What Do Pools, Pizza, And Christmas Have In Common?
How hard is it to make a lap pool? In one sense, it’s simply a matter of digging a big rectangle, filling it up with water, and having someone in a red swimsuit sit next to it.
Looked at with a closer eye, we see design and layout references to Christmas trees, NY style pizza, and more.
Laps, lanes, and lines, OH MY!
If you’ve ever noticed, lap pool lane lines are made up of small plastic discs strung onto a line like popcorn on a string on a Christmas tree. Given the length of the pool, it takes about 357 of those colored lane floatation discs to fill the lane divider line - and that’s only for a single 25 meter lane!!
The average Christmas tree (8ft tall) is estimated to need 155 popcorn pieces for moderate coverage if you strung them together yourself. That means stringing lines for an 8 lane lap pool would take just as much time as decorating 20 Christmas trees!
If you want to calculate the right number of ornaments for perfect coverage on your tree, use this fun calculator.
Pizza marks the spot
Whether or not you’ve ever competed in a swimming race, you’ve probably seen the flags that hang above the lane lines in lap pools. These colorful flags are indicators for backstroke competitors to know they are near the end of the lane, and need to be 12-18 inches in length (top to bottom).
If you’ve ever been really hungry while walking around in NYC then you may have indulged in what is called a “jumbo” slice of pizza. These come in a range of lengths but on average are about 15” long.
(If you’re ever in NYC, you can visit the place that created the “jumbo” pizza slice: Koronet Pizza)
So the next time you are doing the backstroke and you see these flags, just know that the hard work is almost over and a delicious slice of pizza is waiting for you. But remember, pizza after the pool, not before.
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