Tooting Bec Lido is FILTHY

Tonight I rode across London to the Tooting Bec Lido because the Lido near my house at Parliament Hill closes at 6pm for some bizarre reason. The weather was warm and the ride was awesome.

Tooting Bec Lido is the biggest outdoor pool in England and it’s lucky that it is because they have to cram a lot of filth into it. The list of things I managed to identify on the bottom of the pool included: dirt (lots of), sand (lots of), leaves, twigs, band aids, toilet paper (I think) and a panty liner. Disgusting.

As one of the other swimmers said it was, “it’s good for your immune system”. My personal opinion is that if you swim regularly in the Tooting Bec Lido and you don’t die then you probably have nothing to fear from swine flu.

This photo is stitched together from two photos taken using my not-very-wide-angle Canon Ixus 970 using the magic of photoshop.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 22:10 and is filed under london, sport, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Tooting Bec Lido is FILTHY”

Jt Says:
June 6th, 2009 at 16:40
Ah yes, one of the many problems that comes from swimming with goggles.
Saying that, I thought the water tasted quite nice .. still maybe stick to Thursdays at Parliament Hill.
Kat Kowalewska Says:
August 3rd, 2011 at 15:14
I totally disagree, whenever I have been to Tooting it has been clean as a whistle and lovely! As a regular outdoor swimmer I think leaves and twigs plus earth and sand are an inevitable part of a lido experience, especially when there is a grassy area which there is in Tooting. Hampstead is surrounded by concrete which means there is less organic matter in the pool, although it also detracts somewhat from the ambience, plus sunbathing in cement is unpleasant to say the least. As for the band aid (I assume you’re American, we say plaster!) that is horrid indeed but also they do come off in water now and then even in normal indoor pools, but the panty liner, well, you have me with that! Why/how you would even consider wearing one swimming is beyond me and to not notice it coming off??? Still, I say do not let this one bad experience deter you from Tooting, at 90m + its the king of the London Lido’s and a very pleasant and refreshing way to end a hard hot day in the city : )