Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Socializing in the Pool

For exercise I go to a nearby county-owned inside pool several times a week.

The time that I go there not many people are there. I don't know why I do it, but each day I count the heads. Usually there are between six and ten. It is a big pool, so with so few people ever person has plenty of room. Mostly everybody there looks to be over age 60.

There is one cluster of women three to five who come who always stay in a little group and talk. I don't think they would ever consider getting their face wet because each one wears makeup in the pool.

There is one lady who, to me, looks like Paula Dean. She seems to be the group's social leader. She talks so innocent and bubbly - I suspect she was a cheerleader when she was in high school.

They all have long Styrofoam-looking floating things that is available from the lifeguard. You can wrap it around you, or straddle it, and float around - I don't see how that could help you do exercise.

Each one in her cluster of socialites always speak to me, as I do them. But, for some reason, I haven't figured out, she decided I do not exist. She is the only one in her floating group that does not speak to me. The few times I have looked her directly in her eyes and spoke she gave no recognition that a human being had just attempted to communicate a greeting to her.

Yesterday was a cold rainy day. When I got to the pool the only person in it was the Paula-Dean-retired-cheerleader. I suppose the bad weather just sort of delayed some people or prevented them from coming at all.

Just her and I were in the pool. I spoke to her and believe it or not, she returned my greeting. I think she thought it might be un-cheerleader like to ignore the only other person in the pool.

I went to the end I prefer and started my laps of swimming back and forth, back and forth. After several laps I looked over at her and she was floating casual over to me. She is a social animal.

I wasn't looking forward to our meeting. I would have to nice and stay in one place and chat with her, as not to appear rude. Just as she got close enough to talk she commented about how warm the water was. I agreed.

Then somebody hollered at her. One of her friends were lowering herself into the pool and behind her was another one of her friends.

"Saved!" I thought.

"Saved!" she probably thought.

4 comments:

kenju said...

Neatly the same thing happens at our health club, except the water isn't usually warm enough for anyone to say that! I stay in the hot tub most of the time.

Eddie said...

Our inside Aquatic Center has three pools. Two of them are for serious lap swimmers, and the one I mostly to to is one people can mingle or swim, whatever they want. The one I go to is warmer than the other two. That is why I go to that one.
However, which the water so warm and I see the people float around, I'm sure some of their skin fragments gets mixed up in the water, along with some of their hair, maybe some mucus or saliva. We might possibly be swimming around in a vat of human gumbo!

Carolyn said...

I was always paranoid of people that came up to me in a pool. Paranoid of what they may have left behind in that corner over there ;)

Eddie said...

Just don't drink the water and do take a shower afterwards.