HAMMOND POOL VANDALIZED

Yesterday my Aquafit cohorts and I were suddenly hit with some very sad news: our season in the outdoor pool had come to a sudden end.

Those of you who know me well know that I am a structured, sequential person —meaning that engraved in my mind each and every day, is a plan laid out carefully, logically and constructively. I wake up feeling pumped and ready to go.

From a lifetime of experience of certain types of plans going south, I always have a Plan B which instantly becomes a new Plan A. The old Plan A is forgotten and I move on. This, however, was a different scenario.

News flashed on my personal message page saying the Outdoor Pool had been   VANDALISED the night before rendering it unusable for the rest of the season. Unknown people had broken the basic rules of honourable, respectful and descent behaviour, jumped the fence, enjoyed the water and then decided it was okay to break glass — possibly beverage bottle glass or window glass, and throw the pieces into the water, along with some other unpleasant waste! 

Staff arrived in the morning to see the sadness and did their best to clean it up; but, the glass pieces were big and small, and difficult to sweep out. Smaller pieces had gotten into the piping and mechanics of the pool. It would be a monstrous job to empty the pool, clear out the glass, open up the engine and all the related pieces, refill and reheat the pool, just for two more weeks of service. 

I got that feeling in my head that I get when a person I know has suddenly died. My mind was completely caught off guard. Something I had never expected, had suddenly happened and I had no Plan B! 

I spent the day grieving, feeling sorry for the loss of a trice weekly outdoor Aquafit class for myself and my cohorts, but also grieving for the pool — it has been around for decades, served the community so very well, and now it sits abandoned, abused and agitated; sad, still and silent; violated, victimized, vandalized. 

I knew the right thing to do would be to go to the pool, sit quietly on a picnic bench, recall the many fun times, the energetic instructors, the friendly lifeguards, the music, the warm, clean water, and the outdoors. I sat there quietly remembering enjoying watching the sky above, the cloud formations, the different types of small planes flying overhead, the birds occasionally perched on a tree, bench or fence pole watching us, and the occasional threat of raindrops. It was truly like a mini therapeutic paradise.

Hammond Pool is a hidden jewel within a growing metropolis. It has served the community so very well for decades. Generations of people have experienced it and remember it fondly. They grew up there and their children have spent hours of fun times there.  Its sudden seasonal termination has hit a lot of people hard — no more lessons or classes or public swim times there this 2024 season. 

But, as with all losses, as time passes, we will overcome the sudden sadness caused by senseless people and look forward to another round of outdoor aqua pleasure next year.

As for me and my sadness, shock and surprise — quiet time on the picnic bench and writing this story has reminded me that sometimes things in life hit you hard, and those times are tests — you either aim to pass them or you don’t!