Project Valkyrie: waterlog

[truepenny]

55 minutes, 36 laps. 290 miles, 21 laps.

Nothing makes me hate my fellow creatures more than having to share a lane.

Comments

[kitgordon.livejournal.com]

I sympathize! I swim almost every morning at the U of MN pool--it's lovely during break, usually okay during the terms (since I'm there at 7:30), but sometimes it gets crowded and sharing a lane is the only option. Some folks are good to share with; others not so much!

[rosecampion.livejournal.com]

The last time someone tried to share my lane he ended up hitting/kicking me somehow every time he passed me. And I was right up against the lane ropes on my side, so he was definitely the encroacher. Needless to say, I had to give it up within a couple of laps and cut my swim short. If I didn't have the optimistic view of my fellow humans that I do, I'd have said he was doing it on purpose. It's enough to make me wish that pool etiquette would allow one to say "no" when someone asks to share a lane.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Oh, really? I kind of like it, because you see so much human nature and cultural dynamics working in ways you usually don't.

Ideally, I like to swim alone and think about my characters. But on the occasions where I am sharing a lane, I sometimes find new characters.

In the pool where I swim a lot in the summer (because I can't make myself go in the winter) there used to be the Very Old Man From Mali who could organize the whole slow lane into being courteous just by force of moral authority without saying anything at all to anyone, just smiling and swimming and having presence. I haven't seen him in a while. One day I will write a description of his arms. Because he was very old, and his hair was very grey and skin was very black, and his muscles were ropy and visible and the way muscles are when you have worked hard for all of a long life and never had an ounce of fat. So his arms were amazing, moving him through the water. I'd love to know his story. I hope he's changed his swimming time or his pool, because he used to be there every day and now he isn't, and although I saw him often and we said hello, and talked about the water temperature and the weather and how many lengths we had each swum, I don't know his name or where he lives or anything like that. It's a city thing.