The planned revamp of Fleming Park sounds very interesting and I am pleased they are keeping the current pool open while work is underway on the new one.
I’m also pleased the plan includes keeping free car parking. I use the bus to get to Fleming Park for my twice weekly swims there so perhaps this is not relevant for me but I believe free parking is the way forward to encourage people to visit the centre.
Incidentally I don’t think it is helpful Xelabus no longer run the Eastleigh bus service from Hiltingbury over the weekends. If you want to bus to Fleming Park now you’ve got to do so from Monday to Friday.
Revamping Fleming Park
The link to the Council’s plan for Fleming Park makes for an interesting read. I welcome the plan to increase the pool size from 6 lanes to 8 given it can get crowded at times.
The animation within the Council’s web page to a potential walk through of the new development shows the plans far better than words could describe but I’d be surprised to find anyone who could actually walk through at the speed with which this animation plays! You’d have to be on some sort of stimulant for that!
Let’s have a look at the Fleming Park animation (July 2015):
I hope they take the opportunity to increase the number of lockers available because I haven’t been to a pool yet where that situation can’t be improved. And Eastleigh’s Fleming Park and The Quays, Southampton, the two pools I know best, are no different here.
The Quays incidentally will shortly be moving to a padlock system for their lockers where you can either buy your own padlock or rent one per visit (you pay a refundable deposit). This should make the lockers more secure.
I also felt it was a retrograde step for Southampton to introduce a charge for using what had been a previously free bus to get to the centre of the city and then on to the ferry terminals. (This bus is still free for those with a valid Red Funnel ticket but I thought the whole point of the free bus was to encourage people to use public transport and leave their cars at home, which is a good idea.)
Swimming locally
One of my great loves away from books is swimming. I swim regularly at The Quays in Southampton and Fleming Park, Eastleigh.
I’ve swum for many years and have gradually built up the distance I can swim (though alas not my speed. You will find me in the medium lane at best and usually the slow one!).
Swimming is also a great sport for asthmatics and it must be one of the earliest sports known to humanity. Someone somewhere in the mists of time must have worked out a way of getting through the water safely when there was no bridge etc.
Swimming comes naturally to most animals so I guess that could include us too but I wonder who first had a go? And when did someone decide to simply swim for fun?
We are lucky in our area to have many good pools easily accessible given there are also pools at Winchester and The Rapids in Romsey.
I love lane swimming and one great side benefit is getting to meet other regular swimmers and chatting with them when it is time for a breather between one lot of swimming and the next.
How swimming helps my writing
I also find swimming relaxing and invigorating, which I know sounds contradictory but both parts of that statement are true. And I find it helps my writing. How?
Swimming gives me thinking time. While swimming and avoiding bumping into other pool users, I still have time in which to think. The “monotony” of swimming up and down a lane frees up my mind to think about what I’m writing, be it for Chandler’s Ford Today or for a short story competition, anthology submission or any of the places where my fiction appears.
(Online these are Alfie Dog Fiction, Cafelit and Shortbread Short Stories. In print, Bridge House Publishing, Iron Press and Stories in Green Ink, a recent compilation).
I find I don’t plan out specific details but I usually finalise what I’m writing next. And I’m not the first writer to find that, while exercising, ideas pop into the head for stories, poems, posts etc. It is as if being away from the desk and doing something completely different helps inspire creative thought.
Every writer is advised to keep a notebook and jot down ideas as they occur to them, even if it is late at night. I can see why.
Ideas have a habit of popping out of your head again. They can also turn up at the most inconvenient times but notebooks are not possible when swimming! And I have found that as long as I write down the ideas when I get home again, I haven’t lost the hopefully inspirational thought that popped into my head while practising my front crawl.
P.G. Wodehouse and swimming
And I am following in good footsteps here. Lord Byron swam and wrote about it. One of my favourite authors, P.G. Wodehouse, swam regularly. And given he came up with 90 novels and countless short stories, the swimming must’ve done something to renew and refresh his imagination for when he was back at his desk again! I can only hope for similar results…
Below is one of my favourite Wodehouse works… I find it never fails to put a smile on my face.
The big trouble with writing of course is though it is excellent exercise for the brain, it does nothing whatsoever for the body. It is probably the most sedentary form of creative art I can think of so to combine this with what is one of the best all round exercises, swimming, is a good idea.
The benefits of swimming, including the fact it exercises the whole body regardless of what type of stroke you use, are well known. And I would urge anyone who can’t swim to learn. It is one of the few sports that is also potentially a life saver.
So when you next swim at Fleming Park or indeed at any pool, don’t be too surprised if you find yourself swimming alongside a writer who is planning out their next story. Who knows? It just might be a juicy murder set at a local swimming baths!
So does swimming invigorate your creative imagination or free your mind from daily cares for a while? If not, what sport does do so? (Wodehouse also loved golf, just to name another sport linked with writing in particular).
Visit Allison Symes’ website: Fairytales with Bite
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
A few years ago, I devoured a little book called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by contemporary author Haruki Murakami. This delightful book gave me astonishing insights into the inner world of Murakami. I was amazed to see his obsessions with both running marathons and writing, and how he disciplined himself to reach his peak, and to cut off unnecessary social life. I’m not sure if some writers just sit at their desk and wait for their muse / inspiration to suddenly dawn on them. By going out, running, swimming, going for a walk with your dog…… will definitely help clear a cluttered mind.
