It couldn’t be. She knew that hadn’t happened. Their first dance had been 2 Become 1 by Spice Girls. So why could she remember dancing to The Beatles with Shaun?

“Nobody won the lottery that week – and the next week it was a quadruple rollover! A boy called Michael Finch won it. He was only sixteen. Imagine that! First time he’d ever played. Great kid. A friend of mine met his dad once. Long story. Anyway, I’m sorry Donna, but Michael didn’t spend it on cars and holiday homes and private pools. He invested in the future: green initiatives, healthcare, education… When the Sontarans released their virus, Earth was ready for it. Plus, the United States didn’t have a Zygon for a president. Well, they did actually, but she’s one of the nice ones. But shh, don’t tell anyone.”

“You know what,” said Donna. “I don’t think you really are Leanne Battersby, are you?”

“No.”

“But I do know you, don’t I?”

“Yes.”

“And that’s… bad? My head hurts…” Donna cupped her forehead in her palm.

“Yes. It’s very bad,” said the Doctor. “But it’s okay. Because if you tear up that lottery ticket and let Michael Finch win it instead, then you’ll change the future and we’ll never have met. Well, not like this anyway.” 

“This is crazy. How is any of this possible?”

“My fault, I’m afraid. A long time ago, you had an encounter with a Time Beetle – and this is the gross part, sorry – Time Beetles can lay eggs beneath the hosts’ skin. They lie dormant, sometimes indefinitely, until the host encounters a significant temporal junction – in your case a lottery win that could change the course of human history. You were never supposed to have this life, Donna. You were supposed to tear up the ticket.”

More non-memories were flooding Donna’s mind – the years of living on the breadline in Chiswick, living with the regret of their lost fortune. A bank holiday weekend in Blackpool with the kids, having her fortune told by the strange little woman in the kiosk on the pier… Voicing her regret aloud and wishing she could go back to the day of her wedding and keep that winning ticket. 

That couldn’t be right… They never took the kids to Blackpool. Their holidays had been in Cyprus and Malaga, they’d splashed out on luxury round-the-world cruises. But she remembered it so vividly: the rattle of the trams, the glare of the illuminations, the taste of the chips, the seagulls crying overhead. 

“But we’ll have nothing. I can’t go back to the way we used to live: hand to mouth, never knowing where next month’s rent is coming from. What about Ella and Josh? They’ll be born with nothing.”

“Donna Temple-Noble, listen to me,” the Doctor gazed at her sternly. “You’ll have everything. You’ll have each other.” 

Donna looked back over to the church – there was Wilf! – still spry at eighty and fighting off Minnie’s advances as ever. And there was Shaun – so handsome in his wedding suit! She couldn’t believe how young he looked. 

The Doctor was right. Donna thought of how happy they had been during lockdown, not because they were comfortable, but because they had each other. The tweet-a-longs, the virtual gigs, the walks in the woods, the disastrous attempts at baking, standing on their doorstep and clapping for U.N.I.T…. She hadn’t put two and two together until she’d been speaking to her grandfather: but it had been the first time in her married life – the first time as a mother – that she had somehow recaptured that magic of sitting in her grandfather’s allotment with a flask of tea and gazing at the stars. 

At the time Donna had felt as though she were longing for adventure, as though the stars held some inexplicable magic, but now she knew that the magic had been right there in the allotment all along. She no longer yearned for adventure, but longed instead to return to those simple days. She never could, of course. Wilf’s star was fading, but her own was rising. She thought back to the old world of financial hardship: rented flats, being plunged into darkness when the electricity meter ran out, payday loans and minimum wage temp jobs. There would be struggles but there would also be magic. There would be stories by candlelight, cartoons and warm milk before bed in the precious few years before Joshua and Ella became moody teenagers. There would be games in the park. There would be home cooked meals, and there would be telly and Pringles on the sofa on Friday nights. 

There would be family. 

Donna turned to speak to the blonde woman, but the stranger was gone, so she hitched up her wedding dress and hurried over to her husband. 

“Who were you talking to?” he asked.

“A friend,” Donna smiled.

“What’s her name?”

“I can’t remember,” she said. It was strange, the name was on the tip of her tongue, but it had gone. She decided it didn’t matter.

“Give us that lottery ticket, will you?” Donna asked. (She had entrusted it into Shaun’s safe keeping. There were still no pockets in wedding dresses.)

“Why, you got a good feeling about it?” he asked, taking it from his pocket and handing it to his bride.

“Yeah. As a matter of fact, I have,” said Donna Temple-Noble as she tore up the ticket, and a great weight lifted from her shoulders.

