While many swimmers at Serps shared the love on Valentine’s Day, there was one regular who swam elsewhere on the 14th; but she has been bringing the love to the club on a daily basis. It wasn't just the swimming, more her classy style of bake-stroke which was only unmasked thanks to the forensic skills of our in-store detective, Rod Newing.
Rod, an exceedingly good early riser, who is frequently one of the first to arrive at the club was one of many to notice that someone was leaving freshly baked cakes in the changing room on a daily basis. Gimlet-eyed Rod pieced the clues together shouting “crumbs I’ve got it” as he worked out that the bake strokes of kindness were being delivered by Sam Mould.
Sam was unable to make it to Serps on Saturday to join in with the rest of the dough-eyed swim romantics for our 8am racing love in, so she received a present from the club on Monday (today). The main photo shows Sam with present and a drink but no flours. Sam is leaving the wild, craggy, raw shores of the Serpentine for Australia and a brief meet with Mark Fabik and Kristy McIntyre. Sam will then put herself on a geographic 120 degrees for a few hours as she heads south-yeast for New Zealand where they are having a baking hot summer.
Rod put some of the icing on the cake so to speak saying that while in London “Sam, a physiotherapist, worked day shifts at the prestigious Edward VII hospital. It is the one the Queen uses and you don't apply to work there. They invite you.”
Sam’s long term career is as an artist. She painted the designs on the Christmas cards and the 2015 membership cards, donated a painting to the raffle and painted a brilliant get well card for Robin.
Rod says that Sam “views swimming as an art form and two years ago she swam in the Barents Sea in North Norway and cycled down to Tarifa in Southern Spain for another swim. It formed the theme of a painting that featured strongly in an exhibition last year. Her current project is to swim every day for a year, keeping a daily swimming diary and daily photo.” Sam cycles a good distance to the Serpentine every morning, passing two Lidos, because she doesn't like pools. (If that doesn’t make them simmer, nothing will)
But back to the detective work of Rod who admitted that he “unmasked her last year as our phantom baker. For weeks brilliant cakes were appearing in the changing room, but nobody knew who brought them. I finally noticed that one appeared shortly after Sam. She is world class on the baking front.”
Sam was introduced to Serps by Kristy and Mark last spring. She is swimming at the Serpentine today, then flying to New Zealand with a ten hour stop off in Australia to fit in her Tuesday swim which Kristy and Mark are sorting. After such a long journey from London she'll knead that. Kristy will travel with Tory to Perth to take part in the Rottnest swim this Saturday; both are 'Channel standard' swimmers i.e. they have successfully completed solo swims across the English Channel.
She will be in Australia and New Zealand for seven weeks, taking in the Australian wedding of a mutual friend of hers and Kristy. Last year when in New York for a do, she left too early to swim in New York, so just before midnight she drove down to Whitstable to complete that day's swim - in darkness.
Serps just doesn't seem to attract ordinary people - just totally awesome and amazing high achievers?! (myself excepted, of course). Rod where did you get that half-baked fondant fancy about yourself from? You're highly regarded at the club and when it's cold, well you're the icing on the lake.
And finally, Sam baked two cakes on Sunday; one for today and one for the day after she has left for Australia. What a pity she didn’t travel to Alaska as I’m sure there’s a pun there.
[John Tierney]
