Eight Laps at Bradbury Pools (Part 3)

Pools Instead of Clubs

Uplifted, we made our way back to Shawn’s work Ute and jumping in, we tried to figure out the next course of action. We both knew that it wasn’t time to head home yet and despite my noting that Jett would be dropping over the Playstation later in the day I brought up the option of heading to the pools. “What made you think of that” he thought, probably taking him back to the day I suggested the golf driving range.

“I just figured it was something to do” and without much haste, the soldered plan was well on its way. Heading to Shawn’s house first, we both headed into his house as he got changed and I waited in the television room. The reason for my entry was so that I could use the internet for a couple of minutes so I could check out sites for Hound Dog and contact lenses but as his dad was using the internet I decided to read the Football magazine instead.

Touching upon an article for Brisbane Broncos he headed out in his shorts and a plastic bag in his hand and with that we headed back out to his Ute. Shorts in winter might seem a touch out of place but the day was calm and sunny enough to take full advantage of the year’s eclipse in weather.

Takeaway by the Pools

Arriving at my house Shawn waited out in the car as I quickly chucked on appropriate attire for the pools. Bringing along the board shorts that were once Shawn’s (Who later uttered “Nice pants”) I also thought to bring the same white shirt, my hat and glasses. Grabbing my green beach towel as the last accessory before walking flowingly to Shawn’s Ute we began our journey. Bringing along ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as I wanted it returned, I also noted of my continual hunger and how I wanted to feast upon some food down at Bradbury shops.

“You’ll have to wait half an hour before you swim” he japed, noting that he too was famished. Parking the car and dropping off my movie, we checked out Video Ezy for the game ‘Driver’ in the event that we couldn’t obtain Jett’s Playstation for the day. Ambivalent as we were with the decisiveness of our lunch, it was a toss between seafood from the take away shop or Fried Rice of some sort. In the end, I decided on heading to the take away shop where I ordered one piece of fish, one crab stick and a specially made banana fritter.

Shawn ordered himself a crumbed fish, some calamari rings and a crab stick and awarding our solvency, we headed over to the round tables out in the sun so we could bask in a glorious day. Munching down on our food, I figured that eating before swimming was a catch twenty two situation. On one hand, we were famished and needed energy to swim effectively and on the other hand, after eating all this oily food we would find ourselves tiring easily and eventually retiring to the same effect.

Trying for Half Price

Back into the Ute we jumped, driving down to the front of Bradbury Pools. Dressed in shorts was no longer an oddity as we prepared ourselves for entry. Shawn warned me against leaving my wallet and expensive glasses in the glove compartment of his Ute as it would have been easy prey for thieves. Skeptical as to the meandering thieves that would be foul enough to credit their occupations to such an ordinary Ute, I trusted his words and took along my possessions. “Our bags and clothes will always be in our view”

Shawn noted, “In the car you won’t be able to know if someone’s stolen something, that’s why I took out all the tools on Friday”. Making progression to the lady at the ticket window who looked pleasant and around Shawn’s age, he later informed me that she used to be in Shawn’s year. Shawn paid full fare of $3 to which I’d done the same but noticing the prices for concession were halved, I decided to have a crack. Earlier when we were having lunch, we discussed Binh selling his laptop and how he would buckle if I flashed $1000.

“I don’t care man, I’m not fussy if I have to pay extra, I’m still getting a good deal” I noted much to my brevity. With my bid to get half price on my entry to the pools, Shawn decided to have a crack at how odd I treated money. “I’m thinking of my pocket now” I explained much to his congenial laughter. Anyway, my bid to obtain concession wasn’t allowed but I did get to chat with the lady behind the window for a minute or two in which the old envelope of smoothness escaped from within.

Eight Laps and a Spa

Starting our laps or even jumping in the pool took us a fair amount of time as we were still adjusting to our surroundings. There weren’t much people in the pools, maybe eight and all of them were little kids. There was probably one or two people there around our age but both were guys and looked as if they wanted to concentrate on laps. Regardless, we weren’t looking for women, we were just trying to exercise ourselves with a chance of burning some of the oily food we had previously eaten.