[strangenewfriends]

Omg your anon about Harry not being able to go places alone because he’s in a relationship? Maybe he wanted to get out and knew he’d feel comfortable there lollll who knows. I never heard this story!

What the anon is referring to is where Harry met the man who interviewed him for Vogue, Hamish Bowles, for his interview. It’s talked about at the beginning of the article. I will post the relevant bits (the .... is where I removed some in the interest of brevity, but I’m linking to the whole article):

“ THE MEN’S BATHING POND in London’s Hampstead Heath at daybreak on a gloomy September morning seemed such an unlikely locale for my first meeting with Harry Styles, music’s legendarily charm-heavy style czar, that I wondered perhaps if something had been lost in translation. But then there is Styles, cheerily gung ho, hidden behind a festive yellow bandana mask and a sweatshirt of his own design, surprisingly printed with three portraits of his intellectual pinup, the author Alain de Botton. “I love his writing,” says Styles. “I just think he’s brilliant. I saw him give a talk about the keys to happiness, and how one of the keys is living among friends, and how real friendship stems from being vulnerable with someone.” ...... “ That sweatshirt and the Columbia Records tracksuit bottoms are removed in the quaint wooden open-air changing room, with its Swallows and Amazons vibe. A handful of intrepid fellow patrons in various states of undress are blissfully unaware of the 26-year-old supernova in their midst, although I must admit I’m finding it rather difficult to take my eyes off him, try as I might.”.....”We take the piratical gangplank that juts into the water and dive in. Let me tell you, this is not the Aegean. The glacial water is a cloudy phlegm green beneath the surface, and clammy reeds slap one’s ankles. Styles, who admits he will try any fad, has recently had a couple of cryotherapy sessions and is evidently less susceptible to the cold. By the time we have swum a full circuit, however, body temperatures have adjusted, and the ice, you might say, has been broken. Duly invigorated, we are ready to face the day. Styles has thoughtfully brought a canister of coffee and some bottles of water in his backpack, and we sit at either end of a park bench for a socially distanced chat.”

From what I have read, it’s an open air swimming pond in Hampstead Heath, where there are a series of swimming ponds. There’s two “single sex” bathing ponds--one for men, which it seems Harry was swimming in, and one for women--and a mixed bathing pond for all genders. It’s for “competent swimmers only” and kids only allowed with supervision. It’s open to everyone but has a history and importance in the gay community and is known as gay friendly.

[hookedontaronfics]

First Contact series - Part 5

Title: First Contact - Part 5 Read the previous installments here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Rating: M Pairing: Taron x OC Warnings: Some mild cursing, brief sexual mention A/N: Jess and Taron have a perfect summer day together, but will her insecurities get in the way? I hope you love reading the fifth installment of the First Contact series as much I have loved writing it. The series will eventually involve more mature themes as it develops, so be warned! Enjoy! x

The day had dawned hot and steamy, and transitioned full on into boiling by the time my boss cut work short for everyone. Our office didn’t have air conditioning, and everyone was starting to feel ill from the sticky air in our high rise. No amount of fans could seem to relieve it, and most of the men had loosed their ties and collars. I could feel the heat from the baked concrete of the sidewalk burning through the soles of my shoes as I walked quickly toward the tube station, hoping there would be some relief underground.

The cafe tables on the sidewalks that were usually so full for lunch hour were completely empty, and the few people scurrying about were sticking to the shadows cast by shop awnings. I’d felt temperatures like this in my hometown in America almost every summer, but air conditioning was everywhere across the pond. The heat felt much different when you couldn’t get away from it.

I texted my flatmates to see how they were surviving the heat. Jules complained it was brutal and then said she and Mary were just planning on heading to Hampstead Heath; there really was no other way to deal then to wade neck-up into the bathing pool.

<Oh God, that sounds perfect. We closed shop early and I’m heading back. Wait for me!> I quickly texted back. I caught the train and was soon back at the flat. My friends were already clad in bikinis under their summer clothes, waiting impatiently on me to arrive. Even Tim looked uncomfortable in the stuffy flat, and I felt bad for him.

I quickly changed into the floral high-waisted bikini my friends had convinced me to buy. I was a bit self-conscious about my love handles and stomach, but they swore up and down it highlighted my curves in all the right places. Still, next to my willowy friends, I sometimes felt like a bit of a lard. But today was too hot to care about how I looked, so I pulled on a pair of shorts and a tee over the swimsuit and stuffed the essentials like sunscreen and a hat into my beach bag.

“Alright?” I said, as Jules gave me a once-over and tsk’d slightly. She walked over to me and grabbed the hem and material of my baggy shirt, quickly doing a knot in it and tucking it under so it was not only a lot more form fitting, but also showed my midriff slightly.

