Swim Rant

The pool was mostly in use by group lessons, so there was only one lap swim lane available. The woman in the lane was placidly grinding out a few million laps. I'm patient, so I waited politely for her to notice me, but this was in vain. She would not acknowledge me, even when I stood in the end of the lane, even when I stood in the end of the lane and waved cheerfully, and even when I crouched in the end of the lane, ducked under the water and waved cheerfully to her underwater. So, I watched her pattern and decided to just join in. She was going in a clockwise circle. Cool. I can do that. I let her get to the other end and then started swimming in the same circle, so that we'd have the most separation. Halfway down the first length, we crashed head-on. She had changed her pattern and had come straight back the same side of the lane she'd gone down. Ouch. Before I could ask her what pattern we should do, she'd resumed swimming. Huh. Okay. Rubbing my head, I completed the length and paused to look back the length of the pool, to see which way she'd be coming. I didn't want to hit her head-on again. She was coming up the right side. (Her right.) Okay, so I'll just swim down my right, I figured. Halfway down the pool, we crashed head-on AGAIN. She had crossed over the center line at some point. Before she could swim away again (what, is her head made of iron?) I accosted her and asked her which pattern she wanted to use-- circle one way, circle the other, or just divide the lane in two? She replied that she hadn't been using any pattern in particular (no ****, I mumbled). It was all I could do not to drown her on the spot. We worked it out and the rest of the practice passed without disruption. But my head hurt all day long. :bitching: Nova, I once was in the same situation, and after observing a few laps determined that the woman in the lane was actually circle swimming counterclockwise. I got in and swam over 100 yards with her before we hit head on. She did stop, and it turned out that she assumed that anyone getting in would split the lane with her, since she claimed to be swimming on the same side the whole time (but had somehow not noticed me swimming BETWEEN her and the lane line on "her" side of the lane--twice!) I don't think she even knew there was another person in the lane until we collided. I switched over to another lane (where there were already 3 swimmers who were actually circling), and reminded myself that sometimes when you see an uncrowded lane, there's a reason!

The pool was mostly in use by group lessons, so there was only one lap swim lane available. The woman in the lane was placidly grinding out a few million laps. I'm patient, so I waited politely for her to notice me, but this was in vain. She would not acknowledge me, even when I stood in the end of the lane, even when I stood in the end of the lane and waved cheerfully, and even when I crouched in the end of the lane, ducked under the water and waved cheerfully to her underwater. So, I watched her pattern and decided to just join in. She was going in a clockwise circle. Cool. I can do that. I let her get to the other end and then started swimming in the same circle, so that we'd have the most separation. Halfway down the first length, we crashed head-on. She had changed her pattern and had come straight back the same side of the lane she'd gone down. Ouch. Before I could ask her what pattern we should do, she'd resumed swimming. Huh. Okay. Rubbing my head, I completed the length and paused to look back the length of the pool, to see which way she'd be coming. I didn't want to hit her head-on again. She was coming up the right side. (Her right.) Okay, so I'll just swim down my right, I figured. Halfway down the pool, we crashed head-on AGAIN. She had crossed over the center line at some point. Before she could swim away again (what, is her head made of iron?) I accosted her and asked her which pattern she wanted to use-- circle one way, circle the other, or just divide the lane in two? She replied that she hadn't been using any pattern in particular (no ****, I mumbled). It was all I could do not to drown her on the spot. We worked it out and the rest of the practice passed without disruption. But my head hurt all day long. :bitching: Nova, I once was in the same situation, and after observing a few laps determined that the woman in the lane was actually circle swimming counterclockwise. I got in and swam over 100 yards with her before we hit head on. She did stop, and it turned out that she assumed that anyone getting in would split the lane with her, since she claimed to be swimming on the same side the whole time (but had somehow not noticed me swimming BETWEEN her and the lane line on "her" side of the lane--twice!) I don't think she even knew there was another person in the lane until we collided. I switched over to another lane (where there were already 3 swimmers who were actually circling), and reminded myself that sometimes when you see an uncrowded lane, there's a reason!