Learning to swim (a.k.a. Scary movie)

This is the little lake where I went swimming as a kid.

I learned it in our pool at home, under surveillance, but once I was able to not drown, off we went to the natural pond you can see here. It’s about 200 m from home.

I remember a lot of nervousness when we attempted to swim to the other side. One, it was far away nonetheless, although it was not really, considered from today’s point of view. Two, there was lot’s of grass and bush and stuff on the other side, and the ground was murky. Three, it was kind of scary to not know what was under the water surface as there were legends around, tales of disappeared people and such.

One day, we were swimming with other kids, one of the boys said: “I have something, right here under my feet!” We didn’t believe him. “You are kidding!” “No. I’m not!” We were not so sure anymore. “What is it, then?” And then he showed us.

In the middle of the pond, held in place by the muddy ground, was a bicycle, standing upright, and he had felt the saddle under his feet.

We made sure that the next generation of kids got their tales, too. Once, a man drove his bicycle right into the pond. The bike was found some years later, but the man never was…