Time For a Swim!

The public swimming pool that I frequented in sunnier, happier times is currently closed and will be for the remainder of the season—one of many small tragedies that have marked this cursed year. This loss, which is minimal, is a one I nevertheless feel very acutely, as one of life’s greatest pleasures is standing in waist-deep chlorinated water and reading a book. While I do not have access to a swimming pool this year, I’ve turned to the annals of history to inspire me for next summer, which ideally will be better than this one.

Here’s Jane Russell in a fetching gingham bathing suit being splashed by Robert Ryan, a Hollywood contract actor whose name and career have been lost to the sands of time. Even though this is black and white, I can still see the blue of that pool water and the verdant green of those trees in my mind. Splashing is fun for about three seconds before it becomes annoying, but at this point, if a shirtless man in swim trunks wanted to fling water on my body as I posed for a nice photo, well, I’d take it.

A different pool vibe, and one that I identify with: two British children reading the newspaper as if they were 20 years older than they actually are at a public pool in Holborn, London. Perhaps the gal on the left is the older sister, tasked with dragging little Margaret to the pools while Mum takes a moment. Maybe that young child in the white button-down on the right is playing a part, too.

Okay, this is the good shit right here. The height of luxury, to me, is a pool from which you can also see the ocean. A view of a body of water while being submerged in a body of water feels like it should be illegal, and technically, right now, it sort of is. Hm. Yes. Anyway, close your eyes and dissociate just enough, and I bet you’ll end up in that pool doing a quiet breaststroke across its length, like John Cheever’s swimmer, but absent the suburban ennui.

Saved the absolute best for last! I don’t know who taught these two boys to scuba dive or what possessed them to play checkers underwater, but this is the life that I want to lead. Strap the oxygen tank to my back and drop me in the deep end, please, and leave me be.