Johannesburg by Pool

I have a friend who needs to go running in a new city before he understands it. Long, punishing runs, involving early mornings and carefully plotted routes, are his way of acclimating himself. Another friend needs to drive. A place makes no sense to her until she has looked at it from behind the wheel of a car, mapped out its roads and hooted contemptuously at a local for ignoring a traffic sign. There are all sorts of other ways to befriend a city, to feel less lonely in it. Some will argue, probably with cause, that no one is better at this than a skateboarder. Walking is fine, too. I know people who have got good results from a sustained assault on a city’s dive bars. I see the value of these approaches, but only up to a point: running is not fun, driving somewhere unfamiliar is scary, I obviously can’t skateboard, walking is boring, and it is impractical to always be drunk. I have my own, superior method of getting to grips with a place. I go swimming in its pools.