Hot Water

For a town by the sea, it took me a little while on Sunday to find myself a swimming costume. One that I could afford anyhow. I tried Quiksilver first, and was admiring a lovely polka dot tankini. Then I saw that it was £50 and left the shop shortly afterwards; after a casual, not too hasty browse round in an attempt to show that I could afford these things if I really wanted to. In fact, I could have bought two, I just didn’t want to. Yeah, really.

I drew the line at Tragos, I wasn’t that desperate for a swimming costume, and they possibly only sell children’s sizes. I’m not that thin. Dorothy Perkins had none, but I did see a very nice dress that I might treat myself to. I finally found what I was looking for in Peacocks. An underrated shop, Falmouth’s is not a bad size and the clothes are pretty good. I bought myself, for the first time ever, a tankini. Not being quite confident enough for a bikini, too much stomach. Black and white striped top, plain black bottoms.

I wore it almost straight away. My housemate and I treated ourselves to a swimming session at the Falmouth Beach Hotel. A treat because it costs £5 to use the pool. However, you do get an unlimited time in there, a good size pool (about 14m long) Jacuzzis, steam room and sauna. We were there nearly two hours and had great fun strolling between the super bubbly Jacuzzis and the steam room. Those I enjoyed, the sauna was something else. I’ve reached the age I am without ever entering one, and I’m not sure I will again. I may be missing the point, but it was just too hot, I thought I was going to faint. Cold swimming pool water was never so appealing.

The only problem was the time of day we went. Sunday afternoon is not good unless you like the idea of swimming lengths whilst dodging small children being tossed across the pool by fond parents, and teenage boys thundering through the water oblivious to anything in their path. Other than that we had a good swim. I think though in the future for a simple swim I’ll stick to the Falmouth Hotel, not quite as glamorous, but cheaper and quieter, and I’m sure the Jacuzzi will be fixed soon. And Gylly beach is of course free. Perfect.