Swimming

[Plantopia]

Was talking to DP about how you could just turn up to swim a few years ago, whereas now everything is book a slot online and change your day around to suit pool timings. Even our local Splashpark has to be booked.

We were also wondering whether costs have gone up and googled the price of a swim when we were kids. Taking into account inflation etc, it is over double pro rata now. Shame.

Where I live there are some free swim places for over 16's and families. About 20 free spots twice a week.

Reported Magnox, what kind of drivel is that.
@Plantopia not only $$, but as a grandparent who’s not fully in the know, trying to book something with the grand kids is near impossible.
With population growth new facilities are very much needed.

Why do you find it so difficult?

it has gone up a lot but I think it’s partly because the cost of energy sky rocketed for a while and it cost them so much to heat the pools

@ZippyTheZebra because the lessons in this case, are literally booked up within hours of being online. So someone like me who's not in the know as to the dates would have no clue when to book. Swim lessons are in 8 week blocks so it's a case of knowing when the next block is open etc.
Not the same as swimming but the gymnastic summer program is online in March for July, if someone wasn't aware and looked online in May or June they would be out of luck till next year.
None of it is very spontaneous.

I understand the cost though; liability, staff wages, and building maintenance.

Aren't there any rivers nearby for swimming? I used to swim in the Dart as a child. It was chilly, but fun. Mostly in the salmon leap - I suppose I was about 10 when I started to swim there. I learnt to swim in the sea - my father very gradually decreased the air in my water wings until I knew I could swim with no help. Never liked swimming pools much, unless they are the sort with slides they are boring.

@pinkgownyou really think that is good / safe advice?

I swam in rivers as a kid, grew up on a farm, didn’t really have a choice. Still open water swim now with correct safety in place.

Telling kids to go swim in a river is really poor advice, even if you know the river currents and depths can change.

@pinkgown have you not seen any of the news reports about sewage overflow in the last few years?

even if the river were safe I wouldn’t fancy it much.

swim in a river, JFC 🙄

@pinkgownthat looks beautiful!

I agree though swimming is crap these days. It’s since Covid I think, needing to book a precise 55 minute slot and turn up for it like an appointment. Also very expensive although in our city kids can swim for free- the scheme is not welL advertised so do check if you have anything similar.

I expect when I was a child the rivers were even more polluted 'cos noone was keeping an eye on them like nowadays🙁

It can be expensive for a single swim but some of the monthly passes work out cheaper

We are lucky in that we can still just turn up and swim. It's not overly expensive compared to other activities (child is £4, not sure about the adult price) and children go free if they are in swimming lessons. I would go a lot less if we had to book.

Sometimes you just want to pop somewhere, or go with the flow without booking. So, “fancy swimming this afternoon after Grandad’s”becomes “we have to leave Grandad’s earlier to make the swimming slot and we are already going to be late because there’s a traffic jam”. Our circumstances also make it hard for us to plan, so want to be able to do things as a family when we can.

@motherofcrocodilesI’ve found something that does a discounted swim for children, so thanks!!