LENT Photo #09 'Water'

   Officially opened in 1966, Mayfield Pool didn't have 500 kids there today for a Schools Fun Day as Wallsend did... lucky for me!! I like it's connections with the BHP Steelworks, the proximity of the dressing sheds, the hot shower and that there are always a small number of local characters there when you go!! Give a knowing nod and make your way to your lane and you are set for [in today's case] your 22 laps or so with only a few mums and toddlers and two old blokes around!! We have just come out of the 3-4 week Carnival Season with hundreds of kids each day...
   The pool must have had diving boards at the blocks end as I couldn't reach the bottom if I tried... the second half of the pool is 1m+ 'deep' so your lap gets easier going that way. It's good at this time of year as in the cooler weather there's no journey down the steps into the 23-25 degree water waiting to dive in and warm up... you just drop in at the deep end!! I'll be transferring to the Uni indoors in a couple of weeks!!
   I include it today because at this time of year such swims are 'just magic'... the sun is still out but it's that filtered autumn sunlight in a breeze. It means that when you stop doing laps the water is just refreshing and I for one can add a few laps and feel like I don't want to get out... I love that you are working hard and end up not in sweaty sports clothes but having a shower, even changing to todays clean clothes and wandering out to the car, ready to go... it usually means I'm ready for a nap by 3pm but not everyday!!
   'Water', the stuff of life, reviving, resistant, available in the developing world only through 'wells', like Jacob's Well... a place of questions and conversation, a place of honesty!!