“Now we’re ready,” she smiled, waving her finger in my face when I tried to protest. “You’ve got a figure all the guys would die to be with.”

“Jules!” I groaned slightly. 

“Oh we know,” Mary said with a smirk. “There’s only one person you want to be with right now, and so far that hasn’t happened yet. You just need to get laid!” she added with a squeal.

“We are not having this conversation right now!” I yelled, yanking open the door as my roommates just cackled and followed along. 

As we walked back toward the tube entrance, my mind shifted to Taron, whom I hadn’t seen for the past week or so since I’d been sick. We’d been texting most days, and even tried to make plans, but he’d had to cancel and apologized profusely for not being available to see me. I understood being a busy adult; I’d had my own share of things to get done. I found that I missed him, though, and I was surprised by the yearning to see him smile at me again.

Almost as if my thoughts had summoned him, my phone pinged with a text. <I think I’m melting. It’s bloody hot. Hope you’re getting on okay.>

<Just heading to Hampstead now with the girls. Our flat was suffocating.>

<Likely the only thing to do today> he responded.

In some strange dash of courage, I decided to suggest he join us. <Bring your mates> I added hopefully. <It’ll be fun.>

“Who are you texting?” Mary asked, making me jump slightly. I hadn’t realized I’d totally zoned out of the conversation with my friends.

“Just Taron,” I replied, my heart stupidly starting to race as I waited for his response.

“So when’s he going to take you out again?” Jules asked, poking me in the side. “Or is he one of those slow-burn types?”

“He’s busy! He’s got plenty more important things to deal with then me,” I defended. “Besides, I’m sure if it got out that he was dating a nobody the internet would shit itself. He’s probably been coached on this a great deal.”

“You’re not a nobody, Jess,” Mary said, sympathetically. “You’re really brilliant and if he doesn’t see that then he’s blind.” 

“Yeah, fuck what the internet thinks,” Jules added, an older lady huffing disprovingly at the language. “You’re an absolute catch.” I truly had the best roommates a girl could ask for.

Just then, my phone screen lit up again with Taron’s response. <I’ve got something later today but I don’t see why I can’t drop by for a bit. See you soon.> The thrill that ran through me was undeniable.

We grabbed another train and no one seemed remotely bothered by our decided lack of clothing, as everyone was too hot to care. We rumbled our way to Hampstead, knowing it would be crazy busy with everyone else having the same idea. There were only a couple of sparse clouds in the sky as we paid our fare, and I suggested we go to the mixed pool this time instead of the ladies only. My friends both gave me looks, and I had to admit that Taron was supposed to be bringing a few friends along to join us.

“Oh my god, when were you going to tell us!” Jules squealed at me.

“I don’t know! I didn’t want you both to give me shit!” I laughed, as Mary joined in on the excited squealing.

“You’re going to see Taron shirtless ... in person,” Jules said wickedly. “Maybe he’ll even ask you to rub sunscreen on his back, eh?” she said, digging her elbow into my side.

“Ow!” I laughed, grabbing my side and being reminded of how not-skinny I was. “Or he’ll take one look at me in my suit and run screaming the other way.”

“Oh please,” Jules said, as Mary sighed. “You’re totally hot.”

“Yeah, I am hot, sweltering really, and it’s about time we got in this bloody pool,” I laughed, trying to ignore my insecurities about my body as we found a place to dump our stuff, tore off our outer clothes, and ran straight into the water, probably amusing everyone around us as we shrieked about how cold it was.

“That’s one way to cool off,” Mary laughed, her teeth chattering a bit.

“You’ll get used to it soon enough,” Jules grinned as we bobbed there in the water like everyone else. Just a bunch of heads floating about, I giggled at the stupidity of that thought. We chatted for a bit and grew accustomed to the water, and I tried not to stare at the shoreline too much in anticipation. I didn’t exactly want to come across as desperate. We eventually clambered out of the water to try and soak up some sun, spraying on sunscreen and laying out on our towels.

I was just about to think Taron would stand us up when I heard his laugh floating across the grounds to us. I sat up and instantly wrapped my towel around myself. “Hey hey hey ladies!” he grinned, holding out his arms wide as he strolled up, a cap pulled low and his sunnies giving him a bit of a chance to not be immediately recognized. He had two friends with him who were both quite fit themselves, but I only had eyes for Taron as the three of them settled in on the ground with us. Jules and Mary were quite beside themselves. “Well look at that, we match up. These are my mates, Jack and Gavin,” he said with a grin.

We introduced ourselves as well, though I was pretty sure somewhere in a hazy memory of the karaoke bar we’d all met Jack before, but Gavin was new, and Jules had instantly started chatting him up.

