Alone at the Columbia pool

North Portland's Columbia pool - Nathaniel Barber blog

Often, on weekdays, there’s nobody at the pool. We have the run of the place. The water is eerily calm.

On the far side of the pool, there’s always a water aerobics class. The lady teaching the class has a playlist she hasn’t changed up in the three years since I’ve been going to the pool. On that playlist (mostly EDM remixes of oldies and 80’s pop), she has Turn Down For What at like, three different places.

I think someone made her the mix as a joke. It’s a good joke too. Every time she plays the mix, the song (that awful awful song) comes on and she has to run over to the boom box to skip the track. Most the time she just lets it play though. When she does, those seniors are real troopers. Sure, there’s a lot of eye-rolling, but they soldier on, working up a lather in the deep end.