‘I find swimming is not only good for my body but for my mind too’
This week’s columnist: Actor Wendi Peters
I’ve been a water baby for most of my life. Growing up in Blackburn, I learnt to swim as a kid and even swam at club level. My love of ballet and drama took over when
I was 11, but I took it up again in my 20s. During theatre stints and when in TV shows like Coronation Street, my go-to place was always the swimming pool.
I find that swimming is not only good for my body but for my mind too. A morning session, doing 60 lengths, often every weekday when time permitted, is part of my life, although I couldn’t manage that every day when I was in Corrie.
But I have to confess that I do get pool rage from time to time. I swim in the fast lane during lane sessions and find it infuriating that some swimmers – often, but not always men – just don’t accept that I am quicker than they are, and won’t let me pass at the end of a length. It drives me mad.
And when someone comes out with flippers, a big bottle of water, and other paraphernalia, it’s always amusing
It’s a funny old world
when you realise they can’t swim that well despite all the gear!
Then there are the middle-aged women in a pair, heads out of the water, who go up and down very slowly, chatting away. When I was in Grumpy Old Women Live, the stage show, some time ago, we had a sketch about it. I think, ‘Don’t come here to chat; do your swim, then go and sit in a coffee shop and chat!’ That’s when I know I need to get out – I go there to relax and de-stress, not to get annoyed!
Overall though, I love swimming-pool culture. Give me a pool over the sea any day. I’m a bit OCD and
I like counting the lengths as I do them. Plus I love the camaraderie you have with fellow swimmers in the changing room, and the banter.
People do leave behind some odd items of clothing in changing rooms too. I once saw a pair of knickers left on a peg – I mean, who forgets to put their underwear on when getting changed?
I use that time to think, focus on my breathing – so good for singing when I am in a musical – and sometimes to learn my lines. I had an underwater
MP3 player once and would listen to the script for a one-woman show I was doing called Mrs Whippy that I toured Ireland with. During the tour of my current play, I have loved swimming in York and Edinburgh, in pools that were old style, tiled with great character.
Swimming to me isn’t a hobby; it is a necessity and it’s something I’ll be doing for as long as I can.
‘I do get pool rage from time to time’