“I’m glad you made it,” I smiled at Taron, admiring him just a bit in the tanktop and swim shorts he was wearing. Boy if I didn’t just burn up right then and there, I thought.

“I’m glad I did too,” he grinned back. “I’ve been missing you.”

“You have?” I asked, biting my lip a bit shyly.

“Of course. It’s not been my choice to be so busy, but I’ll figure this out.”

“Yeah?” I couldn’t help but smile. “What’s this thing you’ve got going on later?”

“Oh! Yeah that. Just some old mates from school invited me out to Streatham Common for a bonfire night,” he grinned.

“A bit hot for that, isn’t it?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“Perhaps, but it’s the best place to see the stars in the middle of London. Would you like to see it for yourself?” he asked cutely. “That is, of course, if you haven’t got plans already.”

“No, no plans. I’d love too,” I grinned back.

“Good, now that that’s settled, shall we get out in that water before we all melt?” he asked, standing up and pulling his tanktop off. I felt my breath catch in my chest, and I was glad my shades were dark because oh, was I staring. He was a bit sweaty and the way it glistened on his chest gave me thoughts I should not have been thinking.

“Come on then,” he said to me, offering his hand as Jules, Mary, Gavin and Jack had already headed for the water. He helped me stand up, but I was still clutching the towel around me with one hand and there was a hint of understanding in Taron’s eyes.

“You needn’t be shy around me. You’re gorgeous,” he said softly, reaching over and gently taking the edges of the towel from me and pushing it off my shoulders, letting it drop to the ground. “That’s better,” he said, looking me over and smiling sweetly. “Alright?” he asked me, and I nodded. He took my hand and we made our way to the water, finally joining up with our friends.

We talked and laughed a bit, and with the rest of my body under the water, where no one had to see it, I could forget about my insecurity there. That is, of course, until Taron suggested we play chicken fight. Jules was instantly for it, Mary seemed confused as to what that meant, and I wanted to sink to the bottom of the pool. There was no way I was getting up on Taron’s shoulders for the world to see.

“Come on, love, it’s fine!” Taron grinned at me, excited about his fantastic idea.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said under my breath while Jack explained the basic premise to Mary.

“That’s nonsense. Hurt me?” Taron laughed, taking a deep breath of air and ducking under the surface. I nearly fell over when I felt his hands on my legs, pushing them apart enough to get his head between them and standing up, boosting me up out of the water as I shrieked loudly. I clutched at his head to keep from falling over as he just laughed his ass off. “Not so bad, is it?” he smirked, holding onto my legs as I tried to not hyperventilate.

“Holy fuck, Taron, warn a girl next time,” I said, Jules already up on Gavin’s shoulders too. Mary was struggling a bit to get on Jack’s, making everyone laugh, but finally she was up too.

“Let the games commence!” Taron grinned, as Jules and I were the first two to face off. We were quite evenly matched, and it took a fair bit of wrestling, but eventually I prevailed, knocking a shrieking Jules over into the water.

“Yes! We did it!” I squealed happily to Taron.

“Yeaah!” he said, patting my thigh happily and making me feel something strange in my chest as I realized that his fingers were against my bare skin.

Next it was Mary and I, and she royally kicked my butt, managing to push both me and Taron over backward into the water, both of us coming back up for air, sputtering and laughing.

Taron pulled me in close to him, making sure I could breathe and running his fingers along the exposed skin of my waist under the water. “T...Taron?” I stuttered slightly.

“Hmmm?” he said, grinning at me, the sunlight bouncing off the water and making his hazel eyes sparkle.

“Your eyes look rather blue at the moment,” I smiled, running my hands through his wet curls. “I always thought that color-changing eyes were the prettiest. I’ve just got boring brown ones.”

“Boring? Have you gone mad?” he asked, his gaze holding my own. “You just haven’t seen them the way I have. When the sun shines down on them, they turn straight to amber. And there are these little gold flecks that always make them look like they’re dancing.” No one had ever said anything so lovely to me in my life, and I quite forgot how to speak.

“Rematch!” Jules yelled, interrupting our moment, which was fine because I had no idea how much longer we were going to stand there staring at each other if she hadn’t. We even got a few other people involved in the game until we had all worn ourselves out, returning to our towels and letting the sun bake us dry again. The boys had brought snacks and even a Bluetooth speaker to play some tunes, and we spent an incredibly enjoyable afternoon together.

Eventually we decided to head on home, the sun making us all feel a bit knackered, but before we parted ways Taron grabbed my hand in his and placed a sweet kiss on the back of it. “Be ready at 8, yeah?” he smiled, and I nodded, feeling giddy inside.

