Circle Swim!

This is the rule at many crowded swimming pools, like Boston University, which includes suggestions like the following:

• All swimmers must circle swim. (This means that you should always be on the right half of the lane.) Slower swimmers should stop at the wall and allow faster swimmers to pass.


• Lanes are designated 'slow' (lanes 1 and 5), 'medium' (lanes 2 and 4), and 'fast' (lane 3). Please select the appropriate lane for your ability.


• Water walking or running is allowed in the outside (slow) lanes and only if it is not disruptive to lap swimmers.

This morning the pool was rather crowded, partially due to a couple of walkers, and so when the two of us in our lane were joined by a third, I was able to convince them to circle swim. The trouble is, we're spoiled here, because we're used to having a small number of swimmers, and people think it's an imposition to share a lane with just one other person, much less two or three.