So this is what's left after cutting out all the things that matter to me

The engine broke down yesterday morning and wept copious tears, in public, yes, at the place where the little one attended (now used to attend) swimming lessons. (I don't know how other mothers manage the 'hood.) And so S & I repaired to the mall for noodles (food) and some shopping--not pointless shopping, mind you, but shopping for a rashguard for mommy and a swimming-noodle and kickboard for the little one. For I had made my mind up to make up for the morning's storm in a teacup by finding a pool that would let us in, dammit, even if we haven't really learned to swim yet, after 10 days (well, 9--we took a day off). 


The pool shared by Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn are closed to the public and are for the exclusive use of guests. To the credit of the Holiday Inn's front desk, the staff actually began an internet search for the nearest pool open to the public. The pool at the Renaissance Convention Center (formerly the Marikina Hotel) is being leased by the Bert Lozada Swim School and is therefore closed to the public even as the swim classes haven't started, and the BLSS presence there today was a single lady under a tent by the pool under the hot, hot sun. (The Convention Center administrative office shooed us away and toward that woman, when we had asked whether or not we could use the pool.) The Marikina Sports Center Swimming Pool, we were told, is closed on Mondays, but we saw seven people horsing around in the water. The water did not appear very clean. A man who insinuated he was one of the lifeguards said that they had already cleaned the pool--but had not yet added the 'gamot'. We ended up at another facility in the place where our woes began. We had been under the impression that said facility was open only on holidays and weekends--but this, we were told, was not the case. It was open everyday in the summer, for anyone willing to shell out a certain amount of cash (not big; the cost of swimming at the Marikina Sports Center)--for so long as there were no swim classes being held at said facility. And so we had our little swim, and will be back, rashguard, noodle, and all.