We made it back to our flat, where Jules and Mary both decided to take naps. I felt the need to freshen up so I ran the water in the bath, still mulling over the image of Taron in my mind, the sun on his shoulders and happiness in his eyes. I slipped beneath the surface of the bath, sighing as the warmth enveloped me. I closed my eyes and could still see him smiling at me, focusing on the muscles of his bare chest that I had wanted to run my hands over so badly, the way his wet swim shorts had clung to his thighs.

“Shit,” I breathed, feeling turned on and letting my hand drift down between my legs, gasping slightly as I imagined what it might feel like if it were Taron’s fingers. I rubbed myself a bit, my breathing coming in short gasps, trying not to moan in case Mary or Jules overheard me. But it was no use; I’d not been able to get off in quite a while. I had no idea what was wrong with me.

“Damnit,” I said, splashing water onto the floor in my frustration as I knocked the back of my head against the edge of the tub. I sighed and sat there for a moment, tearing up slightly and then quickly wiping them away. “Right, get over it,” I told myself. I quickly finished bathing and focused on getting myself ready, which didn’t consist of much. I figured I didn’t need to be made up for a bonfire.

Once Jules and Mary were up from their naps, we ordered some takeout on delivery and sat eating and chatting in front of the telly. Taron arrived promptly and I waved goodbye to the girls. I wasn’t exactly sure who we’d be hanging out with, so Taron filled me in as he drove us out to the nature preserve. It was still warm out, so I’d just dressed in shorts, a tee and sneaks. Taron parked us and we made the bit of a hike toward the woods, Taron holding my hand the whole way there.

He was warmly greeted by his friends once we arrived, and cutely introduced me to everyone. They were all so sweet and welcoming to me, and we were both handed beers. We took a seat on a log, but it was still too warm to have lit the fire. Everyone was hoping that it would cool off once the sun went down. We laughed and talked and drank, and Taron kept his arm draped around my shoulders. It felt amazing to be included in this way, and I started thinking that maybe we really were “together.” But he’d never actually said it out loud, and one thing still worried my mind.

The temperature cooled off as the sun sank toward the horizon, deepening the shadows. After the fire was lit, and most of Taron’s friends were too, Taron grinned over at me and cutely flicked the tip of my nose with this finger. “I told you I’d show you the stars. Come on,” he said with a wink, grabbing two fresh beers and taking my hand again. 

“Where are we going?” I laughed, following along dutifully. “Won’t they miss us?”

“Trust me, you won’t want to go missing in these woods, it’d likely be til Sunday before anyone knows you’re gone,” he smirked.

We trekked through the trees a bit on a well-worn path, giggling when we stumbled over roots until we’d gotten to a small clearing. In the middle was a pickup truck, older but not rusted out. It looked like someone had been taking care of it, though how it’d ended up in the middle of the trees was beyond me. Taron pulled back the cover and then let down the tailgate, helping me climb up. I was shocked at what I found; the bed of the truck had been completely covered with cushions and blankets and pillows. It was rather soft and I felt like I was sinking into it as Taron clambered in after me.

I grinned as he settled in next to me, and we both leaned back and stared up at the twilight sky. We were quiet for a few minutes as I watched the stars slowly blink into existence, one by one. “This is really gorgeous,” I whispered, feeling Taron’s fingers playing at the hem of my shirt. All the beer I’d drunk was making me feel rather heady, and when his fingers connected with my skin, I could barely breathe. “Not nearly as beautiful as you,” he said, before taking a swig of his beer, almost as if he was trying to gather his courage.

I wanted him to kiss me so badly, but I was also afraid for it. What if, from that single kiss, he could detect my entire history? What if he could taste the brokenness on my tongue?

He turned over onto his side slightly, and I did the same. We were so close in the darkness, sharing the same air, and I could feel the tension vibrating between us. “Taron,” I breathed his name, as we slowly drifted closer, our noses touching and then finally our lips. That first kiss was so gentle, but the power of it blew me away. It wasn’t demanding, or selfish, or greedy, or any of the other things I knew a kiss to be. “Jessica,” he said against my lips, his arm sliding around my back and drawing me in for more.

When we broke apart I was breathless, speechless, unable to form a single thought, and I imagined Taron felt the same. There was nothing of the world but this singular moment, Taron and me, the sounds of the woods surrounding us.

“I...uh…” Taron laughed awkwardly, running a hand through his hair. “That was good, right?” he asked.

“Just shut up,” I laughed, burying my face against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, and we laid like that for a space. I was warm and fuzzy inside and everything felt perfect - until I opened my big mouth.

“T, can I ask you a question?” I said against his chest, and he hummed slightly.

“Yeah, anything,” he replied, running his fingers through my hair.

