Things we didn't know we didn't know.

At the pool this morning, getting our breath back, and bitching about the other swimmers (durham_rambler and I are so space hungry, we don't just need a pool to ourselves, we really need a pool each); I complained of a pair of women swimming two abreast, talking, one of whom had swerved just as I was about to pull to one side of them, forcing me to swim between them, which is tricky as I kick very wide. durham_rambler reminded me that it is possible to switch to side stroke.

My father swam a form of side-stroke, which he called trudgeon - I hadn't thought of it in years. "Google it!" said durham_rambler.

So I did; but first I checked Chambers, and discovered that I had been mentally mis-spelling it all this time: the word is trudgen, after John Trudgen who introduced to England a stroke he had, according to the International Swimming Hall of Fame (I don't know why this name strikes me as inherently humorous), learned from South American Indians in the 1860s.

A few days apart, in the same month and year (August, 1875), Capt. Matthew Webb swam the English Channel (21 miles in 21 hours and 45 minutes) going all the way breaststroke, and John Trudgen of the Alliance Swimming Club of London won the English 100 yards Championships at the Edghaston Reservoir in 1 minute and 16 seconds.

Heady days!

eHow.com offers instructions on how to swim trudgen, but the stroke described does not match my memory of my father's stroke, which was more a sort of breatstroke slipped sideways.

eHow also warns:

Swimming is an inherently dangerous activity that can result in serious injury or death. We recommend that you seek proper training and equipment before attempting this activity.

Children, do not try this at home; these people are - well, what? in water?

On this day: a letter home

989689. L.A.C. Rogers.,
Red Cross Hospital,
Epsom Road,
Durban,
Natal,
So. Africa
2.9.41

Dear Ralph & Edith,
I am afraid it is a long time since I wrote to you but I suppose my letters to Athol Rd. are passed round the family so that you will not have been worrying unduly. I have two good excuses, first that whilst in bed, writing was physically difficult, and since I have been up time passes so quickly that letters get missed in the rush. I have, however, made a point of writing home fairly regularly and I hope that by now at least some of them have arrived safely.

Up to the present I have not had any mail since I left England but I live in daily hope of some arriving. Last week I sent a cable home to make quite sure that you knew I was safe "across the water".

I can get about quite well now although I tire easily and a walk of 300 yds. is about my limit in one stretch. Things are going so well that I will [be] discharged from hospital in a week or a fortnight's time at the most. Then I hope to get some leave which I have arranged to spend at Margate, a little holiday town a few miles from the coast.

Durban is a pretty town and now that I can get about I am learning to appreciate it. It posses[ses] some good buildings, principally large blocks of flats and big hotels which viewed from the sea give the town a "New York" sky-line. The winter climate is wonderful, each day being like a perfect English summer day. Unfortunately the summer is hot and wet, but I suppose I will have moved nearer to the scene of operations before summer arrives.

I have made some good friends here and I shall be sorry to leave when the time
comes. The people of Natal are extremely "British" - more so probably, than the average Englishman and they excel themselves in their treatment of service men. Possibly the existence of a large 5th column - the "Odessa Brandwag" a Afrikaanse Fascist movement - makes them doubly patriotic.

Today is the last of two years of war. It hardly seems that so much time has passed when I think of pre-war days. We commence the 3rd. year with Russia as our ally and this more than makes up for all we lost in the early days of the war. I manage, with the aid of newspapers, to keep up with the war news but I do not hear so much of the "home front" so please do not forget to speed a few letters this way.

The dinner-bell is ringing so I will close now and write later when I have more news.

Love,
Tom

P.S. Have you a photo of baby John you could send me - he must be growing up by
now. TR

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