A question of etiquette

For some reason, the pool was very busy this morning. It's half-term, but the parents with children were starting to arrive as we left, so I don't know if that has any relevance. Nonetheless, busy, with lots of unfamiliar faces. The staff had put out the board that marks off the lanes occupied by the University, but not the boards that label the two public lanes as 'slow' and 'fast' (or 'medium' and 'fast' or any other combination; this is always a bit random), define the direction of swim and have some - probably unnecessary - advice about being considerate of other swimmers in your lane.

Inevitably, the regulars in the 'slow' lane were joined by several faster swimmers. Because the adjacent lane, and the open part of the pool were also busy, it wasn't easy to keep to the side and let people pass, and in any case, it's always easier just to give way at one end or other of the pool (do I need to spell out that I am always the one giving way, the slowest of the slow?). There was one young woman whose timing seemed to clash with mine: a couple of times I reached the end of the pool to find her pausing there, but instead of setting off just before I arrived, she waited until I started to turn and then swam off ahead of me. Oh, well, these things happen. Likewise, a couple of times she came up fast behind me so that I found myself pushed aside at the turn by someone I hadn't known was there. Can't be helped. But my reaction to what follows may have been coloured by this awkwardness of timing.

Swimming away from the deep end, I felt a gentle fizzing in the water, and looked down to see the same woman swimming rapidly below me, overtaking from beneath. It was neatly done, but I was disconcerted, felt that this was a bit - a bit intimate, so to speak. A couple of lengths later she did it again, this time closer to the shallow end of the pool, and I automatically held back to give her clearance (which may not have been necessary; it was an immediate, unconsidered response). This time I was shaken enough to stop.

I waited for her at the end of the pool, and when she returned asked her not to do it again; she was perfectly pleasant: "Oh, did it upset you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you... I thought it was fun, just to dip down..." She didn't do it again, though she continued diving low when we passed side by side.

So the question is, am I being over-sensitive? The more I think about it, the more I feel that "I thought it was fun..." isn't good enough, that you don't get to have fun with total strangers without asking them first. But the pool dissolves certain barriers...

Botany, brass and banners

Yesterday was the 132nd anniversary of the Trimdon Grange Disaster. Not a big, round number anniversary, but a hook on which someone had decided to hang a short concert by the Bear Park and Esh Colliery Band, and a talk by Norman Emery, Cathedral Archaeologist and author of a book on miners' banners. An afternoon of brass band music and banners, what more could anyone desire?



We set off at midday, left the car at the park & ride, and walked through the Botanic Gardens to Grey College, the event venue. It was a bright day, sometimes sunny, sometimes not, but there were enough signs of spring to raise the spirits: catkins by the path out of the car-park, a drift of snowdrops suddenly caught in the spotlight as the sun broke through, a clump of hellebores here and of crocuses there, a bush of daphne heavy with scented pink blossom... It took us an hour to walk the length of the gardens, stopping to look at everything, which brought us to the café in the gardens in time for lunch.