Splash!

This evening I went swimming for the first time in a month.

Just before Xmas I was busy, then after that I got sick. Then the New Year was busy again.

Anyway, tonight I went and was so disappointed. After 75m of backstroke I was ready to collapse so I spent the rest of the time walking up and down the pool doing different strokes with my arms, then went up and down using a kickboard - both facedown and on my back.

Actually I rarely, if ever, saw people walking up and down in Australian pools. Everyone goes to the pool to swim. I think there are some special rehabilitation pools for walking but I have never been to one. I wonder why Japanese people like walking in the pool?

Now I go to the Hotel Okura pool. It is really nice and a bonus is that they give you towels and there are showers where you can wash your hair, etc. There are even hairdryers to use. Public pools have communal showers that you use with everyone else before and after swimming so you wear your swimsuit and of course there is no soap or shampoo. This was also strange for me because ALL Australian pools have individual showers where you can shampoo your hair.

Another really good point about the hotel's pool is that there is a 60cm deep small semi-circular pool on the side. This can be used by children, but there are never children there at the time I go. (I heard they only go there on weekends and only if a parent is a member of the pool.) No-one else uses that pool in the evenings so I go in there at the end of swimming simply to relax. I float on my back with my eyes closed for 5 - 10 minutes. I probably look like a dead body, so once a minute or so I splash my hands back and forth to show I'm still alive!!! Other swimmers probably think I'm crazy, but it is wonderful to just lie in the water!