Sally Edsall has a fantastic blog all about swimming and pools. She documents pools that many people would write off as being too ordinary, she is eclectic in her choice of pools, and she has a clear aesthetic too, and a strong take on pool imagery and culture. I think that what Edsall says about Australian identity and outdoor pools is really perceptive. Go and read it for yourself!

http://swimsallyswim.blogspot.com

Meanwhile, here's a little interview with her.

Could you say a little bit to introduce yourself?
I'm 50 years old, and been swimming for the past 46 years that I can remember. I live in Sydney, which is just about the most perfect place in the world for a swimming nut. We are generously endowed with public pools – indoor, outdoor, ocean pools, harbour pools, backyard pools – altogether about 150 pools, which isn't bad for a population of about four million!

What are your earliest memories of swimming?
It was at the local baths where I lived in Melbourne, Malvern Baths. I can remember watching the posh kids who were having private swimming lessons, and then going off on my own and practicing what I had overheard. There's some pictures of Malvern Baths as they were when I was a kid on my blog. They're now called the Harold Holt memorial Swimming Centre. Harold Holt was an Australian prime Minister. He drowned.

You consider yourself a swimmer and lap swimming is your thing
Well, I have had a few health scares, and a dad who had diabetes, so I try to do something about staying fit. I can't stand sweaty gyms, and lycra and I've never been a runner, but I just love stretching out in the pool. I've worked out my own routine which I try to do most weekday mornings (if I swim on the weekends, it's strictly for fun – sometimes I can convince my 14 year old son to come with me). I usually try to do 1500 metres each morning, and mix it up to try to get some sprints happening, and rest with breaststroke or sidestroke. I also kick backwards, with arms outstretched behind me, but not using them, and try to sit up slightly to give the abs a bit of a curl.

Tell us more about the rock seawater pools around Sydney
Most of the rockpools were built as public works projects during the Great Depression of the 1930s, though some of them date back far further than that. See the Bogey Hole at Newcastle on my blog.

Are there other regional idiosyncracies regarding Australian pools?
I can't think of any. Sydney probably has more rock pools, but that's because it has more rocks and cliffs than other cities. If you know the routine in a public pool in one place, it's pretty much the same everywhere. There'll be a changeroom, (luxury if there's hot water!) usually a fairly extensive grassed area, and a kiosk for snacks. There aren't any session times as there sometimes are in Europe. If the pool's open, it's open. Usually there's a couple of lanes reserved for laps. Most pools have swimming squad training sessions twice a day, and so lane access may be a little restricted at those times. The only other time they might be closed is during the day when there is a school swimming carnival in the summer months.

What's the appeal of an outdoor suburban pool?
The suburban pool is traditionally one of the favourite playgrounds for local kids. When I grew up few people had private backyard pools, there are many more now, and it's where you spent the long summer holidays if you didn't live close to the beach. I remember as a kid being the oldest and most responsible kid in charge of a heap of neighbourhood kids, as early as age nine or ten! Things are a lot different now. Occupational Health and Safety and fears about child safety and protection mean few pools let kids in under the age of 16 unless accompanied by an adult. Like so many freedoms of my childhood those days are gone, and parents have to devote their lives to hovering around their kids every minute. But then a lot of pools serve a good cappuccino or latte to keep adults happy!

Nevertheless, in the suburbs, the local pool still has a strong presence. Some of them are jazzed up with waterslides or inflatables, most of them have some form of heating, often solar systems, and they would all have shade areas. Australians are exhorted not to be out in the direct sun, and cover up during the hours of 10 to 3, and many take heed. I'm always amused by the newly arrived Brits on the beach in Australia – they're the only ones turning lobster red! You can still spend the day at a pool. Many have barbecues and picnic tables as well.

And what do these pools say about Australian identity?
That we like the outdoors, and we like to swim! Swimming is part of our cultural identity, learning to swim is a rite of passage of childhood. All primary schools would have swimming schools as part of their program, and there are subsidised holiday learn-to-swim programmes. Many kids will have learned by the time they start school through private lessons. It's not uncommon to see mums in hijabs and locally designed burquinis – full length swim suits – with their kids at the pool. So it crosses cultural groups as well.

How would you describe your pool aesthetic?
Blue! Blue is my favourite colour. Dappled blue, sunlight glancing off ripples.

What else would you like to say?
Swimming is sensual – slipping thorugh the water at 6am some mornings I feel like I'm enveloped in silk, and if I don't feel like being there, I do try to conjure that feeling. I often solve my most intractable problems on about Lap 23 at 6.20am! If I have a nagging problem, I usually stick it in the back of my head knowing that it will prove away and the solution present itself when I'm swimming. It's similar to how people describe meditation.

I also don't have as many aches and pains as I have when I go for periods when I don't swim. When my son was younger and it was harder to find time (and even now it has to be early morning, which is quite contrary to my nature, I prefer a good sleep in!) I got quite unfit and was starting to have severe pain in my back and sides – now all gone!