Swimming Among Friends

I have always enjoyed swimming...maybe it started with Dad's little swimmers that raced to meet their egg of choice to produce this zygote.
I digress...a lot.

Anyway, every summer the local swimming pool was our hang-out of choice and to quote a great song, "those WERE the days, my friend, I thought they's never end, we'd swim and dive forever and a day" (author's editorial rights imposed there).
Later, 50 years later, I still enjoy the a little splash at the local swimming hole.
Yesterday I saw a youngster aka "whipper-snapper", sneeze 8 times right into the water. I don't know why that bothered me so much as the water color was not what one could call "crystal clear". In fact, the more I stared at this murky water, the more nervous I got.

I didn't look at the swimming pool as a leisure activity anymore. I saw a giant bathtub with 78 dirty, sweaty people who had not showered for 4 days but who had lathered and sprayed 10 ounces of sun block cream, lotion and oil on their gritty bodies shedding all of the above in my former recreation haven.
Then I thought of my little Sneezy, cavorting with his pals, Oozy and Tinkler and I hopped out of that pool faster than most 57 year olds can drive a car.

When I go home, in record speed, I might add, I took a 45 minute shower and started researching the health concerns of swimming pool usage.
I guess there are a few little ailments one can acquire by enjoying swimming underwater. It's not a HUGE concern if you trust the other 150 people who are swimming with you that particular day...I'm sure everyone is healthy, with no open sores, no using the pool as a toilet and no leaking diaper-swimmies. Oh, and no post-menapausal women who when they sneeze, they cry...from various orafices.
When I was reading the medical terminology for what pools can offer, I ran across this quote:

"Other non enteric pathogens that may be found in swimmming pools and spas are legionella,pseudomonas aeruginosa, mycobacterium, staphylococcus aureus, leptospira interrogans, molluscipoxvirus, human papilloma virus, acanthamoeba,trichophyton and epidermophyton floccosum, that usually produce dermic or respiratory infections."

I knew I missed playing golf for a reason. I only had an occasional bee sting or poison ivy episode...oh, yeah, and a trip to the hospital when Dad shanked a 3 iron to my temple.

Hmmm...Maybe I'll jsut read a good book. I hope I don't get a paper cut turning the pages.