Among the best two or three places in the world, I wound up here by mistake this summer going to Lord’s Cricket Ground (took the long way), but without trunks, so I came back. It’s a pretty cold freshwater pond with trees all around it near the lookout point, and is open spring to fall. There are men’s and ladies’ ponds too, nearby. George Smiley swam laps in one with his head above water at the start of the Tinker Tailor movie; when I went other retirees were doing the same. It’s unreal to step into, much less swim in; you feel like a million bucks or pounds getting out of the water. It’s hard to believe this place exists. It looks like the nice half of that Bosch painting.
