BATHING THROUGH WINTER

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1934, Page 5

BATHING THROUGH WINTER

THE HEROIC MORNING DIP.

MEDICAL MAN’S EXAMPLE. ✓ Every morning, winter and summer, a medical man shames the people of New Plymouth. At a time when the general rule is to thrust out of bed with a shuddering toe the flaccid thing that represents last night’s hot water bottle, and to settle down for a final delighful doze, the doctor drives off in his car for his morning dip. Sometimes he is accompanied by a small band of stalwarts, but he does not depend on this support. Punctually at seven o’clock he goes out, wet or. fine..' The three days of the biting mountain wind fail to deter him; rain and sleet mean less than nothing, frost merely adds variety, and he shrugs his shoulders at the greyest of winter dawns. He finds that a cold in the head clears up as quickly if he continues to swim as if he stops, whatever others’ experiences may be. The doctor has been bathing throughout the winter for several years. When the municipal baths are closed he swims at Ngamotu beach. This winter, he says, the temperature of the water has never been below 48 degrees, in contrast to the normal summer heat of about 65. The temperature of the air is, however, as low as 40 degrees on colder mornings. This is what keeps most people in bed, and perhaps the prospect of the invigorating dash is less alluring even to the doctor at such times.