“You don’t already have a girlfriend, do you?” I asked, his fingers going still. He didn’t say anything at first, and I wondered if he’d even heard me, but then he sat up, pushing me off him.

“Why would you say something like that to me?” he asked, the darkness masking the pain in his eyes. “Why would you insinuate I was being unfaithful to someone else? I’d never do that, Jess!” he said, anger lacing through the hurt in his voice.

“What? That’s not… what I meant. I just didn’t know!” I tried to explain, but nothing seemed to be coming out right.

“Do you bloody think I’m an animal? I wouldn’t have been pursuing you if I had a girlfriend, for Chrissake,” he said. “All of this wasn’t just to get into your pants. You’re not just a good fuck for me, you know!” he said, grabbing his half-empty beer bottle and lobbing it angrily into the woods. I heard it smash somewhere against a tree. “Fuck,” he said. “You know what, find your own way home,” he said, hopping out of the truck and fleeing the way we’d come.

I sat there in stunned silence, not even sure what the hell had just happened. “Taron?” I asked, and nothing but silence answered back. I jumped down to the ground, pushing the tailgate and cover back into place before using my phone’s flashlight to make it back down the path. I could see the glow of the bonfire through the trees; we hadn’t been that far away, so I wasn’t feeling scared that I was lost. But I was hurt, and confused. It’d been an honest question and I didn’t understand Taron’s flash of anger. In my haste to return, I tripped over something and crashed to the ground, scraping the palms of my hands and my knees, but I barely noticed.

I pushed myself back up to my feet and retrieved my phone before finally making it back to the circle. I frantically tried to find Taron, but was told he had already left. I tried not to cry then, feeling the sense of abandonment sweep through me. I hated that I felt that way; he didn’t owe me anything, after all. I was just a fan, and he the famous actor. He could go back to his life like none of this had ever happened, but I felt irreparably changed somehow.

I managed to bum a ride from one of his friends, thankful they weren’t much for chatting. I’m not sure I could have kept it together well enough to pretend my night hadn’t gone totally to shit. The flat was completely dark when we arrived, and I was thankful Jules and Mary were already in bed. “Cheers,” I said to the driver before jogging up the walk and letting myself in. I headed straight for the bathroom and shut myself inside, my hands shaking as I tried to doctor my bloodied palms and knees. I left my dirty smoke-scented clothes on the bathroom floor and crawled into bed in my unders. I hugged my pillow to myself tightly and finally allowed myself to cry. I checked my phone again; Taron hadn’t texted. I wanted to let him know I’d gotten home safely, but I didn’t think he’d care.

I eventually cried myself out, and felt Tim jump up on my bed. He settled down in the crook of my legs and purred. “At least you still like me. No one else gives a toss,” I sniffed, feeling sorry for myself. I set my phone on the nightstand and sighed deeply. My chest hurt, my palms were stinging, and everything felt out of place. The only thing to do for it was sleep, so I left myself crash, afraid of the hard truths I was going to have to face in the morning.

Can Jess mend her relationship with Taron in time? Find out in Part 6.

[lecarreverse]

George Smiley enters the dark green waters and takes a few tentative strokes. He has come to the Mixed Ponds on Hampstead Heath to mull things over. The waters will lubricate his thoughts about a spy at the heart of the British secret service – and the author of Tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy, novelist John Le Carré, thought it fitting that his famous character should use the backdrop of Hampstead Heath to attempt to reach conclusions.

It was fitting, as it was a personal experience for the author – real name David Cornwell – reveals his son Nick Harkaway.

Next week, the Oscar-nominated 2011 film adaptation of the Le Carré’s classic Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is being screened by the City of London and Hideaway Cinemas on Parliament Hill Fields.

The evening includes a question and answer with broadcaster Melvyn Bragg and Nick – who will discuss the role of the open space in his late father’s work.

[arts-su]

Start Planning Your Summer in London Today!

There’s nothing quite like a Summer in the city. London essentially turns into one huge beer garden in the warmer months and it’s glorious. If the sudden bout of balmy weather has got your mind wandering to what you could be doing if you didn’t have that essay to write, allow us to help you out with this mini guide of things you could be getting up to after June. 

Festivals

If you love a festival but hate the lack of showers, London is the perfect place to be in Summer. With a huge range of day festivals popping up all over the city there’s no need to try and find the instructions for your tent. For a weekend of pop and dance anthems Love Box has a solid line-up including the likes of Childish Gambino, Mura Masa and Annie Mac. For an alternative vibe, Citadel, a fairly new festival, is tipped to be a brilliant day. Headliners include Tame Impala, Chvrches and Fat White Family, and many other activities, talks and street food stalls will be on offer throughout the day. Head here for a comprehensive list of the best festivals London has to offer.

