Nice day for a swim, don’t you think?

This week marks the middle of winter, so to speak. On Thursday, we will all be celebrating the winter solstice – officially the shortest day of the year.

Shortest day in inverted commas of course, because the day will actually be as long as every other, minute-wise. But it’s the day with the least minutes of sunshine in the southern hemisphere.

One of the ways in which the winter solstice is celebrated is to take a swim. In Australia, the winter solstice swim in Hobart drew a crowd of more than 1 000 people last year. Quite a number considering the swimmers brave the icy waters of the River Derwent in the nude.

In South Africa, there are a number of opportunities to take a polar bear dip, with swimming events planned across the country. The coastal towns and cities seem to have one up on the rest, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

This year, we might see a record number of solstice swimmers in South Africa, thanks to Eskom. With load shedding a reality again – in the coldest month of the year in Johannesburg and in the week with the least daylight hours – a decent number of people might be forced to take a cold shower on Thursday. And that’s pretty close to a winter swim.

But there’s also good news: Saturday will bring a bit more sunshine. It might only be a few more seconds, or a minute or so, but it all counts.

In my book, it marks the turning point – that moment when we embark on the annual journey to summer. And every day thereafter will be just a tad longer and a little bit brighter.

Who knows, maybe within a week or two the load shedding season will be over as well and before we know it, we’ll be yearning for a cool shower after a long hot day.

On our journey to summer, let’s enjoy the ride and stop along the way to appreciate the scenery. Instead of moaning and bickering about the cold, embrace it. Go out and swim naked. And when the power is out, invite friends over for a braai and ask them to bring their own torch.

Remember, it’s not Eskom that keeps us warm during winter, it’s our attitude.

Danie Toerien.

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