Good grief! I actually enjoyed being in a leisure pool yesterday, being inducted into aqua fitness techniques. It was a compact pool, pleasantly warm and well organised by the staff. They are employed by their community who have taken responsibility for the running of the pool. It is the only leisure meeting place for the local children and teenagers. The community action saved it from closure and it is now running at a small profit.
The only drawback is the 72 miles round trip on really twisty, winding roads, many miles of which are single track with passing places, that in the dark are not the easiest to negotiate. In the winter there are the problems of additional difficult road conditions. Public transport is not an option for visiting the leisure pool. The only weekday public transport is a school bus and a postbus that run at specific times, usually once a day in each direction, and they would not link in with the opening and programme times of this delightful leisure pool.
My local pool is council run and because the staff will not be paid the rate for the specialist tasks that they are qualified to offer, just for the time they are actually undertaking them, maybe three or four hours a week, we do not have such things as aquarobics or other aqua health classes anymore. There is one class on offer if you are expecting a baby, but the insurance, they say, does not cover ladies if they are not! 
04/02/06 @ 18:38