Swimming and the Economy

The "Wreck" Center has been closed for a week. They had to drain the pool to measure and/or replace the drain cover to be in compliance with the new federal law.

When I got there, the locker room was unopened. Am I living Groundhog Day or what? I went to the office and Nick, the lifeguard, said that he would open the door. Nick has a new 'do or, rather, a new hair color -- kind of strawberry blond. Nick, who likes to sing and shake his booty, was quite subdued. He didn't work while the pool was closed and they cut, not only his hours, but Justin's hours as well. Apparently, a city audit was conducted and various facilities were affected.

After Nick opened the locker room, I got swim-ready and headed toward the pool. I saw the "front crawler" by the gate. The front crawler said that the woman said it would be a few minutes. It was more than a few minutes and I was starting to feel like I had unwittingly been dropped into a "Behind Bars" reality show. Eventually, we were released but Nick told us that we couldn't get into the pool because the chlorine level was elevated. He tested the water again and the chlorine was still high. Finally, the supervisor returned with a caveat; we could get in if we were willing to live with possible irritated skin and a faded swimsuit. The front crawler and I looked at each other, shrugged and got in. We had lost about half an hour waiting but I gained something else -- water in my ears. It felt so good when the water finally seeped out.

As I was waiting to get into the water, I realized how much I missed The "Wreck" Center. Built in 1967, it has a charm of its own. Who needs a modern recreation center?

After swimming, I headed to the store just in case the back-end of the four to eight inches of predicted snow arrived. I got some bananas plus ingredients for vegetarian chili. I paid $1.33 per can for some tomatoes with no salt added. Next time, I will stock up on low sodium tomatoes when they are on sale.

If it snows, like the days of old, I'm set for a few days:

Bananas

Chocolate-Covered Peppermint Sticks

Coffee

Kiwi

Oatmeal

Salsa

Vegetarian Chili

Veggie Chips

P.S. The National Body Challenge and Bally's have extended the time to redeem the 30 day pass to Bally's:

Don't pass on the pass!!

Don't miss your last chance to download your free 30-day pass to Bally Total Fitness®. You have from now until Saturday, January 31st to get your free pass. Take your National Body Challenge experience to the next level with your free 30-day membership and take advantage of all BallySM has to offer.