I wanted to go for a swim. It was cold as hell, Saturday in the winter holidays just after noon. As I wanted afterwards to do the weekly shopping, I took the car. That was already a big mistake. Oerlikon, where the exhibition hall stands, was choc a bloc with cars. Nothing doing. I drove into the tiny side street, turned round and drove back home.

I took my scooter and started out for the swimming pool without the car. It was a lot quicker. When I arrived at the pool, the visitor’s parking area was completely full. Big cars with registrations in various cantons stood door to door, bumper to bumper, Lucerne, Thurgau, Aargau, even Geneva. Who would have thought that our swimming pool is so popular that one would drive so far just to get there. No, that is a bad joke. The swimming pool was virtually empty. Apart from a few children in the children’s playing pool, to my delight I was almost alone in the pool.

On my way out I had a word with the cashier. Today the swimming pool had collected more money with parking fees than with admissions. Crazy!! When in the past the parking area had time and again been full and, despite the nice sign «only for persons visiting the swimming pool», mis-used by visitors to the nearby exhibition hall, the pool increased the parking fee for those not swimming to CHF 15 per hour. For a while it worked well and even when there were exhibitions one could find a parking space. Now for the last year or so, on weekends when there are special events it is impossible to find a parking space at the pool. Only unfortunately I don‘t know exactly which event takes place when in the exhibition hall and, if there is one, don’t have a good judgement of which exhibition attracts crowds of visitors, so that I can decide whether it would be better to leave my car at home. I do that when the weather is good, but when the weather is bad, it is almost always easier and more comfortable with the car.

Apparently, CHF 15 per hour no longer puts people off. Probably it needs New York conditions, like CHF 40 per hour per sparking space to master the situation. And perhaps that also will only bring short- term relief. Therefore, it would perhaps be better to start with CHF 100 for non-bathers. Who knows, perhaps the parking area would still be full and I would have to resort to my scooter, but on the other hand the swimming pool would have earned so much money that admission would be free. Then I would have an additional motivation not to use my car, even if the weather is particularly bad.

Image source: S. Hofschlaeger / pixelio.de