![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Gone Swimmin'
Aug. 1st, 2020 11:07 amOur swimming pools reopened last weekend, but all sessions need to be pre-booked. The organisation that runs our council facilities in Cambridge (Better (!)) had been emailing me for weeks to get my membership set up so that I could book, but unfortunately the method that they suggested didn't work and they had carefully not put a contact number or email address on their website.
The website did allow me to send a request for customer service support, but all this did was generate more emails explaining how delightful my life would be once I became a member.
So I went along last Saturday to talk to Actual People, noting that they have their contact details prominently displayed on the front desk. I suggested to them (reasonably calmly) that these should perhaps be added to the website. (There was another woman there at the same time explaining quite heatedly that she couldn't get her membership to link to the booking system, and she said that she had spent a lot of time trying to sort this out on the phone and on-line, so it wasn't just me!)
The Actual People explained that I had the wrong sort of membership (as I only pay them £10 a year to get discounted swimming) and helped me set up the booking app so that it worked. I should mention here that the Actual People (wearing face shields) were very cheerful and willing to get my problems sorted out.
So having booked, last Monday I set off with my swimming costume on under my clothes, to experience the Better swimming experience. They have a one way system set up, so that you enter via the cafe, proceed through to the pool, deposit your stuff in a Designated Spot on the side, go swimming, pick up your stuff, proceed through the changing rooms to shower and change, and exit via the car park. All this is supposed to take place within one hour, but although I took a bit longer there was nobody trying to rush people through.
The swimming experience was fine. They have separated the pools into double lanes so that you swim clockwise up and down (except for the woman who was sharing a lane with me yesterday who had clearly not read the signs.) There seemed to be at most three people in a lane which seems fine for social distancing. No overtaking unless you can do so in a socially distanced manner. You can't do butterfly (well I can't anyway, or not for more than 3 strokes) or backstroke, which I do miss.
And it was lovely! I have so missed swimming, and at the moment it's very calm and un-crowded, and I didn't at any point feel in danger of exposure to the virus. Hopeful that I can now start doing two sessions a week, just like normal.
The website did allow me to send a request for customer service support, but all this did was generate more emails explaining how delightful my life would be once I became a member.
So I went along last Saturday to talk to Actual People, noting that they have their contact details prominently displayed on the front desk. I suggested to them (reasonably calmly) that these should perhaps be added to the website. (There was another woman there at the same time explaining quite heatedly that she couldn't get her membership to link to the booking system, and she said that she had spent a lot of time trying to sort this out on the phone and on-line, so it wasn't just me!)
The Actual People explained that I had the wrong sort of membership (as I only pay them £10 a year to get discounted swimming) and helped me set up the booking app so that it worked. I should mention here that the Actual People (wearing face shields) were very cheerful and willing to get my problems sorted out.
So having booked, last Monday I set off with my swimming costume on under my clothes, to experience the Better swimming experience. They have a one way system set up, so that you enter via the cafe, proceed through to the pool, deposit your stuff in a Designated Spot on the side, go swimming, pick up your stuff, proceed through the changing rooms to shower and change, and exit via the car park. All this is supposed to take place within one hour, but although I took a bit longer there was nobody trying to rush people through.
The swimming experience was fine. They have separated the pools into double lanes so that you swim clockwise up and down (except for the woman who was sharing a lane with me yesterday who had clearly not read the signs.) There seemed to be at most three people in a lane which seems fine for social distancing. No overtaking unless you can do so in a socially distanced manner. You can't do butterfly (well I can't anyway, or not for more than 3 strokes) or backstroke, which I do miss.
And it was lovely! I have so missed swimming, and at the moment it's very calm and un-crowded, and I didn't at any point feel in danger of exposure to the virus. Hopeful that I can now start doing two sessions a week, just like normal.
