Swimming, Water Sports and Chocolate on a Sunday Morning
Sunday mornings are about indulgence. At least they are after the first duty of every morning – taking Pongo down to the park to remark all his bushes and bums disadvantaged friends – that is. Some things must come first. But after that Chuck gets to celebrate Sunday. The day started off off with a nice swim. I’ve been sneaking down there early to try and avoid the crowds lately, and it generally pays off. It did this morning, and I had the pool to myself for my entire workout.
As said here too many times, I like swimming, surfing, body boarding. I like watching water polo, but have no where near the skill to play that game. In short, I enjoy water sports. But enough about that.
So then I go down to the local franchise of the ubiquitous coffee emporium. Mocha, a chocolate cream cheese muffin and a copy of the Sunday New York Times.
These are my minor indulgences for a Sunday morning, or at least those that I’m comfortable posting here. Drifting nearly naked through the water, stretching out the back and clearing the mind, then sipping some soothing chocolate and a being treated to a little intellectual stimulation.
So imagine my shock [Yes, shocked I say 
] when I see a blurb in the paper that “watersports” is one of a number of words being used by software pornography filters to identify web sites that people in public libraries need to be protected from. The Supreme Court just upheld this law three days before ruling that laws prohibiting sodomy are unconstitutional. Two people doing hot, sweaty consensual things with non-traditional orifices is legal, but small-town and small-minded prudes may keep those using public computers from discovering swim meet results.
But my indulgence also got me a great article from the Travel Section to bring me back to a state of mellowness. W.D.Wetherell’s The Lure Of Chlorine. I don’t travel as much as I used to, but I still have a few great hiding places I can use when needed (and no, since they’re hiding places no links here) that have one thing in common: good swimming pools. Necessary to relax after a long day of driving as well as symbolizing an establishment that at least at one time cared about quality and being unique. Nostalgia for a time when local architecture actually showed a little diversity rather than relentless corporate conformity probably plays into it as much as the cool, refreshing water after 300 miles in the truck.
The article probably played well for me in particular because it reminded me of the attitude of one of my favorite reads, the road trips section of Otherstream. The Salinas entries in particular have always been fascinating for me, reminding me of things I did there and pointing out the things I never did get around to during my two years there.
Bums? Disadvantaged friends? I think it might add to the spirit of Sunday morning adventure to refer to them as “urban outdoorsmen.”
Actually, now that they’ve been marked they’re mine, and I prefer the description “big sentient chewtoys.”