Hello mates,

After a week where we lost a beloved family friend and marked the 10 year anniversary of the death of another, I have been thinking a lot about the mortality of my loved ones and I've decided to do a thing and swim 2.5km for Douglas Macmillan.

Three years ago I taught myself to swim.

Before that I would describe what I could do as "not drown" or "high effort low return doggy paddle", but I decided to change that and I have been wildly determined and annoyingly consistent, and now I am like a mermaid but in a Slazenger swimming cap.

It is low-key my proudest achievement and I'd like to use it to do some good and raise money for a local charity that does the hard, beautiful work of shepherding people and their families compassionately on to whatever-the-f*ck comes after we die.

I'll be swimming 2.5km on Saturday 26th July which is the furthest I've ever swam.

Sponsor me if you can :)