Single Vs Family

I went on holiday with my mother last week to the Lake District (it was as hard work as it sounds). We stayed in a gorgeous hotel with a spa, gym, pool, sauna and steam room as well as an outdoor hot tub.

Mum forgot to tell me there was a pool so firstly we had to dash to Fat Face to get this beauty:

Fatface £35

Once I got into the pool I decided to swim a few lengths. The problem was children continuously started playing in my way. Some parents noticed, and told their children to watch out, but mostly they continued to get in my way. I know I sound like an old scrooge, but all I wanted to do is swim a few lengths and it was impossible.

I got over that, and went to use the steam room, which was lovely (and empty of children). When I returned to the pool, it was empty. Fantastic, I could concentrate on swimming. Yet, quickly more children began to enter the pool and play, this time with their parents. Both parents and children proceeded to move into my way every time I swam a length, as if I was coming from nowhere each time. It's very simple - I swim from one end of the pool, to the other.

I began to feel that I could really relate to single women. Although I'm not single, I was using the pool alone, surrounded by families with children. I'm sure lots of single women want to give to hotels and use facilities, and yet they're overtaken by families with children who seem to assume the facilities are there for them to use, and they take precedence over single adults. I felt really lonely and outnumbered. I also felt slightly annoyed. Have you seen that episode of Sex and The City where Miranda uses the gym and it's full of children? I felt like that!

'He likes to push the button.' 'So do I'.

To top it off, every time I looked out at the outdoor hot tub it was full of families taking ages enjoying the warm tub outside. For the first two visits to the pool, I was too scared to try to get a position in the hot tub. Yet, on the third visit, I decided to be brave. I sat in a chair facing the window where the family (2 parents, 2 children) had been merrily playing for at least 20 minutes. The mother noticed me, and they proceeded to leave the hot tub. They looked slightly put out that they were being forced to leave the hot-tub for just one person to sit in there alone, but I thought to myself 'I've paid to use these facilities. I have every right to use them.'

I sat in the hot tub for about 15 minutes, enjoying the peaceful view over the river and the hot water with the cold air, and felt proud of myself for making sure I got the opportunity. Families shouldn't automatically have priority over facilities just because someone has chosen not to have children. And, when I got out the hot-tub, guess who went in after me? A single person on their own. I like to think I gave them the courage to use the hot-tub alone if they wanted to. 

How do you feel about single people in family environments?