This year, instead of heading away on holidays like much of my inner-city suburb, I’ve enjoyed the quiet. Streets which are usually heaving with traffic now move close to the speed limit.

My friendship group shrinks too, leaving only a handful of people who are working through.

This year, those of us left behind have been meeting almost daily at Williamstown beach, creating a sort of unofficial rhythm to our days. We began swimming in the bay during winter, when the water broke your spirit with its cold. In July, when the temperatures were grim, and your skin tingled for hours after you climbed out, it was more about surviving the experience than swimming for pleasure.

Now the bay is warmer, busier, and less overwhelming, so we’ve begun testing ourselves in other ways – swimming out further, measuring our distance, and swimming as often as we can.

When everyone is away in Melbourne, the early morning drive from the north to the bay in the west is uncomplicated. There’s no........

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