Not all men.
The man who inexplicably asks me why I’m not wearing goggles when I’m swimming breaststroke. “If that’s what you call what you’re doing.”
The man who pressures me to explain my injury when he stops me mid lap, unsolicited, to correct my flutter kick.
The man who joins my lane after I have begun swimming, then lets me know another lane has become free which he thinks “I might prefer.”
The man who ignores the ‘no diving’ sign and enters the pool with a flying leap and a bombie, sending a wave of water into my face and into the faces of the three elderly people who are walking in the lane next to mine.
The man who uses the water as a repository for the contents of his ‘bushman’s hanky.’
The man who says nothing when his son ducks below the water to grab me roughly by the ankle, and emerges without acknowledgment to share a laugh about it with his dad.
The man who sees the pool is busy and chooses the lane set aside for slower swimmers, the lane I am swimming in, then powers up and down in a ferocious freestyle, unapologetic whenever there’s a collision.
The man with the silver chain around his neck who takes regular breaks to survey the swimmers, who interrupts my laps to ask me how much longer I’ll be, who calls out, “I’ll miss you,” as I leave the water. “Don’t worry,” his mate tells me. “He says that to all the girls.”
Gillian O’Shaughnessy 
At every pool. Expecting space, filling space, pushing others to the edges.
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I have swim in six countries in the last year. Maybe 20 pools. Several times a week. Every Pool.
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Unfortunately too true. Even at the beach. Great piece Gillo 🎄💗
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Oh gosh, that is very ungentlemanly and selfish of them.
If people are trying to execise and stay healthy (and have fun), we have to share the space or go somewhere else like the park or the beach.
Gillo I first became a fan of yours when you read the news on Ian Camerons breakfast show and you always had a laugh together. We still miss Ian (and the slim but savage).
Love your work, keep entertaining us.
Thanks so much,
Trish P
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Oh thank you Trish. That’s so kind. I’m not sure why the pool seems to being out the oafish tendencies of some blokes in particular, but I’m feeling pretty grumpy. I miss Eoin too. And Slim is still around and wonderful x
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OH goodness, we are sitting in a lounge at JFK waiting on our flight to home sweet home (Fremantle) via Singapore and I’ve had to wrestle my phone from my husband because he was chuckling so much, so that I could read it. Having swum at Fremantle, Melville and Bicton pools, hubby could relate and wants to reassure you “he’s NOT one of those blokes (I can vouch for his lovely manners 🙂 Happy Swimming!
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