Goose bumps

 

Soon after arriving in Durban last year, I started looking for a pool to swim laps. From our offices, we can see a pool. It is blue and attractive, but it closes fairly early in the afternoon.

Someone referred me to King's Park, an area that has more sports infrastructure like the Moses Mabhida football stadium built for the World Cup in 2010, and the rugby stadium. There is a large swimming pool complex with both an Olympic pool and a 25-metre pool. One is covered, the other open-air, but in winter the water is somewhat heated. Lovely, I thought. Only, more than once I could not swim there. One time I got there at 17:30, just after work, and found it was already closed, another time I couldn't access because the road was closed due to a cycling race, the third time there was a swimming competition and we weren't allowed in either, and the last time there was a ‘closed due to renovation – until further notice’ sign.

So off we went in search of another place, and I found it not even that far from where I live. Sutton Pool, an open-air 25-metre pool surrounded by grass and some trees. There are changing cubicles, cold showers and toilets, and although you can see that the whole building is crying out for renovations (there is not one toilet door that can still be locked; when it rains, the women's changing room is flooded because it pours in through the roof) it is kept quite clean.

During the hottest summer months, many local people flee their flats for a dash of greenery and water fun. It can get very crowded. No swimming laps then. That's why I often go swimming on Sunday mornings. Even in summer, there are usually only a few of us standing at the gate at 9 am waiting for it to be unlocked. But this is not always the case. A few weeks ago, there was a long queue of children waiting. A neighbourhood Sunday school had taken the children on a day trip to the pool. Fun guaranteed, for them anyway.

It really is a community pool and quite an interesting place.

It is Easter today. I park my car in front of the park. ‘Only two other cars, a quiet pool,’ I think. I get out and still -as I hang my swimming bag over my shoulder- I hear the music. Voices that sound perfectly in tune. Religious music. A church service! At the edge of the pool stand about 40 people, dressed to the nines. Four of them are wearing long white robes. A baptism, I think.

‘Can I swim?’ I ask one of the lifeguards. ‘Of course, the pool is for everyone, they haven't booked it or so. Maybe you can swim on the other side?’. No sooner said than done. The sun is shining, the water smooth as a mirror. The blue sky makes it look even more attractive. I jump into the cold water. Winter is coming, the water temperature has dropped drastically. And while I swim laps, the service at the water's edge continues. A little later, the four people wearing the robes climb down the steps individually and are immersed by the leader of the service. After a final song and some more chatter, the gathering leaves the site.

I swim on diligently. It always feels very special when you can swim alone in such a big pool. Until I hear a dull splash next to me. Two flippers paddle by. Huh? An Egyptian goose has landed and seems to be enjoying the water as much as I am. Nature is never far away, even in this metropolis of millions.