Stymied at Every Turn

Just got off the phone with the woman who runs the swim program at the local high school. Turns out I know her - she's the woman who teaches (aaahh... I guess that would be "taught") the children's swim lessons at my gym!

Ya know, the one that closed and kicked our asses out. And fired all the instructors.

She remembers me because I'm the one who always slipped in as tight as I could against the lane rope she set up to cordon off her lesson area, fighting amongst all the rotten brats being ignored by their moms while trying to get in some semblance of laps.

She's even more upset than I am, with great reason. Aside from the huge loss to the community - she was the only person teaching kids to swim around here - she's a teacher and counted on that gig for what was a sizeable chunk of summer income. She already had quite a few people signed up for lessons next spring that she's being forced to cancel. And she's got moms of toddlers from all over town calling and asking her where she'll be teaching next summer. And there is no answer for them. Because there is no other pool.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but more than one person suggested to me I check out the Holiday Inn pool in the next town over (yes, the situation is that desperate). She informed me she's looked into it and that pool is also closing to the public. I mentioned the Y in the next town over (very close to the Holiday Inn, i.e. just as inconvenient) and she told me not to bother, because they've got 4 swim teams who practice there (3 local high schools and a community team) and the pool is almost never open for regular lap swimming.

She understands my frustration and was almost apologetic when she gave me the run-down on the high school pool's availability:

Fall Semester (pool available October 7 - holiday break date?)
Sunday 2-5 pm

Spring Semester (pool available January 10 - April 27)
Sunday 2-5 pm
Thursday 7-9 pm

Season Pass $60 or $3/swim. Two lanes are reserved for lap swimmers.

The entire pool is shut down from April to October.

She also mentioned the local outdoor public park pool does have an adult lap swim (one!! pathetic!! lane!!) from 5-6 pm when it's open (June - August). Whoo. Freakin. Hoo.

I thought I had a handle on this, but even my last resort options are turning out not to be options. I'm crying again from the sheer frustration.

I already turned in the client work due today. I think I'm gonna skip out for a bit and get in a swim. Ya know, while I still can.