I'd like to tell a small story In senior school in the mid 70's till 1980, we didn't have a lot of people of colour but in our class we had one western asian chap from Bangladesh, another eastern asian from Hong Kong, and a black chap from Kenya As with most schools we had swimming classes and also immunisation programmes. In the first swimming class we all had to do the bouyancy/mushroom test. Bringing your knees upto your chest, holding onto them and you should float, Only two people in the class sunk straight to the bottom, myself and lynval. The teacher said, We've seen this before(this was in the 70's mind) it has been in mostly black swimmers as they have a higher bone density, which of course meant nothing at that age or explain why I had sunk either. Me and lynval had a laugh about it later and I asked can his older brother swim? he said yes but we can do it here. He explained they had come to the u.k. in the early 70's from a poor village in Kenya where unlike the U.K., they didn't have schools let alone sportcentres with swimming pools to learn to swim or a coastline where you could go to the seaside and swim only an hour and a half away, So learning to swim wasn't something many had the ability to do. I said what about the rivers, you must have had rivers to swim in? he said, In Kenya there is more than just a shopping trolley at the bottom of the rivers though boy we laughed. My point? it is possible to discuss the differences between all races and colours because not everything is racist or with racist intent, it just it always tends to go wrong when you do
There is something unusual about black people swimming though, when have you ever seen one in a major swimming competition. Brilliant runners though. Just an observation and no culteral bias intended.
I have followed the story on the news, it makes zero sense. Maybe the suction on a filter pump could take the little girl out, but surely not the two guys as well ? If you take worst case and that the little girl is pinned to the drain at the bottom of the pool...it would not cause the death of the other two. There have been very few areas in the Spanish pools I have used where I could not touch the floor, only the last few feet at the deepest end, and even then I could "bob" up and down with my feet. I would have zero confidence in any "investigation" carried out by the Guardia Civil in any circumstance, but particularly in the short period of time it was supposedly carried out. They are hardly renowned for their competence and honesty. None of this makes any sense: Swimmers or not - there is no way two adults should have been able to drown. As it's Spain, I doubt the truth will out anytime soon. They do not seem to have the same investigatory systems we have in the UK. Were it to happen here - the pool would have been drained and everything checked from the pool cleaner to the guy that puts out the sun loungers
As thread begun, a tragedy regardless of the causes but regarding that, and I haven’t read all reports but if they wanted to add transparency to this it would be helpful to know - how deep was the water where all three were eventually recovered from, and what was their proximity to the pool filter(s). As above, already been said, but something doesn't seem right here, a lot more could have been revealed by now.
It's a sad incident that seems so far, to have no rythme or reason as to why. Whilst some doubt faith, the mother who has just lost her husband and 2 children will find it a great comfort in the belief they have gone to a better place. It does show however, race, faith, rich or poor, just how quick life can change
A major cause of problems with swimming pools is that a person hits their head on the hard pool edge whilst slipping, jumping, or being pushed in. Then they are unconscious or semi-conscious in the water. If someone has been fooling about near the pool, as folk often do, they are then reluctant to admit the truth because they will be to blame. Just speculating, since I have seen no mention of heads being hit in this case. So far.
Basic misconceptions on display here. There are indeed genetic variations between different human populations, giving rise to measurable physical differences. But there is no "black race". The variations between different peoples originally native to Africa are great; the variations between peoples of the rest of the world are less. Skin tone is a minor point, in comparison to other characteristics. Generalisations based on the assumption that people with black skins constitute a "race" with other characteristics in common are always nonsense.
Which is obviously rubbish. Fuck sake. Are you lot mad? Read my earlier post. Bottom line- they all drowned because they couldn’t swim. End of.
