The Swimming Pool

Last November, Diminishing Lucy wrote a lovely blog post about her deep affection for her public pool. I was reminded of her post today as Fam Fibro enjoyed an afternoon at the Fibrotown pool. It was another hot, scratchy, irritable February day. We were all climbing the walls, if a little listlessly. The Builder came inside from a morning of outdoor chores, sweat dripping from his nose, and asked what we all wanted to do in the afternoon.

"A swim!" was the uniform response.

"Inside or outside," he asked, thinking of the joy the boys got from visiting our local indoor swimming complex.

"Outside!" we shouted. I wanted to go for a drive up the road, to a secluded little rockpool we know.

"It's a long drive to swim in a pool," he said.

We decided, instead, to drive five minutes down the road to swim in a pool.

The Fibrotown pool looks almost exactly the same as it did when I used to ride my bike down there with my sisters. The joy of the pool is that it's within riding distance of just about every street in Fibrotown. There are some new benches and a new shade structure, but other than that, it's like stepping back in time (albeit carrying a little extra weight into the frame).

Teenage boys were staging a bombing contest, taking a run-up across the grass and then launching themselves over the lane ropes marking the area for serious swimmers. Fortunately, the serious swimmers stayed home today as not all boys were successful at clearing the ropes.

Little kids in too-small cossies stood for ages at the canteen, trying to decide what to buy for their 80c. Unfortunately, you can't get a Chocolate Paddle Pop for that anymore - but we still had one. Who goes to the pool and doesn't have a Paddle Pop? No-one I know, that's for sure.

We ran into the family of one of Mr7's classmates and stood around in the shallow end, throwing the children between us, to their great squeals of delight. We even braved the waterslides, which I remember from my teen years - though I don't recall them being so high or so fast. Mr4's enthusiasm waned a little after he received a face full of fibreglass, bouncing off one of the high walls around a fast corner. But he's keen to go back 'next time'.

The Fibrotown pool is under threat at present. It is old (see above mentions to my teen years, which we all know are some years ago) and apparently leaking. It also stands on a prime piece of riverfront land. Which does not stand in its favour in the eyes of some, who can see better use for such land.

I remember stretching out a towel on the lush green grass surrounding the pool when I was 15, wearing my first 'grown-up' swimsuit. It was also lush green and was, in true 80s fashion, cut high enough in the legs to reveal my (very serious) hipbones. There may even have been a white belt involved. Maybe.

I hope that my boys have the opportunity to have memories like that of their own. Ideally, without the fashion victim swimsuits in the picture.

{image: via WeHeartIt}