Stormy Times

Those last weeks it has turned rather autumnal

- meaning in general wet and ugly in the UK -

 but luckily at times beautiful and clear 

and very stormy in London

- with its aftermath still visible throughout ...

For me personally this autumn involved a lot of travelling to reconnect with my family and friends

but also there is a gentle distance to London creeping in 

with the dark and uncomfortable season: 

Seeing things over and over again,

 being less excited about novelties which also get harder to detect each time

and remaining annoyed and uncomprehending regarding the long distances, 

the lack of real nature,
the crowds and the ceaseless traffic 

after a year in this city now.

More upcoming travel-time to escape the gloomy months and

sail through Thailand in order to hopefully arrive in time at Pavitra´s and Winni´s wedding in India 

will give this blog a break and current updates might be found here 

(if internet connection turns out to be reliable during the travels):

 http://moritzsarahasia.wordpress.com/

From January till April I will work in Bethesda, MD,

so please mind the gaps and 

remember:

It will be time for 

"London calling ... me" 

again in April next year. 

Largest natural lake in England? 

Needs to be swum ...

 regardless of the weather - of course!

 

The Lake District is beautiful, no question.

For me there was no hesitation when I got invited to be support rower for an attempted crossing (lengthwise, of course) 

of England' s largest natural lake

 - the Lake Windermere -

in the heart of this beautiful National Park. 

Having never been so far up to the Northern regions of England I was astonished by the instability of the local weather (well, I am in the UK, so what the hell did I expect?). 

But: 

There was no way out, and the challenge was arranged months and months before the day - which unfortunately turned out to be very rainy, foggy, dark and cold.

Nonetheless, there were about 10 swimmers plus their support rowers, facing the challenge that day: 

Being a "true" open water swimmer with an addictive love for cold water, 

one can easily guess 

for whom I was crewing ... 

(Yes: The skinny, "naked" one, all in the middle).

Some like to fight "with" ...

... others "without" ...

... some even with one forearm less than the rest:

But as we are in the UK, everyone does it -

for charity:
http://www.chect.org.uk/cms/

http://www.love2donate.co.uk/latest/windermere/ 

With the lake being 10.5 miles long, a slight shoulder injury, an average water temperature of 13 degrees and a totally clouded and rainy day

(with high local inhomogeneity in water temperature), 

of course, this mission was "fatal", 

but romantically beautiful ...

... From the water the landscape just looks like in a fairy tale ...

 ... 

sounds get swallowed and one is totally alone, surrounded only 

by this one beautiful element
...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to reality:
Being into the water it feels damn cold!

After three hours in the swim, we decided to turn the solo-crossing into a relay and loosen up some further rules, deciding we would come up for the "real crossing" on a better day and try once more. 

This gave me the opportunity to join into the swim: 

... which I happily did and enjoyed a lot ...

... intermittently trying to scare swans and other lake animals away:

Only semi-successful though. But we are all still alive!

The next day we woke up (long ago reheated of course), 

just to discover that days at the Lake District can also be a little bit less cloudy and the lake 

then even more beautiful: 

Definitively more motivation to come back again!

Let the Sea be my Harbour

or Roadtrip Southern English Coastline 2013 

Escaping from London 

to explore the very different parts of England 

was one of the projects I worked upon with high priority this summer ...

In the end 

- as so often - 

travelling England was easier than thought 

and chosing reasonably from the vast amount of promising destinations 

was probably the toughest part of the journey ...

Finally

- of course -

a lot was about 

the sea and wild swimming, 

while exploring the English National Heritage along the Southern Coast ... 

Perfect match! 

You can try and track our official route here (:

or get a personal version and travel-recommendations from me directly.

- - - 

The English coastline is just too beautiful 

and the water too tempting ...

     

                

to miss out on any single

...

                    

(how ever cold) 

swim.

Hikes and climbs were used for warming up ...

 

           

 

... where sunset 

brought cold 

       


             

                             

but romantic

  nights.

Sights along the way ...

... were examined with deadly precision

and being in constant proximity to the sea 

...

and to its companions 

...

was again very liberating:

However obscure 

the future will display itself 

(in London and around) 

...

I am going to be out there 

looking forward to it. 

Brixton-Runs

    Being on a constant house-hunt in chase of a nice permanent residence, 

  this last month has made me explore more of 

London´s grandeur and sadness 

and the conditions people 

- we all - 

live in.

One of my temporary harbourages is Brixton and I love discovering this dynamic and frank neighbourhood with its history and ongoing metamorphoses. 

A large part of exploring it happens on my regular commute to work 

which I pass with the help 

of my running shoes or my beloved bike 

in alternating fashion.

Especially on bright, but brisk and crisp mornings like these I feel very lucky of experiencing all this.  

With so many signs along the way, this one here 

definitively has become my favourite very quickly. 

And to be honest, all others get considerately ignored ... 

... as I make my way through lively Brixton-town slowly.

Promising names of concealed, unimposing streets ...

 ... bring back my memories ...

... of great, seemingly unconspicious people 

and the adventures 

they kept at hand for me here 

so far ... 

A lot to think about and contemplate 

- consciously and subconsciously - 

on the way to work. 

I love to experience this slow and gentle but constant transformation of intermeshing districts - especially when running, there is so much to see and to think about as the pace renders the amount of information and impressions more digestible.

And the few, but all the more
important "greens"
along my way ...

... get embraced

with great thankfulness and 

eagerness to experiment.

Passing Elephant & Castle on my way and viewing the Shard in the background I become aware that I still feel like a tourist in this city ...

... and that this feeling might well

continue to be my companion regardless of the time 

I will spend here.

Getting closer into Central London, things get heated up and crowds more prominent. 

Around Waterloo Station my attempt to anticipate the movements of a million busy fast-paced individuals gets regularly challenged ... 

As mostly in life,

sometimes one
is successful in one´s aspirations,
sometimes one is not.


The latter cases periodically lead to resent- and sweatful body-contact ...

I admire people `s

patience 

and endurance ...

... while I am squeezing and sprinting 

through the queues they form 

when waiting for their buses to transport

 them to 

which ever destination they aim for.

Sometimes I feel like a running reporter 

- a little bit ridiculous, this means - 

especially, when taking all these photographs while running to work. 

If I had not become a doctor yet or if I hated my job, I sometimes feel that 

being a documentarist on the run 

would be a good temporary profession as well. 

Closer to my destination
Waterloo Bridge has become one of my favourite bridges recently.
Biking over it by night-time on the way back

- very few cars around & a great breeze on my skin -

evokes just as many interesting feelings ...

... as the iconic views on a bright,
but busy morning
like this.







Even though Hungerford Railway Bridge is strictly speaking not on my shortest way to work,
 detours still remain very attractive to me.
Quite symbolic and sometimes painful, I guess.
The detour to Hungerford Bridge is one of the highly rewarded detours though
as  it offers the results of STIK´s
recent reach out to the public to colour his famous figures:

For more information, see:
http://inspiringcity.com/2013/08/02/new-stik-mural-on-the-south-bank-in-london-waterloo/








Back on track,
my destination gets alarmingly close ...

... and with the building of my aspiration 

being probably one of the most ugly ones along the whole way ...

... I realize that one of the better things of not working in the hospital at the moment 

is the perspective that after this heated commute to work 

I can now spend my morning doing labwork 

IN SHORTS 

(rather than running around in fancy clinics-costumes!)

...!!