Standing Pool

Categories: community

Tags: swimming

Date: 19 January 2009 18:30:19

If a swimming pool is named as such for the activity which takes place within it, my local one needs renaming.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to attend a primarily adult-only pool.  It's not exclusive, and in fact there were children present today, but the target audience is usually adults.  The pool isn't huge but is rather aged and so is about 25 metres long but possibly only 15 wide.  As such the space is split into three lanes: slow, medium and fast.  Fair enough so far?

I suppose at this point I should confess that I really value swimming as a solitary past time.  It gives me the opportunity to tidy my head up and take any frustrations out on the water.  Also I go to a pool to swim.  It's a simple enough routine.  Every 6 lengths I stop to clear out my goggles and somewhere around 30 lengths I'll stop for a minute or so to catch my breath (assuming I'm carrying on past there).  I have no objection in the least to people stopping each length to catch their breath, nor people in the slow lane interrupting their nattering for the occasional length.  What I do mind is people hogging all the turning space at the end of the pool in the mid-speed lane because they're too busy gossipping.  Perhaps I'm strange in this, but I don't think that being semi-naked and barely wrapped in a small piece of lycra is the most enticing environment for a chat!

It seems to be turning out that I don't necessarily have the same ideas as to what most people consider self awareness and consideration.  Should I find myself the slowest or fastest person in my lane, I move to the appropriate one.  Should I see someone coming to the end of their length, I try to make space for them and am willing to let faster swimmers go before me.  It appears I'm in the minority.  I should also confess I'm not the fastest swimmer ever, I tend to plod along, but when I'm in danger of overtaking someone despite giving my legs a rest, and using only breast-stroke arms they're probably in the wrong lane.

Well, despite my swimming trip offering a few frustrations, it was productive too.  60 lengths were swum, and boy can I feel it.  Before Christmas, and last time I went swimming, I was managing 30.  And the people standing at the end of the pool - they'd probably managed 10 each in the same time.  I thought I should probably make a bit more effort today.  I hope I can still move tomorrow.