{"product_id":"9781408841020","title":"Pondlife: A Swimmer's Journal","description":"Author: Alvarez,Al\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9781408841020\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Bloomsbury\u003cbr\u003eYear first published: 26 Mar 2015\u003cbr\u003ePages: 288 Format: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe ponds of Hampstead Heath are small oases; fragments of wild nature nestled in the heart of north-west London. For the best part of his life Al Alvarez - poet, critic, novelist, rock-climber and poker player - has swum in them almost daily. \u003cbr\u003eAn athlete in his youth, Alvarez, now in his eighties, chronicles what it is to grow old with humour and fierce honesty - from his relentlessly nagging ankle which makes daily life a struggle, to infuriating bureaucratic battles with the council to keep his disabled person's Blue Badge, the devastating effects of a stroke, and the salvation he finds in the three Ss - Swimming, Sex and Sleep.\u003cbr\u003eAs Alvarez swims in the ponds he considers how it feels when you begin to miss that person you used to be - to miss yourself. Swimming is his own private form of protest against the onslaught of time; proof to others, and himself, that he's not yet beaten. \u003cbr\u003eBy turns funny, poetic and indignant, \u003ci\u003ePondlife\u003c\/i\u003e is a meditation on love, the importance of life's small pleasures and, above all, a lesson in not going gently in to that good night.","brand":"Ships in 10 to 15 days","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46616151228574,"sku":"UBD-9781408841020","price":24.78,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0400\/9043\/5742\/files\/9781408841020.jpg?v=1773810525","url":"https:\/\/classicbargains.com.au\/products\/9781408841020","provider":"Classic Bargains Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}