Swim Ladies

At the time I swim I have been the only male for all but a handful of times in the fun and fitness class from mainly last March to last week. The fun and fitness class is comprised of women who are older than I. A few may be within a year or two of my age, but most are older, at least one is in her mid-80's. I tend to be one of the youngest present. Other woman have joined and I am not sure of their ages. The last thing one does is ask a woman her age. The women can be rather chatty, and well, lets just say this may have gotten them into trouble. One story will be about trouble and the second about how the pool staff has to navigate the complaints raised by the ladies.

I put my suit on at home, and take off shoes, socks, pants and shirt on a bench near the pool, I do not use the locker room until getting out of the pool. A couple weeks ago I was going into the locker room after swim, and I noticed a new sign on the door. Over the past several months, perhaps 98% of the time, I am the only man in the locker room, so but for when the shower runs the room is quiet. The  new sign states that patrons have ten minutes for locker room use before a program and twenty minutes at the conclusion of a program. While I first thought about kids, perhaps having fun in the locker room. My first clue that this was not not the case was chatter. While changing, particularly when I am the only man in the men's locker room, I can hear the women next door, doing what they like to do--talk, and talk and talk. Did I say they like to talk. Putting a dagger in the kid's theory, however, was two days later. At that time, I get involved in a conversation, on my side of the bulkhead, with a couple of the ladies who asked if I had seen the sign on locker room door about time available to use the locker room. I said yes, and I noted that I wondered what led to it. Then one said: "It's us"  For a couple months now, she went on, "we have been told to hurry it up and get out." Then one woman piped up and said, "You know, according to" so and so (I cannot recall the name of so and so, but she used to swim there and has apparently now gone to the great pool in the sky) "we have only twenty minutes after getting out of the water to get lotion on our bodies." That meant, they need to lotion up their bodies at the pool not at home. Now, I have no idea whether the time frame is correct, but the wife seemed to agree with the timing. They were rather upset that the allotted twenty minutes did not allow appropriate time to get out of their suit, use the shower, lotion up and then get dressed. So, the old ladies were causing an issue at the pool, perhaps with staffing, or getting out before the next program. I don't know and don't want to ask why they want people out, but it makes some sense. Being tardy at school is not acceptable, and being tardy at getting out the locker room is not either.

Recent rule on use of locker rooms

I was going to say they could cut the talk, but decided against it. They asked if I had a problem with the allotment of only twenty minutes, and I said, "Well I don't lotion up, so no." I also did not say that I am usually alone and so there is no conversation. Mark, the other man used to show up but has been dealing with health issues since last March, finally appeared last week Friday (10/16). Mark, who was facilities manager for Monona Grove, said in building schools below high school level he told architects to not even bother with showers, as kids don't shower after gym class, and they do not change in front of other kids. Unlike kids, I never realized that the ladies hung around so long. I guess chatting in the pool is not enough, but I do realize the bulkhead divides the group, and when they mix in the locker room they need to chat it up. When I tried to explain to my wife the conversation about putting on lotion, she said she knew what I was talking about so she did not need details, in fact she preferred not having details. She did not need details, can she imagine what it was like being in a man in a conversation where they were giving details about putting lotion on their bodies? 

Up high by the ceiling sitting above the pool are two large fans. A couple other fans, although not as large, sit above the mezzanine bleachers. I have never noticed the fans to be off. My thinking is that they push warm air down to the pool. I am not sure if I recall the ambient air temperature in the pool area, but I do know the pool water is generally 80 to 82 degrees, and when it is 80 verse 81 or 82, the ladies feel it. (Oh, the water is chilly today" is a comment I may hear. I do know going from the pool to the locker room, the locker room seems cooler. Back to the story. One day the fan over the fun and fitness four lanes and bulkhead (bulkhead divides fun and fitness) was off. The other fan was running as normal at its generally fast pace. I noted that to Elijah, the lifeguard on duty, he said they were getting complaints about it being too cold and it was an experiment to see if turning off the fan would help. This was not unexpected. A few weeks earlier, I had heard a couple women complain about the cold air in the pool and they pointed to their intended culprit, the fan. It may have been the draft created by the fan, than the temperature. Elijah said it was many more than two who complained.  It makes me think that the air temperature was likely a conversation in the female locker room. Perhaps part of the chatter to set up a complaint to the pool manager before protesting outside with signs. After swim, the day the fan was off, I was going to be a smartass and say that it was rather warm could they turn the fan on. But being a smartass is not part of my character. 

Ceiling fan, bulkhead is white object at bottom

The next time for swim, two days later, the fan was on, but a low speed, so I mentioned it, and asked if they were attempting to find the Goldilocks setting, and he said that was correct. It is not just the fan, a few weeks earlier some ladies complained about the shower water being cooler. Here I decided to go out of character and said, they are trying to conserve energy. While I said it in a factitious manner, she did not pick that tone up, and thought I was correct. About the same time, I noticed the one shower head, which usually ran long in the men's locker room was now was running much shorter; taking two pushes rather than one to get what was probably the original time it ran. Today, both Mark and I noticed that the shower water seemed cooler. I do think that the shorter time frame on the shower and the cooler water is sending a message to people to not take too long, limit their time so they are out in less than twenty minutes. Maybe they are concerned about long showers, or maybe they just want the ladies to move it along. Or, maybe it really is energy saving. 

When one swims with a bunch of females you never know what topic will arise, but I can guarantee that there will be chatter. Even writing this blog post, I so far have been successful in blocking out images a group of seasoned citizen ladies chatting, showering, and putting on lotion in the female locker room.