Scorpio

Saturday, 1 August 2026

You arrive at the public pool to find every lane rope removed for maintenance. You usually measure your pace by blue tiles and by the barrier that keeps other swimmers outside your line. Without those borders, the water appears wider than it is, and bodies move through it without the familiar order.

Rather than waiting for the ropes to return, you choose a quiet corner and swim toward the reflection of a ceiling lamp. Your direction shifts whenever the light trembles. You stop counting lengths and attend to breath and turning. Your body knows when to slow down without the figures you thought were guiding it.

When you leave, you cannot record an exact distance, yet the tiredness in your shoulders feels balanced and your mind is clearer. The training did not disappear when measurement did. Boundaries were useful tools, not the only source of order. In open water, you found a rhythm that did not need a straight line to be real.