In The Swim

[kerravonsen]

The outdoor pool at the Ringwood Aquatic Centre has a lot of things going for it... and one thing going against it. Alas, it is not deep enough to be a comfortable swim for an adult (at least, an adult doing side-stroke, which is my favourite stroke). It is only 0.9 metres deep at the deep end, and 0.75 metres deep at the shallow end. Which is shallow enough to touch the bottom of the pool with your arm when doing side-stroke... bump!

However, the other delights make up for this, which is why I've been spending most of my swimming time in the outdoor pool.

• It has lovely surroundings. Ringwood Aquatic Centre has extensive grounds, and the area nearby isn't built-up either, which means you have green lawn and lovely tall gum trees to look at.
• It is not heated.
  • It is balmy and refreshing. Look, I don't like heated pools, okay? Not in weather which is above 20C. They're too hot once you start actually swimming, as opposed to when you put your foot in.

  • It is not crowded. Most of the time I have it completely to myself, which is nice, I can float there with my eyes shut, and not worry about bumping into someone.

It is quite amusing watching people come out to the outdoor pool. They stick one foot in, squeel "It's freezing!" and then go away again. Either that, or they're in a group, and one or two are bolder than the others, they go all the way in, and one person gets half-way in and says "It's cold!", to which I may retort, if I happen to be nearby, "It isn't cold, it's cool."

I dunno, maybe it was years of a non-heated pool in Brisbane, maybe it was years of Avoca Beach in NSW, maybe it was years of going swimming at 7am with my father at the local pool in Epping (Sydney), but calling a pool like the outdoor pool at Ringwood Aquatic Centre (shallow, sitting there warming up in the sun), calling a pool like that cold seems rather silly to me.

Cold is when it gives you goose-bumps.

I still don't like cold showers, though. Possibly because they are in the cold morning, rather than the balmy sunshine.

Comments

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely. I wish it was warm enough for outdoor pools to be really practical here. You get the odd one, but they're pretty rare.

Mind you, we do get the odd foolhardy person going in the sea, even in January/February. I think it's one of these macho things though - you do it to be able to say you've done it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I thought the whole point of swimming pools was to cool you down in summer. Well, that's why I'd want one. Swimming in a heated pool is also very tiring. But hey, at least it means it's not crowded.

[kerravonsen]

But hey, at least it means it's not crowded.

Que? It's the non-heated pool that isn't crowded.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I meant, not very clearly. :-P I don't get why people swim in heated pools. I find it very tiring; give me a natural one any day.

Yours sounds nice with the trees around. The only one I've been in like that was in the country; there was even a possum watching from a tree.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I second your dislike of heated pools. I always feel like I'm swimming in a big bowl of people soup.

Where I used to live in Sudbury, there were tons of lakes all around the city -- lovely clear, cool, rock-bottomed lakes. Now that was good swimming.

[kerravonsen]

I always feel like I'm swimming in a big bowl of people soup.

Oh dear, now you've got me thinking of "The Reluctant Cannibal":

"You see a man sitting in the pot and you think that he's suffering? Oh, it's not like that at all. Why, he's just had an invigorating chase through the forest. He's sitting there in the nice warm water with all the carrots and dumplings and things..."

lovely clear, cool, rock-bottomed lakes. Now that was good swimming.

That sounds lovely.

[kerravonsen]

Swimming and England don't really mix...