To think swimming pools are utterly disgusting?

[clutchingatpearls]

Just that really. I love swimming and can swim in a warm sea. But I find swimming pools (posh spas are a possible exception) literally make me feel sick. The plasters, hair, bodily excretions... truly a human soup.

Am I unusual?

Do you know what gets pumped into the sea?

I agree. I love swimming but I can’t deal with all the grimness.
I have recently found a local training pool I can use alone for a very reasonable price and I love it

YABU as you will happily bathe in the sea and clearly see that as cleaner than a swimming pool, do you check where the nearest sewage outfall is every time?

Why would a training pool be better than a normal pool though 😄? I mean, even if it's less busy, they probably just clean it less often.

I think it's better just to not think about things too mucin. It's not like people are routinely becoming ill from swimming pools.

I think the UK coastline is probably a far greater threat to your health. Swimming pools are treated so they are really safe, I do get the human soup thing, but they should be very safe, I volunteer for our local lido and the water is constantly monitored.

I know what you mean; local leisure pool is grim dc love it though. We swim in a loch in the warmer months though. The water is very clear so I’m hoping it’s cleanish.

Don’t know if I’m naive, but I trust council/leisure centre pools- at any rate, I use one every week and I’m still here. You wouldn’t catch me in a hotel pool after reading that they are the source of 95% of holiday stomach bugs.

I think it’s a bit disgusting not to wear a swim hat in pools (unless you’re bald!) and pools should be stricter about it.

I think the UK coastline is probably a far greater threat to your health.

I said I will swim in a warm sea - that means not the UK, and very very rarely!

Used by 1 person at a time, nobody under 16, water checked after each person uses it amongst other things

I just don't think pools can compare to wild swimming.

@clut

Meh... a lot of British municipal pools are a bit old and manky. I can't get excited about it really.

It's impossible to find any public environment which is sterile. You wouldn't really want it to be sterile either, its terrible for your immune system.

I don't really understand how people manage to function in life if they are so neurotic about hygiene.

Whoops!

Wild/Coastal swimming? In all that fish urine and faeces?

No Thank You.

I like my grime human.

Of course no one pumps raw sewage into a warm sea !

I reckon the health benefits of swimming outweigh other concerns. And at least dogs haven’t pooped in the swimming pool, whereas they certainly do on the beach!

If the swimming public were to shower properly before entering the pool and to wear a swim hat then the pool water would be a damned sight cleaner than it is.

I don't swim anywhere, it's my only real indulgence into germ phobia. Swimming pools are grim.

Can’t get worked up about this, but you’ve asked the question on Mumsnet. Home of the daily sheet washers and bleach bathers, so you won’t be alone.

There are a lot more corpses in the sea than a swimming pool. It's swimming in human soup vs swimming in fishy soup. Just best not to think about it to much.

Yes, one should only swim in one’s own pool

Agree

Agree! I can't watch other people walk around barefoot at a swimming pool, I don't know how they can do it without cringing. I try and wear flip flops as much as possible at pools, after just trying to avoid going at all. An outdoor pool abroad is different though

I'm the same 🤢