Swimming in the cold UK sea!!

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2nd January 2010. Brighton. (Dist' 200mtrs) Temp 5C. - BIG NEWS -  

"I have a love of the sea now with it's everyday change, getting in no longer a problem for me, no longer a shock, I wade into the still, cold, salty fluid and swim.....but as I head out, my skin begins to burn, my feet are numbing at the toe and my fingers - icy. I feel tight muscles under my arm involuntarily tweak the tendons in my fingers...............my mind......I keep checking, could I get lost? check - all appears to be well up there in that ice-cream-cold-hold, that space where this brain's feeling the cold.
Am I in danger.........of panicking.....well am I?!  I must keep myself calm, keep myself in check.............my body is ok, check - all the while moving, all the while stroking the water, with the cold hands and kicking with the cold feet.
I can see the mirror ball, half way down the pier, it's my marker that's where I'm headed, it's hard work getting there and I HAVE TO GET BACK.......What could they do if I drowned, those people I can see watching, up on the pier, looking down on me, all warm clothes and waves. 
I feel the sun weakly touch my skin, my hands are strong my stroke is short....I'm opposite the mirror ball and can't go on, my breath is regular, my mind determined, but there is fear, a fear of the unknown, how far can I go.....the body..........the mind, what can it take?..........NO MORE........ I switch direction, head back for the beach, my stroke feels slow, and slightly uncoordinated, my vision washed by icy water all the time, I feel as though part of me is trying to race to the beach to get there in time, the rest to stay the course, calm, thinking about my fingers like chipped china, I wonder if they might snap, break off the hand, the burning is intense.
The beach is soft under foot today, I run to the shower, wash, then run to get on clothes, jumping up and down to warm my core, my core is cold - it takes some jumping up and down and my mug of cocoa, (from the cafe next door, bless) to get what was lost, back." 

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