Why aren’t people going swimming - am I missing something?

[MyNameIsNotMummy]

So another boiling day today and my local pool (only one for miles around in a large town) was virtually empty! I was quite happy as it meant DS and I could have a lane to ourselves but I was surprised more people don’t want to go swimming in this weather. It was the same on Thursday and last week on another boiling day.

CV is inactive in chlorinated water and I just make sure to take anti bac wipes to use on lockers, door handles and the bench in the changing rooms, with lots of hand sanitizer of course.

Am I missing something about swimming in the current climate?

Why aren't people going swimming?

Because my local pool is closed. On social media they proclaim that they are too concerned about our welfare to open the pool. Their staff on the other hand have had no qualms about telling anyone who will listen that they are not opening the pool because they don't want to unfulough their lifeguards and cleaning staff as it is not in their financial interests.

My swim club and myself would love to go for a swim but the very poorly run local leisure centre are a pile of sh!te.

I'm with you op. I love swimming and have been to our local pool twice recently with the dc. We booked a family swim and had half the shallow end to ourselves. It was great! Some days it has been hot and humid- not comfortable to be outside IMO.

Ours isn't allowing children at all.

@FatalDistraction at least yours is saying something on social media. Ours (Peterborough) is silent apart from repeating general government advice.

We went on Saturday and it was wonderful! Very quiet, no queuing, straight in and out

Gyms and pools haven't reopened in Scotland yet - I think they're saying mid-September at the earliest.

I don’t see indoor swimming as a hot day activity... it’s a ‘it’s raining outside so we’ll go swimming inside’ activity.
Our local outdoor pool was absolutely rammed yesterday.

[quote Thehop]**@mindutopia* @GiddapGreyWaynesKeat* I’m so jealous. I’d love to try outdoor /wild/open water swimming[/quote]
It's really not difficult to try swimming outdoors. Google wild swimming in your local area and go. We've been jumping in the Thames the week - it's been great.

I'm finding all the posts about how awful it is to go to an inside swimming pool on a hot day very bizarre - but hey, all the more space for me! We've been to our swimming pool twice now, and we're booked in again for today and tomorrow. It's fantastically quiet, the changing rooms are empty and the restriction of one family per lane means loads of space to ourselves. Please continue to stay away, hot weather swimming pool snobs!

The lido is booked to capacity but looks underused because of social distancing, and has no changing facilities. (It could usefully open late more than once a week). The indoor pool is closed.

On a sunny day I try and stay outdoors as much as possible, if I wanted a swim I'd go to the beach.

Ours aren't open yet anyway.

I used to work at a leisure centre pool many years ago and on boiling hot days it was always quieter because generally the pools are stuffy and hot and most people want to go to the beach. Combine that with a pandemic .. I’m not surprised.

My local pool is closed. Plus I have discovered some places for outdoor swimming and the hot weather has helped that.

I'm on hols in a Northern town. The pool here IS open. It will be expensive compared to my membership deal but since rain is forecast (being in a Yorkshire town...) I will go swimming. Maybe even 3x this week. Very excited at this prospect!!

[quote TheFormerPorpentinaScamander]@MidnightCitrus apologies. I didn't read it properly [/quote]
No problem 😊

None of them are open round here, and we've been warned we're heading back into a local lockdown

Because they are limiting it to 40mins and I’m not paying £22 to wear a mask up to the poolside and have nowhere to change after a 40mins swim. In a clockwise direction in a lane and advised you need to keep going. Oh and no under 16’s so it’s not even like it’s for the benefit of my child.

Our local pool is open but only for lane swimming or lessons. No children are allowed to join a lane swim.

My DCs are back for their lessons, and would love to swim more but can't. DD1 would actually be fine swimming in the slow lane as she's a pretty good swimmer for her age, but it is against the rules. Even if it wasn't, she is too young to go alone (under 8) and her younger sister definitely isn't ready for lane swimming!

There is an outdoor pool nearby you can hire half of for a session as a family, but it's £50...

nobody wants to go home soaking wet. 😂😂

I laugh as an Aussie ex-pat who routinely went to the beach or pool who would go home in his swimmers with a towel wrapped around his waste. What does it matter? You dry off in 20 minutes anyway!

Pools are still closed here as far as I am aware. DD’s swimming lessons are not starting until October at the earliest. I live in a county with lots of outdoor pools but they are shut as by the time that they could open they had missed too much off the summer season to make it viable to reopen (I’m presuming there are massive upfront costs to filling and setting up the pool?)

I am aware the CDC say it MAY be inactive in properly maintained chlorine levels but still doesn't appeal at the minute, it is possibly lowest on the list of things I would be willing to partake in atm. We got a play pool for the garden and that will do for now; we only go with the kids so they can play. They can do that in the garden. (Our local pool is only allowing 20 people at a time in the pool (Olympic size, so not particularly small) - still wouldn't go though).

Are the booking systems putting people off? Limited numbers, booked within minutes of going on sale, and then perhaps some people not turning up on one or two occasions.

My local pool is open but they've decided that 10 people in a double lane is fine. Even without covid, that's a ridiculous number of people when you aren't all swimming the same stroke and same speed.

I usually have 4-5 in a single lane for swimming lessons, but we are all doing the same thing and know who's good at what stroke so go in the right order to avoid congestion.

So I've not bothered. I'd happily use an outdoor pool for fun but as a pp said, many didn't bother opening this year because the government dithered so long on letting them open

Our local pool can be hired out for 2 hours at a time for £20 for up to 10 people in a 'bubble' . My daughter has hired it out tomorrow afternoon to take her daughter. DDs friend is also going with her boys too. It might appear expensive for just 5 people in total but it would be a lot more expensive to go trampolining or ice skating

The only pool open near us (and I mean in the whole county as far as I can tell!) has lane swimming on the hour for half an hour, except in the evenings when they have clubs. So I could only take DD for a maximum of half an hour. Not worth the money for less than 30 minutes.

It doesn't seem to be putting others off though because when I've looked last minute in the hope of getting a lane to myself or just a few people there's been a max of 2 spaces left so at least 8 in a lane.

The water is nice and cool in ours (enough to shock at first!) very refreshing.

Well the water is but I’m talking about the actually building. Sweaty, muggy, humid, germ riddled pits when you could (should) be outside in the fresh air.