Lavender Harvest

For a truly idyllic weekend save the date on Carshalton Lavender Field’s ‘Pick Your Own Lavender Harvest’. Open just one weekend this Summer it’s not to be missed. The lavender field is maintained independently by volunteers who use cuttings from lavender originally grown in the area, with an aim of reviving the neighbourhood to what it was in the early 1900s when oceans of lavender could be seen all around Carshalton and the surrounding areas.

On the weekend of the 28th and 29th July you can visit the field free of charge and soak up the beautiful surroundings, pick some of your own lavender for a fee that goes straight back into the project, and possibly (definitely) take a few Instagram shots amongst the lilac haze. There’ll also be lavender products to buy, reflexology treatments available and food stalls to keep your energy up while the sun is (hopefully) shining!

Nottinghill Carnival

If you hadn’t factored Nottinghill Carnival into your summer plans yet, then go back to your calendar because this bank holiday weekend is one of the true highlights of a Summer in London. A sequin drenched parade of colour weaves its way through the streets of the West London Borough in a celebration of the diverse mix of groups that make up the community. As you wander the streets you’ll be met with row upon row of sound systems blasting out reggae beats to accompany herds of dancing pedestrians. It’s also one of the best weekends to try Caribbean cuisine with huge pots of curried goat and rice n peas, and smoking barbeques crammed with jerk chicken and grilled plantain engulfing the streets in their distinctive home-cooked smells.

Sunday is family day and better for a slightly more chilled out affair, with some of the biggest parties going down on the bank-holiday Monday. Sun defined the mood last year, so fingers crossed 2018 won’t be any different.

Pop-Ups

Londoner’s know how to make the most of every inch of outdoor space their properties have to offer. So the second a hint of sunlight can be felt, rooftops and gardens across the city throw back their gates and welcome you in to their corners. There’s many great options from the stunning skyline seen on a Peckham rooftop at Frank’s Bar, to the yearly themed tipi on the top of Queen of Hoxton in Shoreditch. For something a little different however, try Midnight Apothecary in the secret garden at the Brunel museum which overlooks the Thames Sunset. The quaint garden opens on Friday and Saturday nights from April 20th for the whole Summer and requires booking. It’s worth it though to sit round a campfire (toasted marshmallows included) and soak up the lantern lit oasis along with a cocktail concocted by the gardener using ingredients found in the garden. Food is available from selected vendors and an optional descent into Brunel’s underground Grand Entrance Hall is also included in your £5 ticket.

Park Life

There’s nothing better than a park day in London when the sun is shining. What people lack in garden space in this city is more than made up for in the myriad of luscious green parks populating every borough. Guaranteed you won’t have to venture far to find somewhere to park your picnic blanket, but if you’d like some park recommendations read on. The obvious choice is Hyde Park. A beautiful park that spans over 350 acres, it is the host to many big concerts throughout the summer. Surrounding the beautiful lake are many lovely quiet spots to take in your surroundings. For the braver amongst you open water swimming is available in the Serpentine Pond, or for some slightly drier water activity hire a paddle boat.

If you’re after city views, then Primrose Hill is the place to head. The walk to the Hill takes you through a street populated with tons of sweet shops and places to get a drink – we’d recommend the Greenberry Café for an amazing brunch spot. If you want to feel like you’ve managed to escape the city without the effort of actually going anywhere Hampstead Heath is where you need to head. The landscape is slightly less manicured than other London parks and is the perfect place to wander and get lost. For a small fee you can also take advantage of the swimming ponds if you want to get at one with nature.

[timeforabathblog]

2. Photos of 'Hampstead No. 2 Pond’, June 2019.

This summer, bathing access at Hampstead Ponds has been restricted to fit with covid guidelines through the introduction of standardised charges and an online booking system. 

During a very hot weekend last summer, me and G took the overground up to the Heath to swim and the queues were so long to get into the ponds designated for bathing that people had begun swimming in other ponds en masse. I’d been to Shadwell basin before, which is good for swimming and similarly clandestine, but also has a hipness about it – as if you’re suddenly in Berlin, or next to the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris. By contrast the people at No. 2 Pond were surprisingly mixed – lots with kids and dogs as well as young people.

The guy sitting next to us kindly agreed to keep an eye on our things and we then went down to swim – though not before encountering a young woman freaking out because she had a fish trapped in her costume. Which sounds like something from a dodgy seaside postcard, but did actually happen. Anyway, it was all good before long and she was ok, thankfully, as was the little fish, which we managed to get back into the water.

