Month: July 2025

I may have left Mick with the wrong impression. I had enjoyed my swim, trialling a new pattern of breathing which made me feel like I was going much faster. This may not have been the case but it was a good sensation anyway. Then to the hot tub where Linda was congratulating Lisa on her new man. It’s been five months now, things may be on the up.

Lisa got out and Mick got in. I think he might be 103 and wears very funky shorts with, I think sharks on them. He and Linda discussed knee replacement surgery for some time. It’s good news: Linda was expecting to need the second one done but things seem much better. A partial replacement is an option but doesn’t seem necessary. Better to wait a few years and have the whole thing replaced. I’ve heard that surgery involves a particularly painful recovery so we were all very pleased to hear that’s not needed for now. Then Linda got out. 

Mick and I had a lovely chat about family. He has a friend whose whole family comes up every Friday to go together for a drink at the pub. She ought to invite Mick along, he would love that. Our family have a get together planned for the weekend and he will be raising a glass of guinness to us from his local pub, at about 6pm. This was unexpected but a lovely gesture, I thought. I would invite him to come too but I’ve only ever seen him in his shark swimming shorts and only learned his name today. It would be a bit too much, too soon. He may think I am that sort of person. I checked that he has family himself, because that somewhat influences the complexion of the thing. He does. Several grandchildren, a great grandchild and another expected in June. Excellent, we can relax.

Then he asked how old my children are. I told him. He talked at length about how difficult it is for teenage mums and what challenges they face. I was flattered but felt that perhaps it was time to go. I may have to pretend to have been a teenage parent every time I go for a swim from now on. That’s awkward.

I have had two recent encounters with Hagans which have led me to believe that the manner of his journey is somewhat different to what I had imagined: Hagans’ journey is unidirectional, an unerring straight line without any regard for circumstances or obstacles. Or other swimmers. 

The first situation arose on a day when the pool was unusually quiet. There were two in the fast lane and one in the slow lane so my choice was obvious given that the slow lane is two thirds of the pool. There is a coveted spot in the slow lane for people who like to swim fairly fast in the slow lane. It is Pauline’s favourite haunt but she was absent on this occasion. If you swim alongside the floating barrier between the lanes your swim space is clearly defined and you can swim away without worrying about drifting into someone else’s space or them drifting into yours. It is really the only spot in the slow lane that I can safely swim front crawl – my navigation skills are lacking and I fear head on collisions so the barrier provides me with a reliable guide. It was an obvious choice when the fast lane was occupied and this space in the slow lane was not. 

I was enjoying my swim when I noticed Hagans enter the pool. At first I thought it was Not Hagans but I got a close up of his tattoo in the course of the encounter and this confirmed for me his identity. There was still plenty of space in the slow lane so I did not anticipate an issue until a wall of water began to move inexorably towards me. I realised just in time what this signified. Hagans had taken ownership of my swim space and he would be swimming here whatever eventuality should arise. What was there to do? If a double decker bus is coming straight at me in my little yellow Fiat Panda I do not hope it will stop before it squashes me flat, so I moved out of the way. Perhaps Hagans just hadn’t spotted me, but no, on my next length he had firmly taken control of the swim space. I had been evicted. 

I later saw him in one of the hot tubs and he was looking miserable. I felt sorry that he was not himself today; it must have been a bad day. But no, on my next swim, there he was again, this time in the fast lane. He was not fast but this is not necessarily a problem. Neither was Wendy who was in there with us and gave way with a friendly smile. Not Hagans. Not even when I was almost kissing his toes (yuck! No thank you). Not even after I had had to turn around two thirds of the way through a length so as to avoid the aforementioned foot kissing/ kick in the face. There’s only so long you can wait at the end of each length in order to give him a head start. 

Hagans is on a journey. One that involves barging his way through the swimming pool completely ignoring those around him. I have misjudged him, he is not the friendly and amenable person I had imagined. It’s a shame he is so focused on his destination that he’s missing the journey altogether.