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The ponds of Hampstead Heath are small oases; fragments of wild nature nestled in the heart of north-west London. For the best part of his life Al Alvarez--poet, critic, novelist, rock-climber and poker player--has swum in them almost daily. An athlete in his youth, Alvarez, now in his eighties, chronicles what it is to grow old with humor and fierce honesty--from his relentlessly nagging ankle which makes daily life a struggle, to infuriating bureaucratic battles with the council to keep his disabled person's Blue Badge, the devastating effects of a stroke, and the salvation he finds in the three Ss--Swimming, Sex and Sleep. As Alvarez swims in the ponds he considers how it feels when you begin to miss that person you used to be--to miss yourself. Swimming is his own private form of protest against the onslaught of time; proof to others, and himself, that he's not yet beaten. By turns funny, poetic and indignant,Pondlife is a meditation on love, the importance of life's small pleasures and, above all, a lesson in not going gently in to that good night.… (more)
User reviews
Better know as a poet and literary critic, in the past he has been an athlete and rock climber and has played quite a bit of poker too. This journal documents every time he swam from 2002 up to 2011. In each entry he has recorded the water temperature, the people and friends he sees there most days as well as the wildlife he encounters whilst swimming around. As he grows older, and suffers a multitude of health issues, the swimming becomes less frequent, and even getting there can be troublesome at times.
It is a brutally honest memoir too. You sense his frustrations with his declining health, his anger at dealing with petty bureaucrats and his writing commitments. What comes across almost every time he swims is the pure pleasure he gets from taking a dip, preferring the cooler months when the water ebbs away his aches and pains. He is keen observer too, noticing the tiniest details in the sky, the colour of the water and the way that the seasons move relentlessly on, as he slips into the water and glides slowly round the pond. The writing is sparse, beautiful, and almost metronomic at times, as he writes about his habitual daily swim. It was a real pleasure to read too.