I just need to get this off my chest ...
... or it'll bother me all weekend.
The pool where I swim has two lanes marked off in the mornings - designated the 'fast' lane and the 'slow' lane. People self-select which lane they're going to use. I swim in the slow lane, along with the other people swimming a moderate breast stroke, a few older men doing a slow crawl, and faster swimmers doing float-work.
The lanes are wide enough for two people to swim in opposite directions (in the slow lane we swim in an anticlockwise loop), with just enough space in the middle to overtake if you're fast enough to catch up to the person in front of you. (Although personally I think if you're having to overtake everyone in the slow lane, you should probably rethink your lane choice.) However occasionally someone - and I'm sorry, but it's invariably a man - will decide he's had enough of swimming breast stroke and want to do a fast crawl length. And does he switch over to the fast lane to do it? No, he barrels down the middle of the slow lane, not looking where he's going and not caring whether there might be other people trying to overtake coming in the opposite direction.
So, here's what happened this morning. I'm swimming along, minding my own business, and the slow lane is pretty empty, with maybe only half a dozen people in it (just the way I like it). And I've just turned at the shallow end, and I'm maybe a third of the way up the pool when I realise that someone is pounding down the lane towards me at a fast crawl on my side of the lane. There's nothing I can do except stop and put my hands out in front of me to protect myself from getting slammed into or punched in the face.
I'd lay money he didn't even notice me until he swam at full tilt into my hands.
At which point, do you think he stopped and apologised for swimming straight into me? On my side of the lane? Do you think he made sure I was okay, that he hadn't hurt me? No. He starts mouthing off, claiming that a) he was in the middle of the lane, not on my side, and b) I had dunked him!
Arsehole.
If that's how he swims, I only hope he doesn't drive.
The pool where I swim has two lanes marked off in the mornings - designated the 'fast' lane and the 'slow' lane. People self-select which lane they're going to use. I swim in the slow lane, along with the other people swimming a moderate breast stroke, a few older men doing a slow crawl, and faster swimmers doing float-work.
The lanes are wide enough for two people to swim in opposite directions (in the slow lane we swim in an anticlockwise loop), with just enough space in the middle to overtake if you're fast enough to catch up to the person in front of you. (Although personally I think if you're having to overtake everyone in the slow lane, you should probably rethink your lane choice.) However occasionally someone - and I'm sorry, but it's invariably a man - will decide he's had enough of swimming breast stroke and want to do a fast crawl length. And does he switch over to the fast lane to do it? No, he barrels down the middle of the slow lane, not looking where he's going and not caring whether there might be other people trying to overtake coming in the opposite direction.
So, here's what happened this morning. I'm swimming along, minding my own business, and the slow lane is pretty empty, with maybe only half a dozen people in it (just the way I like it). And I've just turned at the shallow end, and I'm maybe a third of the way up the pool when I realise that someone is pounding down the lane towards me at a fast crawl on my side of the lane. There's nothing I can do except stop and put my hands out in front of me to protect myself from getting slammed into or punched in the face.
I'd lay money he didn't even notice me until he swam at full tilt into my hands.
At which point, do you think he stopped and apologised for swimming straight into me? On my side of the lane? Do you think he made sure I was okay, that he hadn't hurt me? No. He starts mouthing off, claiming that a) he was in the middle of the lane, not on my side, and b) I had dunked him!
Arsehole.
If that's how he swims, I only hope he doesn't drive.