The Pool. Again.

How about a pool story?  I haven't had a good pool story to pass along in a while.  I seem to misbehave in the pool just about more than anywhere else, which is odd when you think about it seeing as pools are usually associated with relaxation and fun.  I can ruin just about anything.

The pool that I use has an exercise class where a bunch of actually pretty large older women slosh around to a deafening disco-like soundtrack, under the sway of a shouting, yelling, gesticulating instructor who is no tiny little thing herself.  The class is held four times a week at 9AM.  If I choose to swim on a day when the class is being held then I rather obviously have to get there an hour early - which is a little too early - or after the class ends - which is a little too late.  This is typical of me, always trying to manipulate things so that they happen exactly the way I want them to happen.  

I want to swim at 9AM!

Greatly put out and horribly persecuted, under attack from people who don't know how important and fragile that I am, I set up my swimming schedule on non-class days.

Without warning! the classmates and the instructor with her venomous boom box begin showing up on two of the three days when the pool is calm and empty.  The crisis is not severe - they only use two of the four lanes, keeping the remaining ones open for lap swimming.  Frankly, it isn't all that great because 20 actually pretty large older women sloshing around in a small pool create a hell of a lot of waves.  It would be easier swimming in rough surf off the Cape of Horn during a windstorm that trying to make it up and down the length of the pool through all of that sloshing water.

This schedule lasted a few weeks.  Without warning! one day the instructor told me that the class was going to use the whole pool and I'd have to make other swimming arrangements.  This was irritating but fair enough.  I started my swim only to realize that she meant today, that the new schedule was starting today.  She was starting to remove the last lane divider separating me from the sloshing Mongol Horde.

I stopped and shouted something the length of the pool along the lines of: "You have to give me a little notice - I'm going to finish my swim today and if you have a problem with that you can go get a manager and I'll take it up with him."  I may even have been smiling although it's hard to tell with aqua goggles on.  The instructor relented.  I'm sure that a fairly large man in a fairly small bathing suit, begoggled, yelling down the length of the pool wasn't on her list of Good Things That Might Happen To Me Today list.

I think I spoke with reasonable restraint but I'm never sure when I'm pissed off.  I'd like to see a tape of the incident - I bet I don't come off as well as I think I do.