Most writers know better than to wait for the muse to strike. The muse is far too unreliable! What you do is discipline yourself to write at certain points of the day. Writers differ here as to when the best time is – I’m a night owl, others are an early bird. Sometimes you’ll write well, sometimes you won’t. What you are doing is training your brain so it comes to expect to do at least some exercise at these points! And it works. You are kind of coaching yourself – it is say 9 pm, right it’s writing time and away you go. That’s how it works for me anyway.
Allison,
1) Could you tell us how to get to Fleming Park by bus? This afternoon we walked to Spirit Club (Holiday Inn) and it took us 40 minutes.
2) Great to see the pool size will be from 6 lanes to 8 lanes. I hope they have a lane for excellent-but-not-superfast-swimmers. Years ago, I didn’t enjoy swimming there as the slow lane was too slow, and the fast lane was too fast! I got told off in both lanes (as overtaking was considered rude!) Adult lanes were limited due to children learning using other lanes. It would be nice if the needs of learners / adult swimmers are treated equally.
I left Fleming Park swimming because their opening time was not good. I remember you couldn’t swim on a Wednesday evening, as it was for training. The pool closed by 8pm on some evenings. The changing area was not desirable either. I hope with improved facility, I might return and swim there again.
I use the Xelabus X7 which runs at roughly 40 minutes to the hour from Hiltingbury. It’s the route which goes around North Millers Dale, then Hursley Road, then into South Millers Dale, then Hursley Road again, then Bournemouth Road, Leigh Road, the Velmore Estate, back onto Leigh Road again. I get off at the stop near the fire HQ. The route sounds complicated but it is reasonably speedy (obviously traffic dependent). There is a longer route (the X6) which goes the other way round and visits all the housing estates on the way but I think the X7 would suit you better.
The big pain is crossing Leigh Road to walk around to Fleming Park. So far I’ve not had problems and at least there are traffic lights a little further down. You then walk around Villeneuve Way and reach FP that way.
I swim in the slow lane at FP and I’ve had no problems at all. I’m not the slowest. I’m not a fast swimmer either. It would probably pay you to have a look at FP’s timetable (their website is quite good here. There have been changes). One of my swimming sessions does have part of the pool roped off for school use but I can still swim well enough. Okay it IS noisy which would not be to everyone’s tastes but the other time I go is an evening session where it is much more tranquil. I think it is a question of you take your pick! Possibly an evening session might suit better?
I don’t find FP’s changing area a problem though they could do with more cubicles (especially when the kids are in!). I think their lockers are actually better than those at the Quays (though the revamp there should improve that situation).
I have had a brief look at the plans for the leisure centre. What stuck me is that there are no solar heating or photo-voltaic devices on the extensive roof space. What are the running/heating costs going to be? How much strain will it put on the council’s budget in the long term? Presumably the centre is being built with borrowed money. Will the repayments impact on the council’s other services?
There will be disabled access of course. I hope the council limits the use of ribbed and blister paving which is so uncomfortable for wheelchair users.
What is really depressing to an old fart like me is the rows of treadmills. Why not go for a real walk or jog rather than jog in the same place with no change of scene and with steadily deteriorating air quality?
An activity I really enjoy is diving. Oh, that’s a big NO NO these days; ‘elf and safety and all that. Swimming up and down a lane is so boring after a couple of lengths.
Pleased to see the all-weather pitches, they should be well used. Can they handle multiple sports? No, not at the same time.
Treadmills – as long as people exercise, it’s brilliant, whether it is running in the mud in Eastleigh parkrun (such as Chippy), or on treadmills. Treadmill exercise might be easier for many people as it is more efficient (exercise and watching the news at the same time). Last time I saw an obese teenager working on a treadmill with the help of a trainer. I think it’s great as it is a good system to help him. He might be more likely to continue exercising on a treadmill than walking / running outdoor in the cold, wet English weather.
Agreed, Janet, but I must admit treadmills are definitely not for me. What I like about swimming is it exercises the whole body and joints are supported in water. I don’t think I could put up with treadmill exercises – too boring. I’ve found in the past riding an exercise bike is equally boring. But for those who do like treadmill work, more power to your feet!
I don’t use the gym either, as I think the equipment is too heavy and intimidating for a small person like me.
Like you, I’m a swimmer, and I’ve settled for swimming in a much smaller pool in Eastleigh.
Whenever I visit Singapore, I would swim in their local community pool (50m as standard length). The entrance fee is about one dollar. This is a country with superb public facility.
Last year we were given a treat by my eldest brother. He paid for Ben and me to stay in the hotel to swim on top of the world, in the Infinity Pool of Marina Bay Sands hotel. The pool length is 150m, and it’s on the 57th floor. Read more in Ben’s review: Singapore Part 3: Marina Bay Sands.
Sadly the swim there wasn’t that impressive. It was an extremely crowded and noisy pool, and most people (and lots of celebrities go there) go there mainly to take photos.
I think I prefer my quiet little pool in Eastleigh.
Have to say the Infinity Pool looks wonderful, Janet. Not sure I’d dare go to the edge mind you! I can see why people would want to take photos there but must admit I’d find that really irritating. What I want from a pool is to be able to have a good swim!
Mike, I totally agree about the treadmills. I’ve never seen the point of those. Walking, ideally from my viewpoint, with the dog, is much more fun and probably more beneficial from a health and exercise perspective.
There is diving at The Quays, Southampton, and there is a separate dive pool.
I would expect the revamped FP to make a reasonable amount of money for the Council fairly quickly. The current FP is reasonably well used and the new one, with increased swimming capacity, should bring people in.