Entry for 22nd May, 2008

The girls in my office have all started swimming in their lunch hours. From 9am until 1pm they are the highly efficient cogs in our legal machine, but as the factory whistle blows for lunch, they all don their waterproof caps and set off for the baths. I like to imagine them practising one of those musical numbers that you see in in 1930s films. In my head, the routine is set to the tinny sound of "Keep Young and Beautiful" played on an antique gramophone.
It has reminded me that I used to go swimming with another solicitor in my lunch hours. We were tempted to the luchtime lane-swimming at the newly opened Hamilton Water Palace. This was a groundbreaking facilityin its day. Instead of the old fashioned "his" and "her" changing rooms, there was a large common changing area with cubicles for privacy. As is the way of the modern swimming bath there was a big common shower for everyone to rinse off the chlorine and juvenile urine after the swim.
My colleague however, was clearly used to the single sex facilities of old. The first time we went swimming, we were showering after our dip. As I rinsed off my hair, I turned to see my colleague standing naked and soaping his nether regions with a degree of vigour. Four twelve year old girls were watching him with expressions ranging from bemusement to abject terror.
i have not been swimming in my lunch hour since.