Swimming pool snuffles

I seem to have reached that point in the winter swimming season when the constant and ever-longer pool swims trigger allergic reactions that just run into each other, making me sound like I've permanently got a cold - a proper, sneezy cold. I know that a lot of people get this, and I always have a good burst of the sneezes when I get out of a long pool swim, but this seems to have moved into a whole new league. After my 6km swim yesterday, I couldn't stop sneezing, and then I woke up in the night, nose and eyes streaming, and chest all tight and wheezy. I took some anti-histamines, but it was too late, and I ended up getting hardly any sleep. All very odd - it was nowhere near this bad last year. I didn't swim today, so I'm all back to normal again, but I really hope that this isn't going to happen every time. I think I might try taking the anti-histamines before I swim and see if that makes a difference.

I was foraging through my netbook looking for something today, and came across some photos I'd taken of Jamie Goodhead and family when we were all in Jersey last July. I've got some clips of video of Jamie doing his 6 hour swim in St Catherine's Bay - it was a stunning day, and the water was glass-flat and looks utterly delicious. Happy days.

Is it nearly spring yet?