Being able to swim is considered an essential life skill in Germany. Children learn how to swim in school and are encouraged to practice and earn badges to show off their level of achievement. There are about 6,000 public swimming pools in Germany, almost 2,800 of them indoors. In addition to that there are about 133,000 privately owned indoor pools open to the public. In recent years many smaller towns – my current hometown included – had to close their public pools for lack of funding, but there is hope for the future. The public indoor pool in Ebersberg, just a ten minutes drive from my home, reopened a few months ago after massive renovations that cost twelve million Euros.

I love swimming! Getting a workout without sweating, moving my stiff joints without carrying any weight, floating on my back without pain, I need that at least once a week. There were times in my life when it was simply not possible to find the time and location for that – but now I’m retired and get my fix in the water whenever I need it. One of the perks of being old (enough) is the “seniors only” hours that most public pools in Germany offer on their schedule. During those times only people 65 and older may enter. That’s usually about a dozen swimmers, mostly women, floating around at a leisurely pace. No jumping, no running, no screaming and yelling – just pure relaxing fun.

Life is good!