Swimtastic!

I don't care what the equinox says -- Labor Day is the end of summer, and that's that.

In general, honestly, I get a little glum at this time of year. It's not that I don't want to go back to work (I do, of course) -- it's just the passage of time, the (soon-emergent) chill in the air, all that. Of course, this isn't entirely the healthiest outlook, so this year I wanted to try to show summer a little appreciation on its way out.

Oh reader, I went to Long Island. And reader, I did more swimming than I have since I went to day camp.

There was a reason, of course. My dear friend Wendy is from Long Island, and she has a neighbor with a pool. A particularly tolerant neighbor, that is, one who got a phone call that went something like this: "Hi. My friend is doing Boy Scout badges. Can we go swimming in your pool in our clothes?" It is a fine, fine person who hears something like this and says yes.

See, in honor of the end of summer, and in honor of impending chilly temperatures, Wendy and I decided to tackle the Swimming and Life saving badges. So, this morning, I suited up and we headed over to Wendy's neighbor to take a dip.



The Swimming and Life saving badges are surprisingly simple, and they have a surprising amount of overlap. Swimming requires that one swims for a hundred yards, dives from the surface of the water, does any type of backstroke for fifty feet, and is proficient in the breaststroke, sidestroke, and crawl.

Life saving is a little more complicated -- rather than simply diving from the surface, the candidate has to drive into seven to ten feet of water and haul up a 5 pound sandbag. Instead of swimming one hundred yards, this time it's two (one hundred of which must be on the back without using hands, and for fifty of which the candidate has be to dressed (wearing a minimum of shirt, pants, and shoes). There are requirements regarding actual lifesaving, too -- demonstrating five methods of release (which appear to be just getting a drowning person to let go of you so you don't both drown) on land and two in the water, as well as demonstrating one particular resuscitation method.

It's been a long day, friends, so I'll tell you the rest tomorrow. (Spoiler! I don't drown.)