Tuesday 21 December 2010

Times change



Back to the pool again, this time with my underwater camera. A beautiful, bright warm (about 29 degrees max) day. And when I arrived there was only me and a family there.

Times change. A bright sunny, summer day in school hols & the local pool almost deserted.  When I was a kid we spent all day at the pool.

Suspect a few factors are at play here:
  1. The prevalence of the backyard pool
  2. Culture shift - newer residents not so enamoured with swimming play
  3. "Stay out of the sun" messages
  4. Kids under 16 no longer allowed in without adult supervision - oh&s, fears of litigation & the fear of teenage & adolescent horseplay has pushed kids out of spaces. Public pools now much more serious places with lap lanes prevalent.
  5. Anxiety about the safety of kids who no longer seem to be able to disappear outdoors at dawn, to reappear for food sometime late in the day!
 When I was 8 or 9 I used to be "the responsible one" with the local kids at the pool. It was the norm for kids to walk or ride their bike to the pool & spend hours there. I used to love the 1 & 3 metre diving boards - they've pretty much disappeared too except at "out of bounds" competition pools.

What has changed since you were young?

9 comments:

  1. This is a very informative yet interesting post showing the wonder of under water photography

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  2. You wouldn't be able to swim in any of the outdoor pools in England at the moment, as they are all frozen over!

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  3. Great shot, love the collage.

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  4. Sally, what fabulous photos. I love that one of you!

    Maybe what has changed is the emergence of the Internet. Now kids prefer to sit in front of a computer screen, than swim.

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  5. Well, yes - includes my son!

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  6. Wow, fun photos and lots of ideas to ponder.

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  7. Love these photos. And now I want that camera for Christmas.

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  8. Thanks so much Steffe. It's just a little Canon Powershot D10. Doesn't take the sharpest photos on land, and gets very mixed reviews, but its reviews for underwater work are good, and I find it works well! It is also small enough that with the wrist band wyou can swim with it - don't want to carry a lot of parephenalis into the water.

    Happy Christmas !

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  9. Thanks to everyone. This was one sequence I was especially pleased with!

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