Finding ourselves sitting in the same area where I ended up sitting a couple of years ago when heading down with Kathryn and Nina, I commented the worth of my memory to Shawn who had no recollection of such event. “I never used to know Kathryn that much back in the day and I wasn’t there” he noted much to my recognition. “I have to use the toilets first” Shawn remarked much to his not being able to hold down the food he had just eaten (His words). “I’ll head off first”

I noted as I had to drain the snake myself and after a minute he followed. Sitting around by myself waiting for him, it didn’t take me too long to take off the white shirt and then to touch the warm water and dip myself in. It had been so long since I’ve been to the pools that I’d forgotten just how shallow the indoors pool is, touching my head on the bottom but without damage. Shawn soon followed as he made his way back out of the toilets and as we acquainted ourselves with the water, we lined up in the lap lanes and began what we set out to do.

The sum of my desire to head to the pools was not only for the purpose of activity or for exercise but for my skin. Knowing that prolonged swimming in their chlorinated waters is good for the skin and hair in some way (It just made them feel better) the rejuvenating effects of water was more of a reason for my wanting to head for the pools.

As we began on our first lap, I revealed how when I used to head down to the pools, we used to swim a storm of twenty or more laps per day. Shawn stood there in disbelief as he didn’t believe we could pull off so many laps. Lucky I wasn’t out to prove any facts at the pools on Saturday because I only ended up swimming a total of eight laps as Shawn completed ten.

After the first two which were freestyle my heart started to beat, my breathing was rapid and I was starting to get tired. Shawn felt the same depletion as myself but we continued with lesser exhausting strokes until we completed our set amounts. Our aim was to stay there for twenty laps but midway through my laps, whilst slumped over the lane ropes short of breathe, I noted that we’d complete ten then head to the spa.

What We Think of Ralf

Much to the appreciation of Shawn, when all was done we headed over to our expectations and enjoyed the warmth of the spa. From the laps, my head was slightly spinning and feeling like the blood was swelling up inside my head. Regardless, as we lay back and relaxed with the bubbling water, we sparked up conversation about clubs, acquaintances and the rest. Speaking about Carmen’s to begin, Shawn noted how it was a great experience his second time around last weekend when heading with Ralf.

However, as I noted Ralf’s traits of hogging the dancefloor, Shawn seemed to agree that he pushed everyone out of his way for much needed space. Shedding his philosophy and principles of Ralf, Shawn believed that Ralf was behind the times or topsy-turvy when it came to fashion. “Do you remember when Ralf used to wear vests and dominant white to nightclubs” he asked and going along with him he added, “Well, now everyone’s dressing up to go out and Ralf’s not dressing up at all anymore”.

Continuing with his premise he concluded “It just seems to me that Ralf wears something a year before anyone else wears it, he’s just back the front with his style”. Trying to be kind in words for Ralf’s sake I uttered “So he’s a trend setter then” as Shawn nodded his head baselessly to which we both agreed we don’t take any tips from Ralf.

Keith Falls From Favour

Diverging to the topic of Keith and how Shawn hasn’t gone out with that bad seed for over a month now, we summed up his worth in the group now. Ever since my arrival back into the picture much to Keith’s gallant willingness for reform his descent has been synonymous. I have risen back to my former respect much to Keith’s decline to his former loathed despicableness, as a counterbalance brought on by his opposing insecurities. Much away from Keith, we mimicked Tyler when he done his hand brushing the hair and then pointing at the crowd move at clubs.

Skirmish Plans

“I can’t wait until Skirmish” Shawn remarked upon my realizing that it’s this coming weekend, “I’m going to pump him so full of paint pellets”. This weekend, along with Binh and Vedat, Tyler was heading down to the snow and when they all come back for next weekend, we should have around fifteen people for skirmish, excellent. To tell you the truth, I’m a touch anxious about getting shot and feeling that bruising pressure but I’m sure that I’ll come out of the experience loving it and wanting that bit extra.

Twenty minutes in the spa was enough as it was starting to extraneously tire me and with our half an hour in the pool doing laps, our one hour stay at the pools was adequate. Drying ourselves off and wrapping the towels around our board shorts, we walked back out to the Ute not bothering to put on shirts, carrying our possessions in hand. Turning back to say goodbye to the lady behind the counter who was pleasant enough to return my favor with a fanciful smile, we headed back to Shawn’s Ute with another plan.