I was daydreaming today and I found myself reminiscing about my previous life. I daydream a lot these days, partly because I find myself in an odd situation: being paid to do not very much. Yes, it is nice work if you can get it, but believe me, it is not all it has been cracked up to be, particularly if you have to work in an office and make a pretence of doing something. That particular neuron pathway is, however, reserved for a post in the near future.
In my previous life I worked from home and could set my own working hours. I had a great routine where I would go to exercise in the morning before starting work. I found myself looking back at that rather fondly, even though I am not a great fan of the gymnasium. I prefer to exercise by playing racket sports (even so, I do find that I am missing this regular exercise, so I might even bite the bullet and find somewhere near my office). As I was idly thinking about the attractions of the local leisure centre, I remembered a short piece that I wrote about it one day. After a bit of searching, I uncovered it. So, here it is, read at your leisure…
Have you ever noticed that watching leisure swimmers doing their lengths up and down the pool is as relaxing as an aquarium? I don’t mean the serious swimmers that you see in competition, but just everyday people enjoying a swim as part of their exercise. I’m not talking about “leisure” pools here either, but proper pools where you can swim up and down.
I noticed the effect the other day. I had just finished my morning gym session, but when I was leaving the leisure centre I noticed that it was raining heavily. Rather than get soaked cycling home, I decided to enjoy a cappuccino at the cafe. I took my drink, with its complimentary biscotti, to an empty table overlooking the swimming pool, which is where I made my discovery.
The swimming pool could be called old-fashioned, because it is rectangular in shape, not some arbitrarily curving freeform. There were quite a few people in the water. The pool had been divided in half; one half was subdivided further into lanes. I watched the swimmers as they swam, with a variety of strokes and individual styles, up and down the length of the pool. There was the man in a hurry, torpedoing along with his efficient front crawl; the sedate woman, breaststroking her way along, head well above water, her hair pinned to her head and as dry as if she were not swimming at all; the wannabe Olympian, goggled eyes staring at the ceiling as he windmilled his arms with his backstroke; and the medley woman, alternating her stroke with every length.
The medley woman had a fascinating front crawl action, the like of which I had never seen. On each stroke of the arm, it looked as though she was throwing her whole upper body sideways, almost as if she was moving along by the bending force exerted by her body. Her arms curved slightly through the stroke and the upper parts appeared to be nearly perpendicular to her torso, making it look as though a tremendous amount of energy was being used to little effect.
Overall, the effect of watching the swimmers was very soothing and as I sipped my cappuccino I realised that it was in fact as relaxing and calming as watching my tropical aquarium. I have been keeping tropical fish for about 30 years and have always enjoyed their calming effect. There is something about the way that the fish glide effortlessly through their three-dimensional environment that washes away the stresses and strains of everyday life. Now I have discovered something almost as effective in the shape of the leisure swimmers. So, if you feel stressed or worn down, I’d recommend a visit to your local swimming pool or leisure centre. Grab some refreshment and find a grandstand view of the leisure swimmers. Sit down, watch and soothe away the day’s troubles.