The Dakar-Goree Challenge: Day 18

Not much time to go now until the big swim. But the news on that front is that the Piscine is "broken" and only the kids' pool is working. Yesterday that was an adequate excuse not to go at all, but I have since discovered that the pool will be closed all of next week for the swimming championships, which culminates in the big Dakar-Goree swim, so today I had to go.

The pool is 25 metres, and full of bobbing infants. Three weeks ago, the prospect of a 25 metre pool would have been enough of a challenge, but now only a 50 metre stretch will do it, and it has to be relatively clear of bodies. So I put in twenty minutes or so but it got so complicated and it's so damn sunny that I had to retreat to the office, and to air conditioning.

My new Voice of America boss, Nico, thinks the solution is for me to swim at the office pool, but we're not sure how long it's been since it was cleaned. It's also a small pool, tiny in fact, but no chidren in it, in fact, no one in it at all. But I'll give it a try because right now, my options aren't all that great.