At the time I remember thinking about how, with few outdoor swimming facilities appearing on the horizon for Londoners, scenes of mass trespass like this might become commonplace in the summer months, particularly in a context of global warming. Did these configurations of bodies, foliage, mud, sunlight and water – evocative of scenes from art history as they were (see e.g. Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1863) below) – also constitute a flash of things to come? 

Looking back on it now in 2020, the pictures not only look very pre-covid, but also raise questions about the politics of ‘wild swimming’ in other ways. Through communities like Swim Dem Crew, swimming itself is becoming more sociable and more socially inclusive, but the policing of public space – in relation to the issue of who can bend the rules and ‘go wild’ and where, as in other contexts – remains unequal, not to mention the persistence of racist stereotypes shaping who has the space to learn and enjoy the life-skill of swimming in the first place.

These photos represent an ‘idyll’ in some ways, as do so many depictions of bathing and bathing places, but I think it’s always worth asking, ‘an idyll to whom?’

The recent episode of Surviving Society featuring one of Swim Dem Crew’s founders, Nathaniel A. Cole, shaped some of the ideas in this post and comes highly recommended: shorturl.at/qtKLP

[camdensedimenta]

The City of London Corporation which manages Hampstead Heath in North London is proposing 5 options to the future running of the historic swimming ponds. Most are completely unacceptable. Hideously rushed process - swimmer groups were given only days to digest and discuss before the all important meetings next week on March 9th & 11th. There are thousands of people locally who need consulting.

The City also offer a Hardship Fund for those who can’t afford the enforced charging of £4 p/d. This is patronising, divisive and will of course be limited. Their balance sheet is a minimum £2.7 billion at the moment and they increased their revenue last year by £58m which is enough to cover the running costs of the Heath for 10 years.

They are using the unavoidable death at the men’s last year and the madness at the lido on that very hot day in July as a pretext for forcing through charges and fully financialising the swimming ponds - their decades long ambition. The occasional overcrowding Is a separate issue to the money and would not be resolved by having barriers. In fact, management of the crowds would be far harder especially at the women’s. This year post-swim idlers were asked by staff to leave to let others queuing outside in to swim. They did so willingly precisely because they had not paid. It all worked really well. Lifeguards have told the Corporation they do not want barriers.

There are so many issues but it all boils down to politics not money. The City are nothing if not rent extractors.

The whole beauty of the ponds and particularly the women’s is that they provide an equal opportunity and a safe haven for all because they are free at the point of access. Many pay for a season ticket and many more would in order to stop enforced charging if only the system was easier to use. Also, the paying machines are shoddily maintained and often broken in to. Lots of money collected as cash by hand at the mixed pond last summer went missing. (No one was forewarned of this system).

There are convenants protecting free access to the ponds at the Heath in the Heath Act of 1871. Lord Iveagh of Kenwood House bequeathed the ponds for future generations to enjoy free swimming. Already it was a huge concession on the part of swimmers groups to permit voluntary payments back in 2005.

The City is riding rough shod over land law and treating users with contempt. We all know they’ve wanted to privatise the ponds for years. Staff hours and protections will suffer. Far fewer people will swim as they are already squeezed by ever increasing rents and generally expensive London living. Many will fling their overheated bodies in to the unregulated non-swimming ponds which is hazardous.

Please support THE PROTESTS:

6.15pm March 9th at Parliament Hill Yard by the cafe, tennis courts and staff building.

3.30pm March 11th at the Guildhall near Bank tube station.

KEEP THE SWIMMING PONDS OPEN TO ALL!!

Follow twitter: #pondsforswimmers #lovetheponds

Join some swimming user groups for updates.

KENWOOD LADIES POND ASSOCIATION

HIGHGATE MENS POND

MIXED POND

[dukesayer-blog]

Today at 2pm, myself, Tim, Lynn, Tamlyn and Luyana (my daughter doesn't have Fb yet :-p) will be down at the mixed swimming pond at Hampstead Heath getting our swim on if you feel inspired to join 🏊🏊‍♀️ Don't worry if you're a terrible swimmer.. me too! 4 lengths is my record so far.. aiming for 6 today 💪 Tim will be showing us all how it's done im sure 😎with his triathlon training 👊👊 And don't worry if you have wobbly bits.. we all do! That's one of the reasons we're dipping.. it helps turn stubborn white fat into brown usable for energy fat 👌 Also great for energetic cleansing! 3 clients so far today, so along with energy showers, helps keep me fresh for days of Clients and of course.. daddy daughter time ;-) #ColdBathingBenefits #GoggleNotMyBestLook (at Hampstead Heath)

[the-software-club-blog]

FREEZE BABY!! 😜👍🙏🏼 Cold water swimming at Hampstead Heath inspired by Wim Hof.